Flashcards: Aquatic ecology

Plankton (singular plankter) are a diverse group of organisms that live in the water column of large bodies of water and that cannot swim against a current.

Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water that occurs when excess stormwater, meltwater, or other sources flows over the Earth's surface.

Sea ice arises as seawater freezes.

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, icebergs, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams.

Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean.

A lake ecosystem includes biotic (living) plants, animals and micro-organisms, as well as abiotic (nonliving) physical and chemical interactions.

Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful.

Eutrophication (Greek: eutrophia (from eu "well" + trephein "nourish".); German: Eutrophie), or more precisely hypertrophication, is the depletion of oxygen in a water body, which kills aquatic animals.

Silicic acid /sɪˈlɪsɪk ˌæsɪd/ is a chemical compound.

Phytoplankton /ˌfaɪtoʊˈplæŋktən/ are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of oceans, seas and freshwater basin ecosystems.

Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water (see also soil salinity).

Mangroves are shrubs or small trees that grow in coastal saline or brackish water.

Red tide is a common name for a phenomenon known as an algal bloom (large concentrations of aquatic microorganisms) when it is caused by a few species of dinoflagellates and the bloom takes on a red or brown color.

Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp.

Bioassay (commonly used shorthand for biological assay or assessment), or biological standardization is a type of scientific experiment.

The continental shelf is an underwater landmass which extends from a continent, resulting in an area of relatively shallow water known as a shelf sea.

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem in a body of water.

A halophyte is a plant that grows in waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores.

The littoral zone is the part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore.

Ichthyoplankton (from Greek: ἰχθύς, ikhthus, "fish"; and πλαγκτός, planktos, "drifter") are the eggs and larvae of fish.

A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass or fish steps, is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration.

(See also: Aerated water) Water aeration is the process of increasing the oxygen saturation of the water.

Clean Oceans International, originally The Clean Oceans Project, is an ocean-oriented environmental organization founded in 2009 as an IRS 501c3 public benefit corporation.

A blackwater river is a type of river with a deep, slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands.

Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure.

Rio Blanco is a tributary of the San Juan River in southern Colorado in the United States.

A cold seep (sometimes called a cold vent) is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs, often in the form of a brine pool.

Mycoplankton are saprotropic members of the plankton communities of marine and freshwater ecosystems.

Juvenile fish go through various stages between birth and adulthood.

Hypoxia refers to low oxygen conditions.

Blackwater is used to describe wastewater containing feces, urine and flushwater from flush toilets along with anal cleansing water (if water is used for cleansing) or toilet paper.

Demersal fish live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).

In hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of a system.

Picobiliphytes or Picobiliphyta are a group of eukaryotic algae, discovered in 2007, which are found among the smallest members of photosynthetic picoplankton.

Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction.

Sea surface temperature (SST) is the water temperature close to the ocean's surface.

Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities.

Oceanic anoxic events or anoxic events (anoxia conditions) refer to intervals in the Earth's past where portions of oceans become depleted in oxygen (O2) at depths over a large geographic area.

Environmental flows describe the quantity, timing, and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well being that depend on these ecosystems.

Measurement of sea ice is important for safety of navigation and for monitoring the environment, particularly the climate.

Bioconcentration is the accumulation of a chemical in or on an organism when the source of chemical is solely water.

Sphaerotilus natans is an aquatic periphyton organism associated with polluted water.

The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore and seashore and sometimes referred to as the littoral zone, is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide (in other words, the area between tide marks).

The marine environment supplies many kinds of habitats that support marine life.

Aquatic respiration is the process whereby an aquatic animal obtains oxygen from water.