Benthos

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-003019",
  "term": "Benthos",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. The name used to describe the plants and animals (without backbones) living in the streambed or benthic zone, a size large enough to be seen by the unaided eye, and which can be retained by a U.S. Standard No. 30 sieve (28 openings/inch, 0.595-mm openings). Also referred to as bentic macroinvertebrates, infauna, or macrobenthos.\n\n2. Animals without backbones, living in or on the sediments, a size large enough to be seen by the unaided eye, and which can be retained by a U.S. Standard No. 30 sieve (28 openings/inch, 0.595-mm openings). Also referred to as bentic macroinvertebrates, infauna, or macrobenthos.\n\n3. Plants and animals that live in or on the bottom of an aquatic environment, including worms, shellfish and bottom-feeding finfish.\n\n4. Bottom-dwelling aquatic plants and animals.\n\n5. The group of organisms inhabiting the bottom of an aquatic environment. They include a number of types of organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, insect larvae and nymphs, snails, clams, and crayfish. They are useful as indicators of water quality.\n\n6. In freshwater and marine ecosystems, the collection of organisms both attached to or resting on the bottom sediments and burrowed into the sediments. In terms of size, benthos are generally divided into three categories: meiobenthos, the organisms that pass through a 0.5 millimeter sieve; macrobenthos, those that are caught by grabs or dredges but retained on the 0.5 millimeter sieve, and epibenthos, those organisms than live on rather than in the seabed.\n\n7. Name used to describe the plants and animals (without backbones) living in the streambed or benthic zone, a size large enough to be seen by the unaided eye, and which can be retained by a U.S. Standard No. 30 sieve (28 openings/inch, 0.595-mm openings). Also referred to as benthic macroinvertebrates, infauna, or macrobenthos.",
  "synonyms": [
    "Benthic Marcroinvertebrates",
    "Macrobenthos"
  ],
  "subject": "Water",
  "see_also": [
    "Benthic",
    "Benthic Macroinvertebrates",
    "Infauna"
  ],
  "references": [
    "Aquatic Biodiversity Glossary",
    "Biocriteria Glossary",
    "Chesapeake Bay Glossary",
    "Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP) Glossary",
    "USGS Water Resources Data State, 2005 Definition of Terms",
    "USGS Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources Vol. 2 Glossary at http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/sandt/Glossary.pdf"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/benthos/"
}