Definition: Deficiency or lack of clarity, (in this case, of the water).
Impact on Stream Health: Turbidity affects the amount of sunlight that reaches the
bottom of the stream. If the turbidity is high, not much sunlight reaches the plants and
organisms that thrive in the stream and they suffocate and die. With high turbidity, dissolved
oxygen increases and hardly anything can grow in the water, decreasing its biodiversity and
overall health.
Temperature
Definition: How warm or cool an object or surface is.
Impact on Stream Health: Temperature is an important measurement to make because
it helps to further understanding about dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity levels.
Temperature influences the amount and diversity of life in water. The aquatic growth process is
similar to the seasonal process that happens every spring in regions that experience four
seasons. There’s not much life and growth during the winter, but when spring comes, there is a
rapid growth rate to just about every living thing in the area. Therefore, water temperature
dictates the amount and type of species that live in a stream. A median temperature would be
ideal for the most diverse streams, but it depends on the type of species that are resident to
stream to determine its health. The temperature is necessary to measure in order to determine
what kind of species can live and thrive in a stream.
pH
Definition: The measurement of how acidic or basic a substance is according to the pH
scale.
Impact on Stream Health: In regards to stream health, pH measures the acidic content
of the water. pH strongly influences what organisms can live in a specific body of water and the
slightest change in pH could have severe effects on the quality of the water and its residents.
Some organisms, like salamanders, frogs and other amphibians, can be troubled by high pH
levels. Some streams may have a more unbalanced pH level because of human influences from
chemicals in mining materials and fertilizers. Overall, pH is necessary to measure because it can
identify the health of local organisms which can be used to determine a stream’s water quality.
Dissolved Oxygen
Definition: The amount of oxygen molecules dissolved in a body of water.
Impact on Stream Health: Much like temperature and pH, the dissolved oxygen
level shows what kind of organisms can live in a specific body of water. Conversely, the
types of organisms living in the water also determine the dissolved oxygen levels. A
good example of this would be plants photosynthesizing underwater and releasing
oxygen into the water, just as they would do if they were on land releasing oxygen into
the air. Dissolved oxygen is a very important measurement because it is a main factor in
almost all of the other measurements; nitrate samples, temperature readings, and the
health conditions of organisms living in the water, both flora and fauna (BMIs).
Therefore, dissolved oxygen levels tell us more than the amount of dissolved oxygen in
the water; it grants researchers more knowledge about the creek’s health overall in
many areas.
Nitrates
Definition: Inorganic form of the element nitrogen that is an essential nutrient
for the growth and reproduction of many algae and various aquatic flora.
Impact on Stream Health: Nitrates almost act as plant food. They provide “food”
for the plants and algae in the stream. Nitrates play an important role in the growth of
plants in a stream: if there isn’t much of a nitrate presence, the plants in the stream
won’t grow bigger because they can no longer grow or reproduce. However, if the
nitrate level is too high, eutrophication, or the process of enriching the water, occurs.
Eutrophication can happen when there is too much nitrogen and plants produce too
much, light struggles to reach the plants from the sun because the stream’s surface is
covered too much by plants and algae, and, eventually, the plants die due to lack of
sunlight. It is also an indicator of dissolved oxygen levels, which are important to know
when drawing conclusions about the stream’s health.
Conductivity
Definition: How well a body of water can conduct an electrical current.
Impact on Stream Health: Knowing the conductivity of a stream will help to
researchers understand the amount of total dissolved solids (or TDSs) that are floating
around. The more conductive a stream is, the more TDSs there are that could be
preventing further or less growth.
Alkalinity
Definition: Water’s ability to neutralize acids.
Impact on Stream Health: A stream’s alkalinity level is important to measure
because it’s related to pH measurements, which can help prove or disprove the stream’s
appropriate spot on the pH scale. Finding out the alkalinity level will help to answer the
question of, “how well can this stream keep a healthy balance of acid and base?”
because it show how well, or poorly, a body of water neutralizes to acids.
E-Coli
Definition: Indicator species that can be found in streams and inside of warm
blooded animals, including humans.
Impact on Stream Health: E-coli is can be a dangerous thing to mess around
with, but is has good potential in helping researchers find out a stream’s condition
through the point of view of a bug. E-coli itself isn’t too dangerous, but reveals other
serious health risks in other organisms.
