Glossary

Anaerobic - Without oxygen, as in wetlands soils that are starved of oxygen.

Contaminant - Harmful substance deposited in the air or water or land.

Detritus - Dead and dying plants; can also be bits of animal remains; forms base of nutrient web in wetlands.

Habitat - Food, water, shelter, and space that an animal requires.

Hydrology (as in wetlands) - Amount and period of time that water is present.

Hydric soils - Soils low in or lacking oxygen due to their saturation by water.

Hydrophytic vegetation - Plants adapted to wet soil.

Load - Amount of contaminant/pollutant/sediment being carried by a stream, river, or other waterway.

Pollutant - See "contaminant."

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

Sediment - Silt washed from the land and into the water.

Soil, mineral - Soil that contains few decomposing plants; usually comprised of materials in the form of clay, sand, or silt.

Soil, organic - soil that contains large amounts of decomposing plants.

Water cycle - The continuous circulation of water in systems throughout the planet, involving condensation, precipitation, runoff, evaporation, and transpiration.

Wetland - As defined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: An area inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.

 Back