Definition: Colonial organisms are clonal colonies composed of many physically connected, interdependent individuals. The subunits of colonial organisms can be unicellular, as in the alga Volvox (a coenobium), or multicellular, as in the phylum Bryozoa. The former type may have been the first step toward multicellular organisms
Definition: Marine sediment that accumulates within shallow regions of the oceanic basin close to continents, such as the continental shelf, or continental slope
Definition: Gravel is an environmental material which is composed of pieces of rock that are at least two millimeters (2mm) in its largest dimension and no more than 75 millimeters.
Definition: A group of hydrous aluminium phyllosilicate (phyllosilicates being a subgroup of silicate minerals) minerals (see clay minerals), that are typically less than 2micrometres in diameter. Clay consists of a variety of phyllosilicate minerals rich in silicon and aluminium oxides and hydroxides which include variable amounts of structural water.
Definition: Capable of creating a new organism by combining the genetic material of two gametes, which may come from two parent organisms or from a single organism, in the case of self-fertilizing hermaphrodites.
Definition: Capable of the biological process in which new individuals are produced by either a single cell or a group of cells, in the absence of any sexual process.