Click here to download the River Unit vocabulary notes organizer that we use in class.
Organism – a complete living thing
Habitat – the area in which an organism lives
Watershed – the ground area that drains into a river
Riffle – area of a stream where shallow water flows swiftly over rocks
Benthic – living on the bottom of the stream
Macro invertebrate – an organism that can be seen with the naked eye and has no backbone
Metamorphosis – in insects, the change from young to adult form involving the reorganization of body tissues
Incomplete metamorphosis – development by three stages: egg, nymph, and adult
Complete metamorphosis – development by four stages: egg, larvae, pupa, and adult
Point Source Pollution – water pollution that can be traced to a specific source
Non-Point Source Pollution - water pollution that cannot be traced to a specific source
Water Cycle – the recycling of water throughout the planet – see packet
Biodiversity - is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems.