Term
|
Definition
| The natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. Water can change states among liquid, solid and gas along various places in the water cycle. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the non-living, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Interface between land and a river or stream. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Naturally occuring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Describes particles in a flowing fluid that are transported along the bed |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Area of land maintained in permanent vegetation that helps to control air, soil and water quality, along with other environmental problems, dealing primarily on land that is used in agriculture. Buffer strips trap sediment and enhance filtration of nutrients and pesticides by slowing down runoff that could enter the local surface waters |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Develops as a streams hydrological flow structure
alternates from areas of relatively shallow to deeper water. This sequence is present only in
streams carrying gravel or coarser sediments. Riffles are formed in shallow areas by coarser
materials such as gravel deposits over which water flows. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Used to store water. They may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam, or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such a brickwork or cast concrete. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Organisms that produces complex organic compounds (such ascarbohydrates. fats and proteins) from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light
(by photosynthesis) or inorganic chemical reactions (chemosynthesis). They are the producers in a food chain, such as plants on land or algae in water. They are able to make their own food and can fix carbon. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| biological oxidation of ammonia with oxygen into nitrite followed by the oxidation of these nitrites into nitrates |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Microbially facilitated process of nitrate reduction that may ultimately produce molecular nitrogen through a series of intermediate gaseous nitrogen oxide products |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The total collection of organisms of a geographic region or atime period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-time scale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A term used to describe the sum of evaporationand plant transpiration from the Earth’s land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air fromsources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the production of organic compounds from atmospheric or aquatic carbon dioxide. principally through the process of photosynthesis with chemosynthesis being much less important. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Graph showing the changes in discharge of a river or a period of time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a temporary change in average environmental conditions that causes a pronounced change in an ecosystem. Outside disturbance forces often act quickly and with great effect, sometimes resulting in the removal of large amounts of biomass Ecological disturbances include fires, flooding. windstorm, insect outbreaks, as well as anthropogenic disturbances such as forest clearing and the introduction of exotic species. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
•Mud - silt and day.
•Sand - Particles between 0.06 and 2 mm in diameter.
•Granule - Between 2 and 4 mm in diameter.
•Pebble - Between 4 - 64 mm in diameter.
•Cobble - between 6.4 and 25.6 cm in diameter
•Boulder - more than 25.6 cm in diameter.
Stream substrate can affect the life found within the stream habitat. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The number of different species in a given area. It is represented in equation form as S. Species richness is the fundamental unit in which to assess the homogeneity of an environment |
|
|
