Wetlands
An area of land that is saturated with groundwater or runoff.
What is a wetland?
A smaller stream that feeds into a river and
eventually into a river system.
What are tributaries?
An area of land drained by a river system.
What is a watershed?
This is directly related to the quality of water in it.
What is the health of an ecosystem?
The collection of water samples to analyze chemical and/or biological parameters, including pH, temperature, salinity, and the presence of macroinvertebrates.
What is water quality monitoring?
These wetlands are characterized by spongy peat, acidic waters, and a floor covered by thick moss.
What is a bog?
Animals without a backbone that are large enough to see without a microscope.
What are macroinvertebrates?
The three major watersheds in the state of Virginia.
What is Chesapeake Bay, North Carolina Sound, and Mississippi River?
These are the living things like plants and animals.
What is biotic?
Comes from plants and the atmosphere.
What is dissolved oxygen?
A wetland where water levels rise (or lower) in a cycle and the sea meets the land.
What is a tidal wetland?
The moving or washing away of weathered rock and soil by wind, water, or glaciers.
What is erosion?
Provides crucial habitat for fish, shellfish, and wildlife; filters and reenergizes fresh water; provides a buffer against costal storm damage.
What is the Chesapeake Bay Watershed?
A mixture of fresh water and saltwater.
What is brackish?
A measurement of soil particles, algae, plankton, and microbes.
What is turbidity?
A wetland dominated by woody plants.
What is a swamp?
A harmful substance added to air, water, or soil that has a negative effect on living organisms in an environment.
What is pollution?
Rivers in Southwest Virginia are part of this watershed.
What is the Mississippi River watershed?
These are ecosystems where freshwater from a river mixes with saltwater from the sea.
What is an estuary?
Higher on the pH scale, this means water the opposite of acidic.
What is basicity (basic)?
Common in floodplains along rivers and streams.
What is a nontidal wetland?
Microscopic organisms that can be found in various water sources, including drinking water, surface water, and groundwater. An example is E.coli.
What are bacteria (microbes)?
Our local watershed contained within the Mississippi River watershed.
What is the Clinch/Powell watershed?
By placing this letter in front of a word, it can mean "not" which negates the definition of the word.
What is "a"?
This affects wildlife when salt levels change in water.
What is salinity?