Glossary (eng)

Derived from the land or continent, as in terrigenous sediment.

An undifferentiated plant body, such as in algae.

Depth zone within which temperature changes maximally.

species: Species that face a high (vulnerable species), very high (endangered species), or extremely high (critically endangered species) risk of extinction in the wild. (http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.776.aspx.pdf).

Unsorted, unstratified mixtures of clay, silt, sand, and gravel (up to boulder size); the usual composition of a moraine. It is deposited directly by and underneath a glacier without subsequent reworking by water from the glacier.

(Russian Federation GOST 30813 – 2002) A characteristic of production capacities of a water body. Remark – following the order of increase of production capacities, there can be identified groups of water-bodies, e,g, 3 – oligo-, meso- and eutrophic (see also BIOLOGY TERMS)

A chain reaction of top-down interactions across multiple tropic levels. These occur when changes in the presence or absence (or shifts in abundance) of a top predator alter the production at several lower trophic levels. Such positive indirect effects of top predators on lower tropic levels are mediated by the consumption of mid-level consumers (generally herbivores).

The position of an organism in the food chain/web or "food pyramid," determinedby the number of transfers of energy that occur between the nonliving energy source andthat level.

Long depression of the seafloor, characteristically flat bottomed, steep sided, and normally shallower than a trench.

Species that have either large habitat needs or other requirements whose conservation results in many other species being conserved at the ecosystem or landscape level.