chapter 13 vocab marine science

emersion

being out of water and exposed to air

desiccate

to dry out

wave shock

intensity of impact of a wave

immersion

being out of air and submerged

tide poo

dispersal

manner in which organisms get from place to place

substrate

type of bottom or material on or in which an organism lives

operculum

(1) tough lid that closes shell opening of many gastropods when the body is withdrawn (2) the flap of bony plates that covers gills of bony fishes

subsiding

slow sinking

pneumatocyst

gas filled bladder in seaweeds

climax community

final stage in an ecological succession

epifauna

animals that live on the surface of the substrate

keystone predator

predatory species where effects on its community are proportionately much greater than its abundance.

vertical zonation

pattern of bounding caused by intertidal organisms growing only at a particular height within the intertidal

ecological succession

regular replacement of species by others in a given area

infauna

animals that burrow in the substrate

meiofauna

microscopic animals that live on the bottom; often used as synonym of interstitial fauna

interstitial water

water continued between sediment particles

bioturbator

member of the infauna that moves sediment while burrowing or feeding