lumping of the terms, while recognizing that in 

 some technical, ecological literature the distinc- 

 tion is significant (C.F.S.)." 



5. "Any complex of living organisms taken to- 

 gether with all the other biotic and abiotic factors 

 which affect them, that are mentally isolated for 

 purposes of study, (after Ford-Robertson 1971, 

 citing Tansley)" (Schwartz et al. 1976:67). 



Functional classification— A classification of 

 sytems based on some aspect of the functioning 

 of the system. An example would be the system 

 of Odum et al. (1974) which classifies coastal eco- 

 system by energy inputs. 



Physical regionalization— A regionalization 

 based secondarily on some physical feature or 

 features of the environment. The classification by 

 Dolan et al. (1972) of coastal areas by climate, 

 water mass, and geology is an example of a physi- 

 cal regionalization. 



Phytogeographic regionalization— A regional 

 classification based secondarily on the distribu- 

 tion of some group of plants. Humm (1969) pre- 

 sents a regionalization based on the distribution 

 of marine algae along the Atlantic coast of North 

 America. 



Profiles— Studies being performed by Ecologi- 

 cal Services of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



which review and synthesize the existing informa- 

 tion into a compendium of information on a 

 coastal area. In some cases the information is re- 

 structured into a format which will facilitate the 

 making of use decisions about land and water (L. 

 Goldman, ES, pers. comm.). 



Regional classification— A classification of sys- 

 tems based primarily on geography. Areas which 

 are contiguous may be in the same region, but 

 those some distance apart, though they may be 

 quite similar structurally or functionally, cannot 

 be classified together regionally. Secondary at- 

 tributes used in the classification may be biotic 

 or physical. Briggs' (1974) book on marine zoo- 

 geography features a regional classification based 

 secondarily on zoogeographic features. 



Structural classification— A classification of 

 systems based on some structural feature such as 

 geology or surface cover. Ray's (1975) classifica- 

 tion "by habitats" of coastal environments is an 

 example of a structural classification. It includes 

 such classes as exposed environments with highly 

 calcareous, rocky substrate. . 



Zoogeographic regionalization— A regional clas- 

 sification based secondarily on the distribution of 

 some group or groups of animals. See the discus- 

 sion of Briggs (1974) under Regional Classifica- 

 tion in this glossary. 



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