Glossary of Wetland Terms

Wetland Terms – P

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P [parameter–purple dead nettle]

parameter: a characteristic, or descriptive feature, such as odor, color, or temperature.
parasite: an organism that lives in or on another organism, causing it harm.
pathogen: a disease-producing agent, usually applied to a living organism. Generally, any virus, bacterium, or fungus that causes disease.
penetrate: to enter or force a way into; to spread or flow throughout an area.
periwinkle: trailing evergreen plants of the genus Vinca.
permeability: the ability of a material to allow a liquid to pass through it. Permeable materials, such as gravel and sand, allow water to move quickly through them.
pesticide: a chemical used to kill pests, especially insects and rodents.
pH: a scale from 0 to 14 used to measure relative acidity or alkalinity. A pH measurement less than 7 is acidic, 7 is neutral, and greater than 7 is basic or alkaline.
phosphate: a form of phosphorous; an essential nutrient for plants and animals; usually present in natural waters as phosphate. Phosphate is an ion composed of one phosphorus atom and four oxygen atoms.
phosphorous: a non-metallic element designated with the chemical symbol P; an essential nutrient for plants and animals; usually present in natural waters as phosphate.
photosynthesis: a series of chemical reactions in producers, usually plants, in which light energy is used to make chemical energy in the form of food.
phytoplankton: microscopic photosynthetic protists (e.g., bacteria and algae). They form the basis of freshwater and marine food webs and are the main producers in the open ocean.
plankton: microscopic organisms that drift freely with water currents; phytoplankton are producers (plants); zooplankton are animals.
pod: a seed vessel or fruit of a plant.
pollination: sexual reproduction in plants in which pollen is transferred from anther to stigma of either the same plant or another plant.
pollution: contamination of air, water, or soil by toxic organic or inorganic substances (e.g., industrial or agricultural waste by-products, engine exhausts, factory emissions, or human waste). Pollution can come from a single source (point source) or be discharged over a wide area from many sources (non-point source).
point source pollution: pollution coming from a single point (e.g., sewage-outflow pipe).
pond lily: water lily of the genus Nymphaea; an emergent vegetation with floating leaves.
pond snails: aquatic macroinvertebrate; phylum Mollusca, order Gastropoda; organism is enclosed within one shell; tolerant of pollution.
pool: a deeper area of water in a stream; usually quiet and often with no visible flow.
population: a group of organisms of the same species living in the same area.
porcelain-berry: Ampelopsis brevipedunculata; an exotic invasive plant that grows in swamp forest (intermittently flooded lowland forest).
porosity: the percent of space or pores between sediment particles; it indicates the amount of water the sediment can hold.
pouch snail: aquatic macroinvertebrate; phylum Mollusca, order Gastropoda; organism is enclosed within one shell; tolerant of pollution.
precipitation: condensed water vapor that falls to or forms on the surface as rain, snow, hail, sleet, dew, and frost.
predator: an organism that kills and eats other organisms.
prey: a creature hunted or caught for food.
primary consumer: an organism that feeds on producers; an herbivore.
primary productivity: the amount of energy trapped by photosynthesis. This quantity determines how much life a region will support.
pristine environment: an environment remaining in a pure or uncorrupted state.
producer: an organism that makes its own food; a photosynthetic organism; an autotroph.
propagation: increased or spread by natural reproduction.
protist: a unicellular organism of the kingdom Proctista (e.g., protozoans, slime molds, certain algae). Protists formerly belonged to a kingdom called Protista.
purple dead nettle: Lamium purpureum; an exotic invasive plant that grows in a clearing (meadow or field).

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