Watershed Ecology Exam 1

Evaporation

Direct loss of water from open bodies, soil surfaces, or surfaces of vegetaion and detritus

PAR

Portion of light spectrum used by photosynthesizing organisms

Incident Solar Radiation

The amount of light received at a water body’s surface

Transpiration

Plants extract water from soil and release a portion of extracted water to the atmosphere to support metabolism and growth

Light Attenuation

The reduction of light with depth as it is absorbed and scattered by constituents in the water column 

CDOM

The fraction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) that absorbs light

Amictic

Annual stratification pattern in which the lake does not fully circulate due to year round ice cover

Dimictic

Annual stratification pattern in which mixing occurs in fall and spring

Incoming water, sediment-water interface, wind, air-water interface influence what?

The thermal structure of a waterbody is determined by fluxes of energy from these sources.