Freshwater ecology is a specialized subcategory of the overall study of organisms and the environment. Ecology refers to the study of not just organisms but how they react, and are affected by the natural surrounding environment or ecosystem. By studying the plants and animals in a body of water as well as the components of the water itself, a scientist specializing in freshwater ecology can discover vital information about the health and needs of a freshwater system. Freshwater ecology can give roughly accurate ideas of how populations of plants or animals are surviving in their environment. Although most of the work is based on probabilities and population graphs rather than literal census taking, freshwater ecologists can give a fairly clear picture of which way a species is going, and identify key factors that determine its situation. The work of freshwater ecologists can be used to determine the viability of a new drinking water source, or test a current water source for possible contamination.
A pond is a body of standing water, either natural or man-made, that is usually smaller than a lake. Usually they contain shallow water with marsh and aquatic plants and animals.Ponds can result from a wide range of natural processes. Any depression in the ground which collects and retains a sufficient amount of precipitation can be considered a pond, and such depressions can be formed by a variety of geological and ecological events. A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward the ocean, a lake, or another stream. Rivers often leave behind ponds in natural flood plains after spring flooding, and these can be very important to breeding fish. A river begins at a source (or more often several sources) and ends at a mouth, following a path called a course. The water in a river is usually confined to a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks.
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