PREFACE 



Recent increased public awareness of man's role in the environment has resulted in a 

 proliferation in usage of technical ecological terminology. Many of these terms, popularized 

 through common lay usage, have lost their original meaning or the meaning has become 

 obscured. This glossary is designed to provide the coastal engineer with clear, nontechnical 

 definitions of common coastal ecology terms. It is not intended as an authoritative technical 

 reference for the professional ecologist. The definitions are syntheses of numerous 

 definitions; no one source can be credited as a reference. Definitions and usage of many of 

 the terms are still debated among professionals in the field and precise definitions may still 

 be elusive. 



The reader is referred to the following sources for the precise definition of a specific term 

 used in a limited sense. 



ALLEE, W.C., et al., Principles of Animal Ecology, Saunders, Philadelphia, 1949, 837 pp. 



BARNES, R.D., Invertebrate Zoology, 2 nd ed., Saunders, Philadelphia, 1968, 743 pp. 



DAUBENMIRE, R.F., Plant Communities, A Textbook of Plant Synecology, Harper and 

 Row, New York, 1968, 300 pp. 



GREIG-SMITH, P., Quantitative Plant Ecology, 2 nd , ed., Butterworth, Washington, D.C., 

 1964, 242 pp. 



HEDGPETH, J.W., ed., Treatise on Marine Ecology and Paleoecology, Vol. I., Geological 

 Society of America, New York, 1957, 1296 pp. 



McCONNAUGHEY, B.H., Introduction to Marine Biology, Mosby, St. Louis, 1970, 449 pp. 



MOORE, H.B., Marine Ecology, Wiley, New York, 1958, 493 pp. 



ODUM, E.P., Fundamentals of Ecology, Saunders, Philadelphia, 1971, 574 pp. 



The glossary was compiled by Arthur K. Hurme, Ecology Branch, under the generaL 

 supervision of Mr. R. Yancey, Chief, Ecology Branch, and Mr. R. Savage, Chief, Research 

 Division. 



NOTE: Comments on this publication are invited. 



Approved for publication in accordance with Public Law 166, 79^ Congress, approved 

 31 July 1945, as supplemented by Public Law 172, 88" 1 Congress, approved 7 November 

 1963. 



JAMES L.TRAYI 



Colonel, Corps of Bjjgineers 

 Commander and Director 



