Glossary

An oligotroph is an organism that lives in habitats havng low levels of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. Oligotroph is derived from the Greek oligos, meaning "few" and trophikos, meaning "feeding".

Oligotrophic, and the related terms mesotrophic and eutrophic, refer to the nutrient status of freshwater habitats. That is, oligotrophic refers to low nutrient lakes, streams, springs, and groundwater.

Note that terms with the ending "phentic" (oligotraphentic, oligo-mesotraphentic, mesotraphentic, eutraphentic, hypereutraphentic, etc.) have a European origin that gained wide use following Van Dam (1994). This usage is less common in North America. In the European sense, the terms applied to species. For example, Achnanthidium crassum is oligotraphentic and it lives in oligotrophic streams.