Abstraction |
Removal of water from surface waters (rivers or streams) or
groundwater (underground water) for use. Water is usually removed
by pumping |
Aelvins or Alevins |
Baby salmon or trout that have just hatched from eggs and
feed on their yolk sac |
Amphibian |
Animal living both on land and in water, such as a frog or
newt |
Aquatic |
Of or living in fresh water |
Aquifer |
A layer of underground rock which holds water. Water can be
pumped out of an aquifer through a borehole |
Bacteria |
Tiny unicellular (one celled) organisms found almost everywhere,
some of which cause disease |
Borehole |
A hole or well bored into earth or rock with a pump to draw
water |
Buffer zone |
A strip of land separating farmed land and animals from watercourses |
Catchment River basin |
The area which is drained by a river system |
Condense |
Reduce from gas or vapour to form a liquid |
Confluence |
The point where two rivers meet |
Conserving |
Protecting or preserving |
Contaminated |
Polluted or infected |
Coppicing |
Regular cutting of small trees |
Crustaceans |
Animals with hard shells and jointed bodies, like shrimps,
crabs, wood-louse |
Deciduous tree |
Sheds its leaves each year |
Deposit |
Natural accumulation of matter, eg a layer of sand settled
in a river |
Erosion |
Eat away, wear out, destroy gradually |
Floodplain |
The naturally flat expanse of land alongside the river. When
the river level is high following heavy rain, water overflows
onto the flood plain |
Frequency |
How often |
Fry |
Young fish in its first year |
Gradient |
Amount of slope, inclination |
Grilse |
Young salmon that has spent 1 winter at sea before returning
to the river |
Intensity |
Strength, amount, degree |
Habitat |
Natural home of plants or animals |
Herbicides |
Substances used to destroy unwanted vegetation or weeds, also
called weedkillers |
Invertebrates |
Animals or mini-beasts having no backbone, such as insects,
shrimps, snails or other crustaceans |
Impermeable |
Liquids cannot pass through it |
Juvenile |
Young |
Kelts |
Salmon that have spawned |
Leats |
Man-made stream, eg a watercourse carrying water to a mill |
Location |
Place, position |
Marine |
Of the sea |
MSW salmon |
Multi Sea Winters fish – salmon that have spent more
than 1 year at sea |
Nitrogen |
An element, a gas, present in compounds known as nitrates |
Nutrients (plants) |
Mineral substances that are absorbed by the roots of plants
for food |
Oxygenation |
Adding oxygen to the water (which fish can breathe through
their gills) |
Parr |
Juvenile salmon in 2nd or 3rd year in freshwater |
Pesticides |
Substances or poisons for destroying pests, usually insects,
also called insecticides |
Photosynthesis |
Process by which the energy of sunlight is trapped by the
chlorophyll of green plants and used to build up complex materials
from carbon dioxide and water |
Predation |
Animals (such as fish) being hunted, killed and eaten by other
animals. The predator is the hunter and the prey is the hunted. |
Predator |
Any carnivorous (flesh-eating) animal |
Predatory |
Species of animals (such as fish) that hunt, kill and eat
other animals |
Reservoir |
Man-made lake to store water for domestic use |
Riffle |
Shallow part of a stream where water flows brokenly |
Run (fish) |
The journey upstream from the sea taken by migratory fish
such as salmon or sea trout to their breeding grounds. |
Salmonid |
Family of fish including salmon, trout and sea trout |
Sediment |
Matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid, eg fine sand
in a stream |
Sewage sludge |
Thick greasy mud from sewage tank or cesspit |
Silage |
Winter feed for cattle. Silage is grass that is cut in summer
and fermented in a storage silo. Silage juices can pollute water. |
Site |
Place, location |
Slurry (farm) |
Farm slurry is a mixture of animal waste, water, etc that
can be used as a fertiliser, but which can also pollute water |
Slurry (mining) |
Mining slurry is a thick mixture of materials from the mine
and water. |
Smolt |
Young salmon leaving freshwater for first visit to sea |
Solar energy |
Energy or power from the sun |
Source |
The place where the river begins -sometimes a trickle of water
from a spring on a hillside |
Spawn |
To produce eggs |
Spring Salmon |
Salmon that have spent at least 2 years at sea and return
to freshwater from Jan to May to spawn the next autumn |
Terrestrial |
Of the land |
Territorial |
Keeping to a territory or area |
Topography |
Mapping of the surface of the land |
Toxic |
Harmful, poisonous |
Translucent |
Clear |
Tributaries |
Streams or small rivers running into a main river |
Turbidity |
A measure of how cloudy the water looks.
Cloudiness is caused by light reflecting on particles suspended
in the water |
Vulnerable |
Easily damaged, fragile, sensitive |
Waterlogged |
Filled or heavy with water, saturated
with water |
Wetlands |
Swamps, marshes and other damp areas
of land |
