Abdomen:  The rear body division of insects and invertebrates containing the heart, digestive system, and reproductive organs. 

Algae:  One-celled photosynthetic organisms belonging to the kingdom Protista.

Antennae:  Structures that occur in pairs, are located between the eyes, and help invertebrates feel and smell.  Also called feelers.

Aquatic:  Refers to an organism that grows and lives in water. 

Aquatic insect:  Insect species that live in the water at least part of their life cycle.

Archiving:  Collecting and preserving specimens for future reference.

Bacteria:  Single-celled microorganisms that derive nourishment from dead or decaying organic matter.

Benchmark:  Standard to which all other similar things are measured.  Kings Creek is a benchmark for water quality of other streams.

Benthic organisms:  Aquatic life forms that live in, on or near the bottom of a body of water.

Benthos:  Refers to the bottom of a body of water.

Biological indicator:  An organism whose occurrence in a particular area indicates whether or not that environment is ecologically healthy.

Collectors:  Aquatic insects that feed on fine material.  Types of collectors include filterers and gatherers.

Community:  Group of interacting organisms in a particular ecosystem.

Consumer:  An organism that must feed upon organic material to obtain energy.  They depend on other organisms for food.

Contaminant:  Any substance that when added to water makes it impure and unfit to consume.   

Control:  A check used to verify results in a scientific experiment.   

Crustacean:  An aquatic organism with jointed limbs, segmented body and an exoskeleton made of chitin. 

Current:  The steady flow of water downstream. 

Debris:  The remains of something that has been damaged or broken down; the accumulation of fragments.

Decomposition:  Breakdown of organic material through digestive processes of microorganisms, macroinvertebrates and scavengers. 

Deposition:  Sediment dropped to the streambed from the water as the current slows.

Detritus:  Dead plant, animal or other organic matter. 

Diatom:  A microscopic one-celled alga whose walls are made of silica.

Discharge:  Amount of water flowing past a given point in the stream, measured in cubic feet/second or cubic meters/second.

Dispersion:  Spreading out or scattering.

Diversity:  Number of different kinds of species in a particular habitat; a measure of biological differences. 

Downstream:  With the direction of the current, moving away from the source of the stream due to gravity.

Drought:  Shortage of rainfall; a prolonged period of dryness.

Ecology:  The study of the relationships of living things to one another and the environment.

Ecosystem:  A community of living organisms, their physical environment, and climate in a given area.

Erosion:  The removal or wearing away of soil or rock by water, wind or other processes.

Evapo-transpiration:  The process of transferring moisture from the earth to the atmosphere by plants.

Exoskeleton:  The hard outside covering of an insect.

Extreme event:  Powerful, unusual event that exceeds the ordinary.

Fauna:  Animals or animal life of a region or ecosystem.

Filterer:  Organisms that feed by filtering organic matter from the water.  A type of collector.

Flood:  High streamflow that overtops the natural or artificial banks of a stream.

Food web:  The pathway of food sources between communities of different organisms where energy and nutrients are passed from one organism to another.

Gallery forest:  Forested or wooded area that lines a stream or river.

Gatherer:  Organisms that feed on particles on the bottom of the stream. A type of collector.

Geomorphology:  Study of the changes in geology or land features overtime.   

Gills:  Organs used to breathe underwater by obtaining oxygen from water. 

Ground water:  Water found under the ground in the soil and rock layers that collects over impermeable rock and then flows laterally toward a stream.

Habitat:  The place where a plant or animal naturally lives or grows. 

Headwaters:  The source of a stream.

Herbivore:  An animal that feeds on plants.

High-water event:  Fast, high rise of water above the stream channel. This occurs when a large amount of rain falls on saturated soil causing the rainfall to move quickly over ground into a stream or body of water.  This is an extreme event, which can significantly change the stream channel.

Hypothesis:  A potential explanation for a condition or set of facts that can be tested through further investigation. 

Infiltration:  Drainage of water through soil.

Intermittent stream:  One that does not flow year-round.

Invertebrate:  Animal without a backbone or internal skeleton, but with an external skeleton made of chitin.

Larva:  Active immature stage in an organism’s life history.

Macroinvertebrate:  An invertebrate large enough to be seen without magnification.

Meander:  The winding course of a stream.

Midge:  A tiny fly with one pair of wings in the adult stage.

Morphology:  The study of change.

Naiad:  Aquatic larvae of mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies and stoneflies.

Nutrient:  Material that serves as food or provides nourishment.

Nymph:  Type of larva that differs from the adult animal in size and degree (incomplete metamorphosis). 

Oligochaetes:  Any of a class of segmented worms, such as the earthworm.

Organism:  Any living individual plant or animal.

Oxygen:  A colorless gas in the atmosphere essential for animal respiration.

Pollution:  Substances that adversely affect the environment; alteration of the properties of water by the introduction of any substance that renders the water harmful to use. 

Pollution sensitive:  Organisms that require clear, clean, well-oxygenated water to survive.

Pollution tolerant:  Organisms that can survive in poor water quality, polluted to some degree by sediment, chemicals, or nutrients.

Pool:  Deeper and slower flowing water in a stream.

Population: Group of organisms of the same species living in a particular region.

Predator:  An organism that hunts and kills other animals for food.

Prey:  An animal hunted or caught for food.

Pristine:  Naturally free from contamination or pollution.

Producer:  An organism that makes its own food through photosynthesis; plants.

Quantitative: How much there is of something you can measure and represent with numbers. 

Random sample:  A sample area chosen without bias. 

Reach:  A uniform section of stream with a repeating chain of physical characteristics and habitat types, such as pool-riffle-pool. 

Riffle:  Shallow area of the stream characterized by rapid flow, a ripply surface and gravel bed.

Riparian:  Located or living along or near a stream, river or body of water.

Runoff:  Water that drains or flows off the surface of the land. 

Sample:  A representative part of a larger whole. 

Sampling:  Selecting a small part for inspection or analysis.

Saturated:  All spaces between soil particles and rock material are filled with water.

Scour:  Erosive action of flowing water in streams that removes and carries away material from the stream bed and stream banks.

Scrapper:  Organisms that feed by removing organic material from objects in the creek.

Sediment:  Particles carried and deposited by the stream current.

Segment:  A subdivision of the insect’s body.

Sensitive:  An organism affected most easily by pollutants.

Shredder:  Organisms that feed by cutting and tearing organic matter.

Specimen:  One or part that is typical of the group or whole.

Spring:  Underground water emerging naturally from the earth.

Stream:  A body of running water moving under the influence of gravity through a clearly defined natural channel.

Stream bank:  Soil at the edge of the stream.

Stream bed:  Part of the stream over which water moves.

Substrate:  Inorganic material that forms the stream bed.

Surber bottom sampler:  Specialized net with a defined sample area used to collect stream invertebrates.

Surface water:  Water above the surface of the land, including lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, floodwater and runoff.

Suspended sediment:  Particles carried in water without being dissolved.

Tally:  Marks made to keep count. The fifth mark crosses the previous four.

Thorax:  The middle region of an insect bearing the wings and legs.

Tolerant:  An organism capable of living in a polluted environment.

Transporation:  The process by which water is absorbed by plants and evaporated into the atmosphere from the plant surfaces. 

Transport:  To carry solid material in the stream current.

Tributary:  A stream branch that flows into the main channel.

Turbellarian: Any of a class of free-living flatworms, such as planaria.

Turbidity:  Muddiness created by stirring up sediment; the measure of suspended sediment in the water.

Upstream:  Against the current moving toward the source of the stream.

Vegetation:  Plant life. 

Velocity:  Distance traveled per time, such as feet/second.

Watershed:  All the land area that drains into a particular body of water.  Also called a drainage basin.

Xeriscaping:  A form of landscaping that utilizes native, locally adapted plants to reduce water usage.