Glossary of Terms Related to Biological Community Samples

Glossary of Terms and Variables for Biological Community Data

Abundance: The number of individuals collected.
Algae: Chlorophyll-bearing, nonvascular aquatic plants (for example, diatoms, green algae, and red algae) including the primitive photosynthetic bacteria (for example, blue-green algae). The abundance of periphyton algae is typically expressed as number of algal cells/cm², or biovolume (estimate of cell volume, usually μm³)/cm². The abundance of phytoplankton algae is typically expressed as number of algal cells/mL, or biovolume/mL.
BeginDate: The date when the sample was collected
BeginTime: The time when the sample was collected. Sampling time = 0000 (midnight) when a specific time is not available.
BioTDB SampleID: Unique identifier for a biological community sample. This identifier comes from the BioTDB database, which is the source database for biological community samples.
CommonName: The vernacular name for a taxon
Count Samples: The number of samples collected. This is a retrieved variable
County: The name of the county or county equivalent (parish, borough, etc.) in which the site is located.
Ecoregion: The name of the level-three ecoregion at the sampling station.Ecoregions denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. They are designed to serve as a spatial framework for the research, assessment, management, and monitoring of ecosystems and ecosystem components. Level III Ecoregions have not been delineated for Hawaii.
Hydrologic Unit (HUC): The hydrologic unit in which the site is located. Hydrologic units are geographic areas representing part or all of a surface drainage basin or distinct hydrologic feature and are delineated on the State Hydrologic Unit Maps. Each hydrologic unit is identified by a unique number (HUC), and has a unique name. HUC codes are hierarchical, and designate four levels: regions, sub-regions, accounting units, and cataloging units. Additional information is available at http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/huc.html.See helpful hints for information about specifying HUC as a data retrieval search criteria.
ITIS: A hyperlink that returns taxonomic information from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
ITIStsn: The taxonomic serial number used in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
NADEDID: North American Diatom Ecological Database Identification number.
NAWQA Study Unit:: The name of the NAWQA study unit in which the site is located. For more information see "What is a Study Unit" at http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studyu.html.
Periphyton: Algae attached to an aquatic substrate; also known as benthic algae.
Phytoplankton: Floating or weakly swimming microscopic algae; also known as algal seston in streams.
Reach: A length of stream (150 - 300 meters for wadeable streams; 300 - 1000 meters for nonwadeable streams) that is chosen to represent a uniform set of physical, chemical and biological conditions within a larger stream segment. It is the principal sampling unit for collecting biological data community data. A sampling station (see Site ID) may have several different biological community sampling reaches associated with it.
SampleMedium: Sample medium is the medium from which the sample was collected. For biological community samples it identifies the community and type of sample

Sample Medium list for Biological Community Samples
Sample Medium	Sample Medium Code	Type of Sample
FISH COMMUNITY	FISHCOMM	fish community sample
INVERTEBRATE RICHEST TARGETED HABITAT; NON-SNAG	IRTH	invertebrate semi-quantitative sample collected from non-snag substrate. The vast majority of non-snag RTH samples were collected from coarse-grained natural substrates. A few, however, have been collected from submerged macrophytes or fine-grained substrates.
INVERTEBRATE RICHEST TARGETED HABITAT; SNAG	IRTHSNAG	invertebrate semi-quantitative sample collected from submerged wood (snags)
INVERTEBRATE QUALITATIVE MULTI-HABITAT	IQMH	invertebrate qualitative sample collected from multiple instream habitats within the sampling reach.
ALGAE RICHEST TARGETED HABITAT	ARTH	algae semi-quantitative sample. The majority of ARTH samples were collected from coarse-grained natural substrates or from submerged wood (snags). Others were collected from submerged macrophytes, fine-grained substrates, or from artificial substrates.
ALGAE DEPOSITIONAL TARGETED HABITAT	ADTH	algae semi-quantitative sample collected from fine-grained substrates.
INVERTEBRATE QUALITATIVE MULTI-HABITAT	AQMH	algae qualitative sample collected from multiple instream habitats within the sampling reach.
ALGAE PHYTOPLANKTON	APHY	quantitative sample of algae suspended in the water column.

SampleMediumCode: An alphanumeric code for the SampleMedium
ScientificName: See Taxon
Species: The name of the taxonomic species
Staid (also called Site ID or Station ID): USGS station identification code. Usually an 8, 10, or 15-digit string. See also Station.
State: The name of the state in which the site is located.
Station: A sampling site. That is, a defined reference location where sampling activities take place. Conceptually the same as a USGS stream gaging station, although many of the biological sampling stations do not have stream gages. Each biological sampling station has one or more associated stream reaches where the samples are actually collected. The reaches may be a significant distance away from the station. See also Reach.
StationLatitude: Latitude of the reference station in decimal degrees, NAD83 datum (see Station).
StationLongitude: Longitude of the reference station in decimal degrees, NAD83 datum (see Station).
StationName: The name of the sampling station
Study Unit: see NAWQA Study Unit
Taxon (pl. Taxa): A proper name given to a group of related organisms. A taxon is often the combination of genus and species, but it may also be the name of a higher rank in the taxonomic hierarchy (e.g. Family) if the organism could not be identified more precisely. Conditional and provisional names may be used. Levels of taxonomic hierarchies include: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Family, Subfamily, Tribe, Genus, Species, Subspecies, Variety. Different combintations of taxonomic hierarchy levels are typical for different groups of organims (fish, macroinvertebrates, algae).