Concepts

Behavioral, physiological, and life-history changes that reduce the risk of predation but have associated energetic or fitness costs to prey individuals and populations

Growth limitation of organisms due to insufficient availability of essential nutrients like nitrogen or phosphorus

Excessive extracellular stalk production by individual cells that coalesce to form a continuous mat covering the stream bottom

Chemical cues released by predators that benefit prey by providing information about predator presence

Downstream movement of benthic invertebrates in flowing water either naturally or induced by disturbance

Low nutrient conditions that select for microorganisms adapted to low substrate availability

Production of extracellular polymeric stalk material by diatoms when photosynthetic rates exceed cellular growth rates

Quantitative collection methods for invertebrates living on or in stream bottom substrates

The hypothesis that relationships between egg and juvenile densities are linear when egg densities are constrained below values where eggs or hatching juveniles suffer density-dependent losses

The relative proportions of chemical elements in biological systems

Co-occurrence patterns between species that reflect ecological interactions beyond shared environmental responses

The proportion of cells undergoing division within a population

Species-specific selection for particular combinations of physical habitat characteristics like water depth, current velocity, and substrate size

Male-first flowering phenology where flowers function first as males then as females

Some environments will be resource rich and produce a high amount of offspring (sources) while other environments will be resource low and produce a low amount of offspring (sinks)

Human-made structures mimicking beaver dams implemented in restoration projects to slow flow, aggrade sediment, and reconnect streams to floodplains or create wetland conditions

Daily behavioral pattern where aquatic organisms move vertically in the water column, typically showing different activity levels during day versus night periods

Measure of how effectively a sampling method captures target organisms relative to processing time and effort

The hypothesis that disposing of excess dietary nutrients imposes a growth cost on organisms, creating hump-shaped relationships with diet stoichiometry

Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera orders used as indicators of aquatic ecosystem health

Standard measure of organic biomass determined by ashing samples to remove inorganic material

Physical structure and arrangement of beaver ponds, specifically comparing single isolated ponds versus terraced series of connected ponds

Organic material found in pond sediments that serves as nutrient storage compartment

The accumulation of substances like sodium in organisms through their food chain, allowing carnivores to obtain adequate salt from prey

The sequential development of microbial communities on substrates following disturbance

Population estimation method using repeated sampling to remove individuals and estimate total abundance from decline curve

Daily patterns in organism behavior, with some mayfly species showing increased drift activity at night to minimize exposure to visual predators

Physical habitat constraints related to water flow and stream geomorphology that affect oviposition site availability

Patterns of stream flow including magnitude, timing, and duration of high and low flow periods

Algae growing attached to surfaces such as decomposing plant material

The removal of phosphorus from the water column by organisms for metabolic processes

The rate at which predators consume prey, measured as prey mortality per predator per unit time

Habitat structure that provides protection from predation by offering shelter or hiding places

The production of organic compounds by autotrophic organisms, measured here through chlorophyll-a concentration

The body size of mayflies when they emerge as adults from aquatic larval stage

Spatial and temporal variation in water temperatures that can support diverse aquatic species and provide thermal refugia

Behavioral activity of birds when captured in traps, measured as activity index from feeding to high distress behaviors