Science / Marine Biology Glossary

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

Specialist: A species with a very narrow range in habitat or food requirements. For example, the Marbled Murrelet nests in old-growth forests on thick branches high up in the forest canopy. Compare generalist.

Speciation: The process of formation of new species

Species: A group of organisms that differ from all other groups of organisms and that are capable of breeding and producing fertile offspring. This is the smallest unit of classification for plants a . . . View Full Definition

Species Abundance: The total number of individual of a species within a given area or community. Compare species richness.

Species Diversity: A measure of both species abundance and species richness. An area that has a large number of species and many representative individuals from each species is more diverse than an area that h . . . View Full Definition

Species Richness: The number of different species that exist within a given area or community. Compare species abundance.

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

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