Water is a necessity for all living things on Earth and is one of the most important natural resources flowing from our forests. With looming problems like climate change and pressing energy demands, a better understanding of how to conserve freshwater ecosystems is critically important in order to meet our increasing need for freshwater. Freshwater ecology is the interdisciplinary study of rivers, lakes, streams, seasonal bodies of water, underground water deposits, and surrounding riparian areas. Aquatic ecologists study natural populations of organisms in the water, learning about the distribution and abundance of aquatic organisms, mostly fish, their prey and their predators, and their interactions with their environment.