Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Infiltrate, flows into; permeate
Infiltration, gradual movement or permeation
(e.g., of water through soils)
Interception, the process of plants stopping pre-
cipitation before it reaches the ground
Interference competition, direct negative com-
petitive effects between species
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis, the idea
that diversity is maximal at intermediate
disturbance
Internal loading, availability of nutrients from
within the system; often associated with lake
mixing
Internal seiche, rocking of the hypolimnion
while the surface of epilimnion stays still
Interspecific, between species
Interstices, voids between sediment particles or
in rocks
Interstitial, between particles
Intraspecific, within a species
Inverse stratification, warm water under cold
water in a vertical temperature profile; can
occur below an ice cover during winter strat-
ification or when warm saline water sits be-
low cooler, more dilute water
Irradiance, radiance flux density on a given
surface
Isobath, contour line of lake depth; a bathy-
metric map of a lake is composed of
isobaths
Isothermal, with the same temperature;
homoiothermal
Kairomone, compound produced by a preda-
tor that affects the behavior, morphology,
or life history characteristics of a prey
species
Karst, irregular limestone region with sinks,
underground streams, and caverns
Kemmerer sampler, a tube that closes by grav-
ity when a messenger is sent down a line to
it; used to sample water
Kerogen, marine and lacustrine residues, not
soil humus
Kettles, when large blocks of ice melt and leave
lakes, ponds, or wetlands
Keystone species, species that have a major im-
pact on their community or ecosystem; im-
pact is disproportionately large relative to
abundance
Lacustrine, shallow lake habitat
Lake, very slowly flowing body of water in a
depression of ground not in contact with
the sea
Laminar flow, flow all in one direction, with
little lateral mixing (as opposed to turbu-
lent flow)
Langmuir circulation, large spiral circulation
patterns in lakes induced by wind
Larvae, early life-form of an animal
LC 50 , the concentration of a toxic compound
that will kill half of the test organisms
LD 50 , the dose of a toxic compound that will
kill half of the test organisms
Leaf pack, natural or artificial amassing of
leaves in a stream
Leibig's law of the minimum, a law that states
that the rate of a process is limited by the
rate of its slowest subprocess
Lentic, still water habitat
Lethal, causing death
Lichen, symbiotic mutualistic partnership be-
tween fungi and alga
Lignin, a complex polymer produced by plants
that is resistant to microbial degradation
Limnocrene, water from a spring or artesian
well forming a pool
Limnology, study of continental waters
Lithotrophy, primary production or autotro-
phy with inorganic substances providing
electrons; chemolithotrophy, photolithotro-
phy, chemoautotrophy
Littoral zone, shallow, shoreline area of a body
of water; often considered the portion of
benthos from zero depth to the deepest ex-
tent of rooted plants
Logarithmic, an exponential relationship
Lotic, moving water
Luxury consumption, uptake of a nutrient in
excess of needs
Lysimeter, a sampler used to sample soil water
Maar, volcanic eruption crater; can contain a
lake or wetland
Macrobenthos, small (about 1 mm) bottom-
dwelling organisms
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