Glossary

(F through P)

Fecal Coliform	A gram-negative bacteria found in feces of humans and wildlife that is used to evaluate water quality. High levels of fecal bacteria indicate a failure in water treatment and possible contamination of pathogens.
Fish Ladder	Also known as fishways, fish steps, or fish passages, are man made structures on or around barriers such as dams and locks that facilitate anadromous fish passage. Fishways are engineered such that the flow attracts fish to the opening of the ladder.
Fishable Swimable
Floodplains	The flat land adjacent to a stream or river that experiences occational or periodic flooding.
Fragmentation (Habitat)	Environmental changes in the connectivity of an organism's preferred habitats, frequently caused by agriculture, development and urbinization.
Groundwater	Water located beneath the ground surgace in soil pore spaces and fractures in the lithologic formation.
Hydrology	The study of the movement, distribution and quality of water, thus addressing both the hydrologic cycle and water resources.
Hypoxia	The point at which dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in water are reduced to a point detrimental to aquatic organisms living in the system. In Rhode Island a water body is considered hypoxic when DO falls below 2.9mg/L
Impervious Surface	Artificial structures such as pavement (roads, sidewalks, and parking lots) and rooftops that are covered by impenetrable mterials such as asphalt, concrete, brick.
Indicators	A set of metrics used to evaluate the status and trends of the quality of the environment.
Infrastructure	The services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The development of roads, water supply, sewer systems, power grids and buildings.
Invasive Species	An organism that is introduced into an environment in which it has an advantage to the native species and outcompetes them for habitat and food.
Invertebrate	An animal lacking a vertebral column, now clasified in over 30 phyla ranging from simple sea sponges to complex animals such as arthropods and molluscs.
Macroalgae	Also known as seaweed; algae that is visible to the naked eye.
Main stem	The principal channel within a given drainage basin into which all of the tributary streams flow.
Marsh	A type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flooding. Typically featuring grasses, reeds and low growing shrubs or woody plants growing in shallow water.
Microorganisms	An organism too small to see with the naked eye and include a diverse aray of bacteria, fungi, viruses and plankton. They are critical to nutrient recycling in the ecosystem as the act as decomposers.
Nonpoint source	Water pollution affecting a water body from diffuse sources such as agriculural runoff and wind-borne debris blowing out to sea.
Nutrient Cycling	The pathway by which a chemical element or molecule moves through biotic and abiotic compartments of the earth.
Nutrient Loading	The amount of nutrients moving into a system through point and nonpoint sources.
Pathogen	An infectious agent (commonly refered to as a germ) is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to the host.
Pelagic	Water in the ocean that is not close to the sea floor. There are four zones within the pelagic zone of the water column (Epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic and abyssopelagic).
Periphyton	A complex mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, microbes and detritus attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems, serving as an important food source for invertebrates, tadpoles and some fish. It can also serve as a filter, absorbing contaminants from the watercolumn and limiting their movement through the environment.
Phytoplanton	Microscopic algae that obtain nutrients through photosynthesis. Most simply drift through the water culumn with the currents, but some have limited mobility of their own known as flagella.
Plankton Bloom	A rapid increase in the population of a specific species of algae in an aquatic ecosystem. Some blooms such as "red tide" are known as harmful algal blooms (HAB) and can cause illness to humans and aquatic organisms.
Point Source	An identifiable, localized source of pollution such as a water discharge outlet at a power treatment plant, smog from an industrial smoke stack, and intrusive lights form a city.
Pollution Gradiant	Reffers to the continuous decrease in measure of total pollutants as one moves away from the source of the pollution.
Primary Productivity	The base of the food chain where production of organic compounds from aquatic and atmospheric carbon dioxide, principally through photosynthesis.
Pump-out Facility	A holding place where a ship's sewage is discharged and sent to a treatment plant.