One embodiment of the present method and apparatus adaptive load shedding includes receiving at least one data stream (comprising a plurality of tuples, or data items) into a first sliding window of memory. A subset of tuples from the received data stream is then selected for processing in accordance with at least one data stream operation, such as a data stream join operation. Tuples that are not selected for processing are ignored. The number of tuples selected and the specific tuples selected depend at least in part on a variety of dynamic parameters, including the rate at which the data stream (and any other processed data streams) is received, time delays associated with the received data stream, a direction of a join operation performed on the data stream and the values of the individual tuples with respect to an expected output.