The Facts on File Dictionary of Marine Science

481 Pages·2007·11.7 MB·English

by  Barbara Charton

The Facts On File
DICTIONARY of
MARINE SCIENCE
New Edition

The Facts On File
DICTIONARY of
MARINE SCIENCE
New Edition
Barbara Charton
The Facts On File Dictionary of Marine Science, New Edition
Copyright © 2008, 2001, 1988 by Barbara Charton
Illustrations © 2008 by Infobase Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the
publisher. For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
ISBN-10: 0-8160-6383-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-6383-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Facts on File dictionary of marine science / Barbara Charton.— [New ed.]
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. )
ISBN 0-8160-6383-4
1. Marine sciences—Dictionaries. I. Charton, Barbara. II. Facts On File, Inc.
III. Title: Dictionary of marine science.
GC9 .F28 2006
551.4603—dc22 2006045654
Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quanti-
ties for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special
Sales Department in New York at [phone] or [phone].
You can fi nd Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfi le.com
Text and cover design by Cathy Rincon
Illustrations by Richard Garratt
Printed in the United States of America
MP KT 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Entries A to Z 1
Appendixes
I. Geologic Timescale 429
II. Marine History: A Chronology
of Signifi cant Events 433
III. Taxonomic Classifi cation
of Living Organisms 439
IV. Recent or Ongoing Marine
Science Research Projects 443
V. Web Sites 445
Bibliography 463

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The people who encouraged and supported my efforts during the creation of the fi rst
edition have been forbearing and were so again. I am grateful. This work would not
have been fi nished without the people and the great library at New York University.
I would also like to thank Frank K. Darmstadt, my editor, and Melissa Cullen-DuPont,
assistant editor, for being encouraging, supportive, and challenging. The graphics depart-
ment at Facts On File has been of invaluable help in putting together this new edition.
Years ago I promised Marvin, The Great Mind, that it would be easier the second
time around, and it was. It has also been great fun having a partner with whom to col-
lect rocks and minerals, fossils, and endless new information about the expanding array
of invertebrates. Fitting all this new information into both ecological and environmental
contexts has taught me much, and I look forward to sharing it with others interested in
the continuing story of Earth—our biome.
vviiii

PREFACE
To some it may seem that the ocean is the same today as it was many years ago. The
average mean temperature has risen several degrees since 1900, and this does not create
excitement for most people. But in reality, the rise of several degrees is far from insig-
nifi cant. This increased warmth is enough to dissolve coral reefs and destroy ecosystems.
Since the appearance of the fi rst edition of this work, a great deal of research has been
produced, much of which is now general knowledge. The general population has become
much more aware of the ocean’s effect on all life, and phenomena such as global warm-
ing are now matters of public discussion. The increase in temperature credited to global
warming has fi nally been accepted as a fact, and this is no surprise to paleoclimatologists.
It has happened before, and it will get worse, according to computer projections, which
depict that by the mid-21st century there will be a clear shipping channel in summer
months around the northern perimeter of North America. The discussion of how human
activity affects this phenomenon and what humans—the dominant organism likely to be
affected the most—must do to prevent catastrophe is now being actively studied.
The water of Earth defi nes the planet. As soon as astronauts could see the Earth from
space, their name for Earth was the Blue Planet—or the Blue Marble. The photographs
taken of planet Earth from space are spectacular and classic. Since water is a substance
found everywhere, it is easy for humans to take it for granted, but doing so is a terrible
mistake. Since life does not exist in the absence of water, water in its greatest concentra-
tion in the world’s oceans deserves respect, consideration, and study.
Marine science is a composite fi eld that encompasses other disciplines and their rela-
tions to the world’s oceans. Thus, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, ecology, geodesy, geog-
raphy, geology, geophysics, hydrology, meteorology, microbiology, minerology, seismology,
and zoology may all be marine sciences in some instances, as are their combinations and
subdisciplines. Some of the fi elds that apply information gathered by natural and physical
scientists include engineering, pharmacology, medicine, population study, and toxicology.
The instruments used by scientists and others who apply science have undergone
both proliferation and vast elaboration. These instruments range from the simplest tools
used by hunter-gatherers to boats, navigation devices, weather instruments, energy-pro-
ducing engines, elaborate computer projections of future events, and robotic devices that
can take the place of humans in hostile environments.
Though scientists have amassed a huge amount of knowledge, much remains to be
discovered. The Tree of Life project started in the 1990s to collect data about every cur-
rently living organism, and it is growing rapidly. Unknown and unclassifi ed vertebrates
are still being found. Since vertebrates are a relatively small group of the biota, it is easy
to assume that they are all known. However, life is much more complicated than any
biologist thought it might be. For example, it was previously believed that the Sargasso
Sea contained few living organisms except a few fl oating algal species. Since the 1980s
better collecting devices have been perfected that have discovered living organisms the
previous collecting methods destroyed. It is now known that tiny soft-bodied creatures
live in the Sargasso Sea in great numbers. Thus, improved methods and instruments
have opened up many areas that were once dismissed as completely understood and cat-
alogued. This continues to happen. Research in the Coral Triangle near western Papua
has recently produced a number of as-yet-unidentifi ed species and genera.
Unfortunately, much scientifi c work is done in a race against destruction of habitat.
The ocean, often viewed as a limitless resource, has been misused by humans for centu-
ries. But the ocean’s biomes are neither boundless nor inexhaustible. They are as fragile
ix