A
Acorn Woodpecker: a bird with a large, straight beak associated with oak trees. When acorns are ripe, the bird carries an acorn to a perch, pecks off the shell, and eats the contents. To store for later use, the bird drills a hole in a tree or post of a size to fit each acorn that is gathered. Some trees hold over 10,500 acorns!
Acorn: the fruit or nut of an oak tree
Activated sludge: sludge particles produced by the growth of microorganisms in aerated tanks as a part of the activated sludge process to treat wastewater
Adaptation: an alteration or adjustment in structure or habits by which a species or individual improves its condition in relationship to its environment. The way animals change in their behavior and/or their bodies. They must fit in with the environmental conditions which occur in its habitat.
Adult: fully developed and mature; grown-up
Aeration: exposure to circulating air; adds oxygen to the wastewater and allows other gases trapped in the wastewater to escape. The first step in secondary treatment via activated sludge process.
Aerobic: oxygen is present
Alevin: a newly hatched salmon with its yolk sac still attached
Algal: relating to algae
Anadromous: describes fishes that begin life in fresh water, then go to the ocean to live, and finally return to fresh water to spawn (derived from Greek = “running upward”)
Anaerobic: oxygen is not present
Animal Signs: evidence left which proves the presence of an animal. Signs may be scat (droppings), scrapes, rubs, tracks, feathers, hair, etc.
Aquatic animal: an animal growing or living in the water
Aquatic: growing, living in, or frequenting water
Aqueduct: canals, pipelines, and tunnels that move water to where it is needed in the state
Arboreal: adapted to moving about in or among trees
B
Biomes: large areas or environments that share the same general climate of temperature and rainfall
Biosolids: sludge that is intended for beneficial use. Biosolids must meet certain government-specified criteria depending on its use (e.g. fertilizer or soil amendment).
Brown fat: fat that forms patches near an animal’s brain, heart, and lungs. This fat sends a quick burst of energy to warm these organs first when it is time to wake up from hibernation or torpor.
Butterfly: flying insect active by day, characterized by clubbed antennae, slender body, and broad, conspicuously-marked wings
Buttoning up: as the fry “use up” the yolk sac, as a food source, its belly closes up
C
California Gray Squirrel: a strong, gray, tree-dweller with a large, bushy tail living in the foothills and Yellow Pine belts of the Sierra. Feeds mostly on pine seeds and acorns
Camouflage: to conceal or disguise
Carbon cycle: natural process by which CO2 molecules move through the environment
Change: to make different in some way
Characteristic: a distinguishing feature or quality
Coagulation: the process in which raw water from terminal reservoirs is drawn into mixing basins at treatment plants where alum, polymer and sometimes lime and carbon dioxide are added. This process causes small particles to stick to one another, forming larger particles, which are more easily removed.
Coloration: the state of being colored
Community: a specific area in which certain plants and animals live and interact
Compaction: the process of packing firmly together; refers to soil which has very few pore spaces
Compass: a handheld tool for determining direction with the help of a magnetized needle which is pointing to magnetic north
Complete metamorphosis: change during growth in insects from larvae to adulthood that includes a pupa stage. Larvae and adults generally look very different from each other. Incomplete metamorphosis: simple change during growth in insects from egg to nymph to adult. Nymphs and adults often show similarities in appearance.
Condensation: the change of vapor into a liquid
Conductivity: a measure of how well water carries an electrical current
Cone: a generally woody structure which producing seeds on most conifers
Conifer: a tree or shrub with needle-like leaves that produces seeds in cones
Controls: the man-made or natural features in the landscape upon which a control marker is placed, and which is described by a clue; the mapped features toward which you are navigating; the checkpoints on a orienteering course
Control Marker: the three-dimensional orange-and-white nylon flag used to mark the control feature
Crust: a layer from 4–25 miles thick consisting of sand and rock
D
Deciduous: generally said of leaves falling off naturally at the end of a growing period, or of plants that are seasonally leafless
Declination: the difference between magnetic north and geographic north
Decomposition: the process of breaking down into constituent parts or elements
Direction: the line a moving person takes: right, left, straight relative to the control or features
Disinfection: the final stage in the water treatment process in order to limit the effects of organic material, suspended solids and other contaminants. To protect against any bacteria, viruses and other microbes that might remain, a disinfectant is added before the water flows into underground reservoirs throughout the distribution system and into your home or business.
Dissolved oxygen: (often referred to as “D.O.”) the amount of oxygen gas dissolved in water
Diurnal: recurring every day
Domesticate: to adapt an animal or plant in intimate association with humans
E
Ecology: the study of how plants and animals live together and interact with each other in their natural surroundings
Ecosystem: describes how the plants and animals within a habitat interact with each other and with the nonliving parts of their environment
Effluent: treated wastewater leaving a treatment process or plant
Embeddedness: a measure of how much silt surrounds stream substrate. It gives an indication of the sediment load to a stream.
Environment: the combination of surrounding things, conditions, and influences that affect a given organism at any time; forces that shape a life of a population
Ephemeral stream: stream that doesn’t flow year around
Erosion: the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, and the like
Estuary: where the fresh water of the rivers meet the salt water of the ocean
Evaporation: the change of a liquid into a vapor
Evergreen: having leaves that remain green and on the plant for more than one season and do not fall all together
F
Filtration: the process in which water is filtered through layers of fine, granulated materials—either sand, or sand and coal, depending on the treatment plant. As smaller, suspended particles are removed, turbidity diminishes and clear water emerges.
Food web: how plants, animals, and insects interrelate in a food chain within an ecological community.
Fry: baby salmon that have used up their yolk sacs and are ready to find their own food
G
Gall: an outgrowth or swelling on a plant (oak tree) surrounding a deposited insect egg
Gas: matter that has no shape or size of its own
Germinate: to begin to grow or sprout
Glacier: a large mass of ice and snow that doesn’t completely melt every year
Grit chamber: a chamber or tank used in primary treatment where wastewater slows down and heavy, large solids (grit) settle out and are removed
Ground water: water found underground in porous rocks and soils
Grow: to spring up or develop into maturity
H
Habitat: the natural home where a plant or animal finds the food, water, air, and space it needs to survive
Hibernation: a deep sleep when an animal appears to be dead because the animal’s body temperature drops to almost the same temperature as the outside and its heartbeat and breathing slow down.
Hydroelectricity: electricity generated by water
I
Igneous rock: formed from magma and cooled quickly above the earth’s surface or slowly below the earth’s surface
Inner core: a mass of iron with a temperature of about 7,000 degrees F
Irrigation: to supply land with water through artificial channels
L
Lagoons (treatment ponds): a wastewater treatment method that uses ponds to treat wastewater
Leaf: an outgrowth of the stem, generally green, often composed of a stalk (petiole), and a flat, expanded, photosynthetic area (blade)
Life cycle: the continuous sequence of changes undergone by an organism from one primary form to the development of the same form again
Liquid: matter that you can pour or that can flow
Loam: rich soil containing relatively equal proportions of sand and silt and a somewhat smaller proportion of clay
M
Macro invertebrates: invertebrate animals (without backbones) large enough to be observed without a microscope or other magnification
Magma: slow moving molten rock in the mantel of the earth
Magnetic north: the direction a compass needle always points
Mammal: warm-blooded animal that nourishes their young with milk secreted by mammary glands, have the skin usually covered with hair
Man-made: created by human beings
Mantle: a rock layer about 1,750 miles thick that reaches about half the distance to the center of the earth
Map: a reduced diagram of a portion of the surface of the earth
Metamorphic rock: material formed from pieces of sedimentary or igneous rock that transforms through extreme pressure and heat into a different kind of rock
Metamorphosis: change during growth
Migrate: to physically move from one region to another depending on seasons; salmon hatch in fresh water, migrate to sea, and spawners migrate back again to fresh water
Migration: the travelling to other places where the weather is warmer and/or there is more food.
Milt: sperm-filled fluid sprayed by a male fish to fertilize eggs
Mineral soil: soil comprised of small bits of rock with little or no organic material
N
Natural: existing in or produced by nature
Needle: a narrow, linear, often waxy, generally evergreen leaf, especially on conifers
O
Oak: any tree belonging to the genus Quercus, bearing the acorn as fruit
Observe: to look closely at something with the intention of describing it in detail
Organic: living or once living
Organic matter: plant and animal material in various stages of decomposition
Organism: a living thing
Outer core: a mass of molten iron about 1,425 miles deep that surrounds the solid inner core
P
Patterns: a natural marking or decorative design on an organism composed of elements in an arrangement. Patterns can protect (camouflage), repel, or attract other organisms.
Perennial stream: stream that flows year around
Petiole: leaf stalk which connects the leaf blade to the stem of a plant
Petroglyph: a carving on a rock
pH: the power of hydrogen; a measure of the strength of the hydrogen ion in water; a logarithmic scale measurement of H ions (H+) and hydroxide ions (OH) numbered 1–14 where <7 is acidic, 7 neutral and >7 is basic (alkaline)
Photosynthesis: the process by which green plants combine the energy from sunlight with carbon dioxide and water to make food and oxygen; the process plants use to convert sunlight energy, water, and CO2 to carbohydrates for foods and gases
Pictograph: an ancient drawing or painting on a rock
Pine nut: the edible fruit of the Pine tree. Each seed is encased in a hard shell
Pine: an evergreen tree of the genus Pinus, having needlelike leaves in bundles and woody cones which produce winged seeds
Pollution: damage done to the soil by harmful substances (litter, oil, pesticides)
Precipitation: the condensation and falling of water as rain
Primary treatment: the first stage of wastewater treatment that removes settleable or floating solids only
R
Redd: a nest that a female salmon or steelhead digs with her tail in the gravel and a place where her eggs are deposited
Reservoir: storage area of water for farms, homes and businesses, flood control, hydroelectricity, and recreation
Respect: to consider worthy of high regard and/or to refrain from interfering with
Riparian: situated on the bank of a river or other body of water; a zone that links terrestrial and aquatic systems
Root: underground structure of a plant, generally branched, and generally growing into the ground from the base of a stem. Roots’ functions include anchorage, absorption of water and nutrients, and food storage.
Route: path, way for passage
S
Salmoniod: of or belonging to the family Salmonidae, which includes salmon, trout, and whitefish
Sap: a watery juice, containing sugar and mineral salts, that circulates through the tissues of a plant
Secondary treatment: a type of wastewater treatment used to convert dissolved and suspended pollutants into a form that can be removed, producing a relatively highly treated effluent
Sedimentary rocks: weathered and eroded rocks mixed with bones and shells forming layers and cemented together through pressure
Sedimentation: the process used in both primary and secondary wastewater treatment that takes place when gravity pulls particles to the bottom of a tank
Senses: any of an animal’s or human’ functions of taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight that allow it to examine its environment
Silt: one of the three particles of soil; larger than clay, but smaller than sand
Sludge: any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste that settles to the bottom of sedimentation tanks or septic tanks
Smolt: a young salmon that is ready to migrate to the ocean
Soil: the surface layer of earth supporting plant life
Solid: matter that has a definite shape
Source: a point of origin of a stream of water
Spawn: to lay eggs or fertilize them.
Stewardship: choices and actions to protect our environment
Stoichiometric: relating to the definite proportions and conservation of matter and energy to chemical activity
T
Temperature of water: a measure of the kinetic energy of water molecules
Terrestrial: living or growing on land, not aquatic
Tertiary treatment: any level of treatment beyond secondary treatment, which could include filtration, nutrient removal (removal of nitrogen and phosphorus) and removal of toxic chemicals or metals; also called “advanced treatment” when nutrient removal is included
Texture: the tactile quality of a surface. In soil, it represents the relative amounts of gravel, sand, silt, and clay in a given soil sample.
Torpor: a type of hibernation where the animal sleeps for short periods of time. The heart rate slows down and the body temperature goes down, but the animal is able to wake up and move around for short periods.
Transpiration: the loss of water vapor by evaporation from plant structures. Water enters the plant through the roots, travels up the plant stems, and is lost through the leaves into the air.
Tree: a plant having a permanently woody stem or trunk ordinarily growing to a considerable height with branches at some distance from the ground
Tributary: a smaller stream or river that flows into another larger stream or river
Trickling filter process: a biological treatment process that uses coarse media (usually rock or plastic) contained in a tank that serves as a surface on which microbiological growth occurs. Wastewater trickles over the media and microorganisms remove the pollutants.
Turbidity: a measure of the amount of suspended particles in water
W
Wastewater: water that has been used for domestic or industrial use
Water cycle: the paths water takes through its various states—vapor, liquid, and solid—as it moves throughout earth’s systems (oceans, atmosphere, ground water, streams, etc.)
Water: the liquid that descends from the clouds as rain, forms stream, lakes, and seas, and is a major constituent of all living matter. It is odorless and tasteless.
Watershed: the land that serves as drainage for specific streams or rivers
Wild: living in a state of nature and not ordinarily tame or domesticated
Y
Yolk sac: the food supply that is attached to the baby salmon when it hatches
Young: being in first or early stage of life