Science / Marine Biology Glossary

Macroplankton: Planktonic organisms that are 200-2,000 micrometers in size.

Mainstream Flow: The flow in a part of the fluid (e.g., in a tidal creek) that is well above the bottom or well away from a surface and essentially not under the influence of the boundary layer (see boundary layer).

Mangel: See Mangrove forest.

Mangrove Forest: A shoreline ecosystem dominated by mangrove trees, with associated mud flats.

Marine Protected Area: A conservation geographic unit designed to protect crucial communities and to provide reproductive reserves for fisheries that hopefully will disperse over wider areas.

Marine Snow: Fragile organic aggregates, resulting from the collision of dissolved organic molecules or from the degradation of gelatinous substances such as larvacean houses. Usually enriched with micro . . . View Full Definition

Maximum Sustainable Yield: In fisheries biology, the maximum catch obtainable per unit time under the appropriate fishing rate

Megaplankton: Planktonic organisms that are greater than or equal to 2000 micrometers in size

Meiobenthos: Benthic organisms (animals or plants) whose shortest dimension is less than 0.5 mm but greater than or equal to 0.1 mm

Meiofauna: Animals whose shortest dimension is less than 0.5 mm but greater than or equal to 0.1 mm

Meioflora: Benthic organisms (animals or plants) whose shortest dimension is less than 0.5 mm but greater than or equal to 0.1 mm

Meroplankton: Organisms that spend part of their time in the plankton but also spend time in the benthos (e.g., planktonic larvae of benthic invertebrates)

Mesopelagic: The 150 -- 2000 m depth zone, seaward of the shelf-slope break

Mesopelagic Zone: Also called the 'twilight zone' of the ocean, this area from 200m to 1000m in depth, is bordered by the photic zone above and darkness below. It's in this zone where you start to see biolumi . . . View Full Definition

Metabolic Rate: The overall rate of biochemical reactions in an organism. Often estimated by rate of oxygen consumption in aerobes

Metamorphosis: Major developmental change as the larva develops into an immature adult

Metapopulation: A group of interconnected subpopulations, usually of subequal size. The features of individuals now founnd in one subpopulation might have been determined by conditions affecting them when t . . . View Full Definition

Microbenthos: Benthic organisms (animals or plants) whose shortest dimension is less than 0.1 mm

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