Comment: "Large" is ambiguous. For details on "Large rivers" (e.g. the Mekong river) see http://worldwildlife.org/biomes/large-river-ecosystems This class will be replaced with a less ambiguous class.
Comment: "Small" is ambiguous. For details on "Small rivers" (e.g. the Salween river) see http://worldwildlife.org/biomes/small-river-ecosystems. This class will be replaced with a less ambiguous class.
Definition: A mangrove biome is a terrestrial biome which includes, across its spatial extent, mangrove plants (Rhizophoraceae). Mangrove plants are able to withstand high levels of salinity as well as regions of anoxia and frequent tidal inundation. Mangrove biomes often occur near tropical and sub-tropical estuaries and depositional marine coastal environments where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high energy wave action.
Comment: Preliminary definition. Depending on whether mangrove trees or shrubs are present, this class could be a child of shrubland biome or woodland biome. Consider creating the appropriate classes.
Definition: An aquatic biome that comprises systems of open-ocean and unprotected coastal habitats, characterized by exposure to wave action, tidal fluctuation, and ocean currents as well as systems that largely resemble these. Water in the marine biome is generally within the salinity range of seawater: 30 to 38 ppt.
Definition: A tract of crop or grazing land, as well as the group of buildings with and often surrounding a farmhouse, including barns, sheds, and other outbuildings, used for agricultural production.
Definition: An area of broken, fast flowing water in a stream, where the slope of the bed increases (but without a prominent break of slope which might result in a waterfall), or where a gently dipping bar of harder rock outcrops.
Definition: A desert biome is a terrestrial biome which loses more liquid water by evapotranspiration than is supplied by precipitation and includes communities adapted to these conditions.
Definition: A linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water. Bars tend to be long and narrow (linear) and develop where a current (or waves) promote deposition of granular material, resulting in localized shallowing (shoaling) of the water. Bars can appear in the sea, in a lake, or in a river. They are typically composed of sand, although could be of any granular matter that the moving water has access to and is capable of shifting around (for example, soil, silt, gravel, cobble, shingle, or even boulders). The grain size of the material comprising a bar is related: to the size of the waves or the strength of the currents moving the material, but the availability of material to be worked by waves and currents is also important.
Definition: Expressions of the estuarine biome occur at wide lower courses of a rivers where they flow into a sea. Estuaries experience tidal flows and their water is a changing mixture of fresh and salt.
Definition: A flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white under the sun. A salt pan is formed where water pools. A saline pan would be a lake or a pond if it were located in a climate where the rate of water evaporation were not faster than the rate of water precipitation, i.e., if it were not in a desert. If the water is unable to drain into the ground, it remains on the surface until it evaporates, leaving behind whatever minerals were dissolved. Over thousands of years, the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface.
Definition: A flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white under the sun. A salt pan is formed where water pools. A saline pan would be a lake or a pond if it were located in a climate where the rate of water evaporation were not faster than the rate of water precipitation, i.e., if it were not in a desert. If the water is unable to drain into the ground, it remains on the surface until it evaporates, leaving behind whatever minerals were dissolved. Over thousands of years, the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface.
Definition: A tidal water channel. Creeks may often dry to a muddy channel with little or no flow at low tide, but often with significant depth of water at high tide.
Definition: A landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill, but there is no universally accepted standard definition for the height of a mountain or a hill although a mountain usually has an identifiable summit and a local relief of more than 300m.
Definition: A sheet of saline water separated from the open sea by sand or shingle banks. The sheet of water between an offshore reef, especially of coral and mainland. The sheet of water within a ring or horseshoe shaped atoll.
Definition: A grassland biome is a terrestrial biome which includes, across its entire spatial extent, an unbroken layer of grasses (Gramineae), sedges (Cyperaceae) or rushes (Juncaceae).
Definition: A forest biome is a terrestrial biome which includes, across its entire spatial extent, densely packed vegetation which strongly limits light penetration to the forest floor.
Definition: A habitat that is in or on a body of water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids (<0.5 grams dissolved salts per litre).
Definition: A habitat that is in or on a sea or ocean containing high concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids (typically >35 grams dissolved salts per litre).