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 landform consisting of loose rock particles such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, cobble, or even shell fragments along the shoreline of a body of water.
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: 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: Seagrass beds are highly diverse and productive ecosystems, and can harbour hundreds of associated species from all phyla. They partly create their own habitat: the leaves slow down water-currents increasing sedimentation, and the seagrass roots and rhizomes stabilize the seabed.
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: 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.
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.
Definition: Pools formed as a high tide comes in over a rocky shore. Water fills depressions in the ground, which turn into isolated pools as the tide retreats.
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 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: 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 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).