Copy of `Marine Biology Glossary`

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Marine Biology Glossary Category: Animals and Nature > Marine Biology Date & country: 13/09/2007, USA Words: 362

Shelf-slope break
Line marking a change from the gently inclined continental shelf to the much steeper depth gradient of the continental slope

Sibling species
Closely related species that are so similar that they are nearly indistinguishable morphologically

Sigma
Parameter expressing the seawater density: and equal to 1 minus the density of seawater, measured at a given temperature and at a pressure of l atmosphere

Siphonophores
A group of specialized hydrozoan cnidarians, consisting of large planktonic polymorphic colonies

Sled
A benthic sampling device designed to slide along the sediment surface, digging into the bottom to a depth of at most a few centimeters

Slope
A steep-sloping bottom extending seaward from the edge of the continental shelf and downward toward the rise

Snow
See marine snow

Somatic growth
Growth of the body, exclusive of gametes

Sorting (of a sediment)
The range of scatter of particle sizes about the median grain size of a sediment

Space limited
Description of a situation in which space is a limiting resource

Spatial autocorrelation
A situation in which some parameter at any location (e.g., population density) can be predicted through a knowledge of the values of the parameter in other locations

Spatial distribution
The arrangement of individuals in a space

Speciation
The process of formation of new species

Species
A population or group of populations that are in reproductive contact but are reproductively isolated from all other populations

Species richness
The number of species in an area or biological collection

Species-area effect
A regular logarithmic relationship between the number of species in a confined geographic area (e.g., an island) and the area in which the species occur

Sporophyte
Diploid stage in the life cycle of a plant

Spring diatom increase
The major rapid population increase of diatoms, occurring in the spring in temperate-boreal latitudes

Spring tides
Fortnightly tides occurring when the vertical tidal range is maximal

Stability-time hypothesis
Hypothesis that states that higher diversity occurs in habitats that are ancient and stable environmentally

Standing crop
The amount of living material per unit area or volume; may be expressed as grams of carbon, total dry weight, and so on

Stock recruitment models
Fishery models that predict the amount of juvenile recruitment as a function of the parent stock

Stratification
In benthos, the presence of different infaunal species at distinct respective horizons below the sediment-water interface

Subtropical
Refers to the portion of the temperate zone closest to the equator

Succession
A predictable ordering of a dominance of a species or groups of species following the opening of an environment to biological colonization

Surface layer
The layer of the ocean extending from the surface to a depth above which the ocean is homogeneous due to wind mixing

Survivorship curve
The curve describing changes of mortality rate as a function of age

Suspension feeder
An organism that feeds by capturing particles suspended in the water column

Swash rider
Invertebrate that can migrate up and down shore with the rising and falling tide, in order to maintain station at a level that is moist but not overly washed by the waves

Teleplanic larva
Larva capable of dispersal over long distances, such as across oceans

Temperate
Pertaining to the latitudinal belt between 23º 27' and 66º 33' north or south latitude

Terminal anchor
In hydraulically burrowing organisms: any device used to anchor the leading portion of the burrower, permitting muscular contraction to drag the rest of the body into the sediment

Territoriality
Defense of a specified location against intruders

Tertiary production
The production of living material per unit area (or volume) per unit time by organisms consuming the herbivores. Usually expressed as grams carbon per meter square per year

Thermocline
Depth zone within which temperature changes maximally

Thermohaline circulation
Movement of seawater that is controlled by density differences that are largely explained in terms of temperature and salinity

Tidal current
A water current generated by regularly varying tidal forces

Tides
Periodic movement of water resulting from gravitational attraction between the earth, sun, and moon

Top-down control
Refers to food webs where control of a population is mainly explained by consumption by a species or group of species at higher levels of the food chain (e.g., population change of population of mussels controled by seastar predation).

Trade winds
Persistent winds at low latitudes in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, blowing toward the west and the equator

Trench
Deep and sinuous depression in the ocean floor, usually seaward of a continental margin or an arcuate group of volcanic islands

Trophic level
In a food chain, a level containing organisms of identical feeding habits with respect to the chain (e.g., herbivores)

Tropical
Being within the latitudinal zone bounded by the two tropics (23º 27' north and south latitude)

Turbidity
The weight of particulate matter per unit volume of sea water

Ultraplankton
Planktonic organisms that are less than 2 micrometers in size

Uniform spatial distribution
Situation in which individuals are more evenly spread in space than would be expected on the basis of chance alone

Upwelling
The movement of nutrient-rich water from a specified depth to the surface

Vents
See Hydrothermal vents

Vertically homogeneous estuary
An estuary in which, at any given location, wind or tidal mixing homogenizes salinity throughout the water column

Vitamin
Chemical substances required in trace concentrations acting as a cofactor with enzymes in catalyzing biochemical reactions

Viviparous (development)
Refers to development of an organism through the juvenile stage within a parent

Wash zone
The depth zone in which sediments are disturbed by wave action near the shoreline

Water mass
A body of water that maintains its identity and can be characterized by such parameters as temperature and salinity

Watershed
The land area that is drained by a river or estuary and its tributaries

Westerlies (prevailing westerlies)
Persistent eastward-equatorward winds in midlatitudes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Windward [side]
The side of an island that faces a persistent wind

Within-habitat comparison
A contrast of diversity between two localities of similar habitat type

Wrack zone
A bank of accumulated litter at the strandline

Year-class effect
The common domination of a species population by individuals recruited in one reproductive season

Zonation
Occurrence of single species or groups of species in recognizable bands that might delineate a range of water depth or a range of height in the intertidal zone

Zooplankton
Animal members of the plankton

Zooxanthellae
A group of dinoflagellates living endosymbiotically in association with one of a variety of invertebrate groups (e.g., corals)