Science / Marine Biology Glossary

Ecosystem Diversity: The diversity of biological communities and their physical environment. Diversity is determined by the species composition, physical structure and processes within an ecosystem. This is the . . . View Full Definition

Effluent: Industrial or urban waste discharged into the environment.

Ekman Circulation: Movement of surface water at an angle from the wind, as a result of the Coriolis effect

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Condition in which warm surface water moves into the eastern Pacific, collapsing upwelling and increasing surface-water temperatures and precipitation along the west coast of North and South America

Emigration: The departure of individuals from a given area

Endangered: A species or ecosystem that is so reduced or delicate that it is threatened with or on the verge of extinction. Compare extinct, extirpated, threatened, vulnerable.

Endemic: An animal or plant species that naturally occurs in only one area.

Endosymbiotic: Being symbiotic and living within the body of an individual of the associated species

Environment: All of the physical, chemical, and biological factors in the area where a plant or animal lives.

Environmental Stress: Variously defined as (a) an environmental change to which an organism cannot acclimate and (b) an environmental change that increases the probability of death

Epibenthic: Living on the surface of the bottom

Epidemic Spawning: Simultaneous shedding of gametes by a large number of individuals

Epifaunal: Living on the surface of the bottom

Epifloral: Living on the surface of the bottom

Epilithic: A term for organisms that live attached to rocks. Latin translation: epi = upon, lith = rock. This term is general to terrestrial and marine habitats, ie. Some lichens are epilithic.

Epipelagic Zone: The 0- to 150-m-depth zone, seaward of the shelf-slope break

Epiphyte: Microalgal organism living on a surface (e.g., on a seaweed frond)

Estuarine Flow: Seaward flow of low-salinity surface water over a deeper and higher -alinity layer

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