Biofilms
assemblages of surface-dwelling microbial cells, as well as fungi, algae, protozoans and other microorganisms that are contained within a gelatinous matrix found on rocks and sticks in water.
Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)
A gelatinous mixture that makes up biofilms mostly made from polysaccharides, proteins and DNA.
Extremophiles
organisms that can thrive in extreme environments
Buffering
The ability of aquatic systems to to maintain a normal pH level by neutralizing additions of acids or bases.
Bicarbonate Buffering System
Manages the acid base imbalances in water by using up the hydrogen atoms that cause more acidity CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 + CaCO3 ↔ Ca2+ + 2HCO3-. Or there poor buffering where there is little calcium carbonate available to modify changes in pH so free hydrogen ions are released and the pH declines CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 ↔ HCO3-+ H+ ↔ CO32-+ H+.
Co-evolution
The relationship between two or more species that have affected each other's evolution.
Mutualistic
When both species benefit by working together.
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
How much oxygen is dissolved in water.
Inversely
When the value of one parameter tends to decrease as the value of the other parameter increases. (DO levels are inversely related to temperature)
Saturation
Aerating water at a given temperature so that it contains the most oxygen it can hold.
hypoxia
oxygen deficiency
Anoxia
absence of oxygen
Eutrophication
excessive nutrients in a lake or other body of water, usually caused by runoff of nutrients from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life
Drift Feeding
A foraging strategy that is used by stream fish.
Evapotranspiration
The amount of rainfall that is lost to the process of evaporation.
Evaporation
The process of turning water into vapor mostly from the ground.
Transpiration
The process of giving off water vapor through the the movement of water from the roots through the leaf stomata.
Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act or Pittman-Robertson Act
A piece of legislation passed by congress un 1937 to provide funding for the restoration and management of sport birds and mammals.
The Lacey Act
The first piece of federal legislation in the US enacted to protect wildlife, fishes and plants.
Nutrients
Elements or compounds needed by living organisms for growth, survival and reproduction.
Macronutrients
Nutrients needed in large quantities to sustain an organisms metabolism. (HOCNPCaKMgS)
micronutrients
A substance needed only in small amounts for normal body function. (BCuFeClMnMoZn)
Essential Amino Acids
Cannot be synthesized and must be consumed in the diet. (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine)
Malnutrition
Lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things, or being unable to use the food that one does eat.
Snags
Standing dead tree that contribute significantly to forest habitats for wildlife.
Facultative
Interactions are those in which the partners may participate in the interaction, but they don't have to.
Obligate
One or both partners must participate in the interaction to survive.
Wetland Reserve Program
A major land retirement and habitat restoration/conservation program established by the 1990 farm bill.
Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)
Continues to provide easements for the protection and restoration of wetlands throughout the US.
Abscission
shedding of leaves in the fall
Quercus
oaks
Acer
Maple
Ulmus
Elm
Carya
Hickory
Canopy
The top of the vertical habitat zonation
Understory
Second to the top layer in the vertical habitat zonation. Consist of young dominate tress and small species.
Shrub
The third layer from the top in the vertical habitat zonation.
Herbaceous
Second to bottom layer in the vertical habitat zonation.
Ground
The bottom layer of the vertical habitat zonation. Consists of mosses and lichens.
Alfisols
Soils that are rich in nutrients and organic matter from annual leaf inputs.
Organic
a fertilizer that is derived from animal or vegetable matter
inorganic
A fertilizer that is lacking the properties characteristic of living organisms and instead use nutrients and micronutrients that give no contribution to soil structure.
Old Growth
forest or woodland having a mature or overly mature ecosystem more or less uninfluenced by human activity (essentially no longer exist).
Secondary Forest
Forests regenerating largely through natural processes after human and disturbance.
Secondary Succession
Regeneration of forest cover after harvesting has occurred.
Primary Succesion
When a ecosystem begins from bare rock from a climax community.
Climax Community
A stable community dominated by a small number of prominent species.
Secondary Succesion
When a disturbance causes a reset of a community to earlier stages but not all the way to bare rock.
Sere
A natural succession of plant (or animal) communities, especially a full series from uncolonized habitat to the appropriate climax vegetation.
Pioneer Species
-Early Seres
high reproductive rate
short-lived, small
easy propagule dispersal
minimal resource demands
environmental generalists
poor competitors for λ, H2O, and nutrients
Climax species
-Late seres
lower reproduction
long-lived, large
high resource demands
environmental specialists
superior competitors
Softwood
low density wood fibers (easy to cut). EX. coniferous
Hardwood
Wood with a condensed structure that results in greater density and used in furniture and musical instruments (hard to cut). EX. deciduous
Selective Harvesting
Only selecting certain trees to cut down rather than clear cutting resulting in uneven aged management. (reduces over crowding and encourages growth)
Uneven-aged managment
The Removal of single or small groups of trees from many age classes.
Shade tolerant
Trees that can grow in the shade of other trees.
High Grading
When genetic selection favors unharvested sub optimal trees.
Variable retention
leaves so good trees to maintain genetic diversity and maintains age diversity.
Snags
Dead trees that are left upright to decompose naturally.
Collateral damage due to reduced impact logging (RIL)
If a tree is cut it may take out a few more around it on its way down.
Reduced Impact Logging (RIL)
Meticulous planning and control to minimize environmental impact to forests and lands. Such as careful road planning, tree felling directions, and vine removal.
Hydrology
The study of water distribution adn uses on the earth and in the atmosphere.
Precipitation
Rain
Discharge
The volume of water moving down a stream or river per unit of time.
Water interception
When water stays in the canopy and gets evaporated before reaching the soil.
Throughfall
Un-intercepted rainfall
Stemflow
The flow of intercepted water down the trunk or stem of a plant.
Effective rain fall
The water that is able to make it to the soil through stemflow and throughfall.
Runoff
the draining away of water from the surface of an area of land.
Rugosity
How textured a surface is indicating how quickly water runs off of it.
Infiltration
When water goes into somewhere.
Percolation
When water goes down through to somewhere.
Subsurface flow
The flow of water below earth's surface.
Stream hydrograph
A graph of how fast the stream flows over a period of time. (discharge (volume) through time)
Ground water
underground water that is held in the soil and in pervious rocks
Baseflow
A portion of streamflow that is not directly generated from the excess rainfall during a storm event.
Forested Stream Storm
Non incised stream bed (not cut cleanly), and over bank flooding
Urban Stream Storm
higher discharge and water velocities, bed and bank scouring, reduction in submerged structure
Climate on watershed discharge
climate determines precipitation intensity, duration, and frequency, with the location of storms. Low humidity, higher temperatures, and greater wind speeds tend to increase transpiration rates reducing runoff. Snow deposition results in long periods of low discharge, followed by intense runoff during the spring melt.
Transpiration
the process of giving off or exhaling water vapor.
Topography
The slope, shape, elevation and stream density of an environment effecting stream flow. Higher elevation would imply lower temperatures, less evapotranspiration, greater rainfall, steeper slopes, and shallow soils → greater runoff.
Flashy
Stream that rise and fall quickly
Soil Texture
How well certain soil textures hold water. Silt hold water very well.
Land Use
The human use of land has a huge effect on watersheds.
Water Yield
An estimate of freshwater input flowing into streams and rivers.
Headwater Streams
The smallest parts of river and stream networks. Small, has discharge year round (perennial) or periodically (intermittent) where they last for a very short time (ephemeral). -They are cool and stable when not in the winter due to shade and ground water -They have rapid temp changes due to being shallow and well mixed -Has a high gradient effecting stream morphology and habitat availability -Has rapid response to rain fall due to shallow soils and incised watersheds -High dissolved oxygen due to turbulent high surface area -Sensitive to low pH because there is low soil buffering capacity and rapid runoff -Allochthonous based food web -Woody debris/coarse substrates from trapping and processing organic matter
Low order streams
Stream found high in the watershed
Buffering
The balancing of pHs in a water system
Alloxhthonous
A biotic processing of coarse particulate organic matter. From Coarse Particulate Organic Matter (CPOM) to Fine Particulate Plant Matter (FPOM) to Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM)
Functional feeding groups
classification based on food acquisition rather than taxonomic group.
Shreeders
Important first step in organic processing, poor food source, creates small organic particles colonized by bacteria and fungi. (Stoneflies, Caddisflies, Decapods, Crustacea, and Amphipods)
Collector/Gathers
Search for enriched organic particles as energy source. (Mayflies, Trichoptera, Bettles, and True flies)
Collector/Filterers
Trap food particles carried by the current. (Caddisflies)
Predators
Take advantage of herbivore production. (Dragonflies, stoneflies, damselflies, Dobsonflies, Coleoptera, Odonata, Diptera)
Periphyton
Biofilm that scrappers feed on.
Brook Char
Native trout living in headwater streams. They are sensitive to changes in water quality and they are an inferior competitor to other trout species.
Rainbow and Brown Trout
Were both stocked in headwater streams for increased angling opportunities.
Genetic Identification, culture and restocking
These are all ways used to conserve the brook trout populations.
Removal of non native fish
This is also another way to conserve native populations. This is done by either netting fish or by Rotenone.
Rotenone
Piscicdes that is made from a plant that is known to kill certain fish.