| A | B |
|---|
| Abiotic | Non-living |
| Dissolved Oxygen | The amount of oxygen in a given volume of water |
| BOD | Biological oxygen demand - the amount of dissolved oxygen used by aquatic microorganisms |
| Substrate | The material at the bottom of a water body |
| Oligotrophic | A "new" water body - clear, cold, low in nutrients |
| Eutrophic | An "old" water body - rich in organic materials, cloudy |
| Littoral zone | The shallow zone at the edge of a lake |
| Limnetic zone | Open surface water, depth that light can penetrate |
| Metalimnion | Below the limnetic zone, rapid temperature change |
| Hypolimnion | Below metalimnion, water is cold, dark, and low in oxygen |
| Marsh | A wetland dominated by grasses and reeds |
| Swamp | A wetland dominated by trees |
| Bog | An acidic wetland dominated by floating moss |
| Wetland | Wet for 2 weeks of the year, wetland plants present, and wetland soils |
| Groundwater | Water stored in soil and porous rock |
| Aquifer | A groundwater reservoir |
| Recharge | Replacement of groundwater |
| Discharge | The amount of water that passes a fixed point in a certain amount of time |
| Watershed | A water catchment basin |
| Topography | The shape of the land |
| Permanent stream | A water body fed by groundwater |
| Ephemeral stream | A temporary water body fed by precipitation |
| CPOM | Coarse particulate organic matter - large particles found mostly upstream |
| FPOM | Fine particulate organic matter - small particles found mostly downstream |
| Anadromous | An organism that is born in fresh water, spends part of its life in salt water, then returns to freshwater to spawn |
| Riffle | A shallow stretch of river that causes wave action |
| Pool | A deep, slow-moving area in a river |
| Riparian Zone | The natural vegetation buffer around a river |
| Biomagnification | The mechanism by which toxins are passed up the food chain and accumulated at each level |
| Fragmentation | Splitting up habitat in small pieces - The loss of core habitat |
| Artesian well | A naturally occuring pressurized well where water is trapped below an impervious surface |
