Definission: overall repetitive or reflective pattern in the body of one individual of this taxon. eg: bilateral symmetry, rotational symmetry, radial symmetry
Definission: Living in the fluid medium (water or air) but unable to maintain their position or distribution independently of the movement of the water/air mass (adapted from Lincoln et al., 1998).
Definission: directly or indirectly modulating the availability of resources to other species, by causing physical state changes in biotic or abiotic materials; modifying, maintaining and/or creating habitats
Definission: The marine benthic biome (benthic meaning 'bottom') encompasses the seafloor and includes such areas as shores, littoral or intertidal areas, marine coral reefs, and the deep seabed.
Definission: A group of species that exploit the same food resources, and/or use the same feeding or foraging methods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_(ecology)
Definission: consumers specializing in labile organic matter, which is easily metabolized; usually low molecular weight compounds, eg: simple sugars or proteins. For instance, metabolic scaling puts intense selective pressure on small organisms to ingest foods rich in labile organic matter; the residence time in a very short gut is too brief for enzymatic hydrolysis, so they specialize in rapidly metabolizable compounds.
Definission: The institution that holds a type specimen for a given species. The recommended best practice is to use the identifier in a collections registry such as the Biodiversity Collections Index (http://www.biodiversitycollectionsindex.org/).
