Pond Ecosystem Vocabulary

            Aquifer: permeable material through which groundwater moves

            Benthic: relating to or occurring at the bottom of a body of water

Chlorophyll: the green photosynthetic chemical of plants

Cone of Depression: a dimple in the water table, which forms as water is pumped

from a well

Consumer: an organism requiring complex organic compounds for food which it

obtains by preying on other organisms or by eating particles of organic matter

            Decomposer: any of various organisms (as many bacteria and fungi) that return    

            constituents of organic substances to ecological cycles by feeding on and breaking

            down dead protoplasm

            Detritus: loose material (as rock fragments or organic particles) that results directly

            from disintegration or decay

            Groundwater: water within the earth that supplies wells and springs

            Habitat: the place or type of site where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives

            and grows

            Inlet: a stream flowing into a lake or pond

            Invertebrate: lacking a spinal column

            Light Compensation Level (LCL): level of sunlight at which the amount of carbon

           dioxide taken in by sugars during photosynthesis equals the carbon dioxide being

           released during respiration

Limnetic Zone: the area of a body of water which is above the LCL, but does not

include the littoral zone

Littoral Zone: region of a body of water where the water depth is less than the LCL, allowing light to penetrate to the bottom and rooted plants to grow

            Metamorphosis: a marked and more or less abrupt change in the form or structure of

            an animal (as a butterfly or a frog) occurring subsequent to birth or hatching

            Outlet: a stream flowing out of a lake or pond

            Photosynthesis: formation of sugars (carbohydrates) in the chlorophyll-containing

            tissues of plants exposed to light

            Plankton: the passively floating or weakly swimming usually minute animal and plant

            life of a body of water

            Producer: an organism (as a green plant) which produces its own organic compounds

            from simple precursors (as carbon dioxide and inorganic nitrogen) and many of which

            are food sources for other organisms

            Profundal Zone: the volume of the body of water that is below the LCL

            Respiration: the physical and chemical processes by which an organism supplies its

            cells and tissues with the oxygen needed for metabolism and relieves them of the

            carbon dioxide formed in energy-producing reactions

            Sediment: material deposited by water, wind, or glaciers

            Watershed: a region or area bounded peripherally by a water parting and draining  

            ultimately to a particular watercourse or body of water