Stream Morphology
These classic flow features often are found in groups of three.
What is pool-riffle-run.
This vampire-like fish has anadromous life history and have survived over 360 million years by sucking the blood of their hosts
What are sea lamprey? These fish are invasive in the Great Lakes Region, and are managed for heavily. Their invasion nearly decimated lake trout populations in the region, and prompted the formation of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
This migration strategy is common in salmon and trout species
What is Anadromy? Anadromous fish enter the world in freshwater (usually streams), before migrating out to a lake or ocean to spend their adult lives. They will then return to the place where they hatched when it is their turn to spawn.
These two elements are the main driver of eutrophication
What are Nitrogen and Phosphorus?
These U-shaped lakes form when a meandering stream is cut off.
This feature of fish on the outside of their body gives them super-fish like senses, allowing them to detect prey floating by in complete silence and darkness
What is the lateral line? Sensory organs along the lateral line can detect very small vibrations in the water, allowing fish to orient themselves as needed, and detect prey based on their movement in the water.
What is potadromy?
These bacteria are commonly added to aquarium tanks and allowed to colonize the water filter to remove harmful ammonia/um
What are nitrobacter and nitrosomonas? nitrosomonas converts ammonium into ammonia and nitrite, which are then converted to nitrate by nitrobacter.
This metric is a measure of how much a stream meanders.
What is sinuosity?
These small animals can regenerate entire bodies if they are cut in half
What are planarians (flat worms)? These animals have stem cells called neoblasts that can differentiate into any cell type needed. Certain species can regenerate from as little as 1/200th of their original body.
These are the main functional feeding groups in macroinvertebrate communities
These compounds can turn a stream into a tea-like color and are often provided from allocthonous sources
What are tannins?
This common manmade object allows some organisms to subvert or swim up dams
What is a fish ladder? These structures provide a detour for fish to get around dams and waterfalls, etc., and are often added to avoid hindering migration.
Improper disposal/pollution of this class of drug can actually change fish behavior, making them more bold and inclined to risk taking behavior.
what are antidepressents? Aich et al. (2024) showed that chronic exposure to fluoxetine (Prozac) changed guppie behavior at a dose-dependent rate. Mainly, it made them more inclined to take risks, reduced behavioral diversity, and reduced sperm velocity.
In this strategy, fish spawn in salt water environments, and migrate to fresh water environments.
what is catadromy? A classic species that does this is the American eel.
A stream is much more conductive in the winter; what is likely causing this?
What is salt/road salt? Dissolved salt ions enter the stream through runoff and can cause conductivity to increase, as well as harm organisms if concentrations become too high.
Yargh, this happens when a stream erodes its way into another stream, and captures it.
What is stream piracy?
These bacteria can orient themselves in a magnetic field.
What are magnetotactic bacteria? They have magnetic crystals fixed inside of specialized organelles called magnetosomes, allowing them to float along the orientation of Earths magnetic field.
This strategy involves organisms staying in low-flow pockets of the stream to minimize energy use.
This acronym is used to describe the amount of oxygen needed by the organisms present in the stream
What is BOD (biological oxygen demand)?