littoral

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Main Entry: ¹lit·to·ral

Pronunciation: \ˈli-tə-rəl; ˌli-tə-ˈral, -ˈräl\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Latin litoralis, from litor-, litus seashore

Date: circa 1656: of, relating to, or situated or growing on or near a shore especially of the sea

"In coastal environments and biomes, the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes the intertidal zone and is often used to mean the same as the intertidal zone. However, the meaning of "littoral zone" can extend well beyond the intertidal zone.

The word "littoral" is used both as a noun

Ordinary high water mark

Ordinary high water mark refers to the highest level reached by a body of water that has been maintained for a sufficient period of time to leave evidence on the landscape. It may be indicated by destruction of terrestrial vegetation, the presence of marks on trees or debris deposits...

Intertidal zone

The intertidal zone is the area that is exposed to the air at low tide and underwater at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, including steep rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, or wetlands...

and an adjective. It derives from the Latin noun litus, litoris, meaning "shore". (The doubled 't' is a late medieval innovation and the word is sometimes seen in the more classical-looking spelling 'litoral'.)

There is no single definition. What is regarded as the full extent of the littoral zone, and the way the littoral zone is divided into subregions, varies in different contexts (lakes and rivers have their own definitions). The use of the term also varies from one part of the world to another, and between different disciplines. For example, military commanders speak of the littoral in ways that are quite different from marine biologists."

Supralittoral zone The supralittoral zone (also called the splash, spray, or supratidal zone) is the area above the spring high tide line that is regularly splashed, but not submerged by ocean water. Seawater penetrates these elevated areas only during storms with high tides.

Organisms here must cope also with exposure to air, fresh water from rain, cold, heat and predation

Predation

In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey, . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey...

 by land animals and seabirds. At the top of this area, patches of dark lichen

LichenLichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacteriums can appear as crusts on rocks. Some types of periwinkles

Common Periwinkle

The common periwinkle, winkle, or Littorina littorea, is a small edible species marine gastropod with gills and an operculum in the family Littorinidae, the winkles.- Shell : Neritidae and detritus feeding Isopoda commonly inhabit the lower supralitoral.

Neritidae

Neritidae, known as the nerites, are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized saltwater and freshwater snails which have a gill and a distinctive operculum...

Eulittoral zone The eulittoral zone (also called the midlittoral or mediolittoral zone) is the intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore. It extends from the spring high tide line, which is rarely inundated, to the neap low tide line, which is rarely not inundated. The wave action and turbulence of recurring tides shapes and reforms cliffs, gaps, and caves, offering a huge range of habitats for sedentary organisms. Protected rocky shorelines usually show a narrow almost homogenous eulittoral strip, often marked by the presence of barnacles. Exposed sites show a wider extension and are often divided into further zones. For more on this, see intertidal ecology

Intertidal ecology

Intertidal ecology is the study of intertidal ecosystems, where organisms live between the low and high tide lines. At low tide, the intertidal is exposed whereas at high tide, the intertidal is underwater...

Sublittoral zone The sublittoral zone, also called the neritic zone, starts immediately below the eulittoral zone. This zone is permanently covered with seawater.

In physical oceanography, the sublittoral zone refers to coastal regions with significant tidal flows and energy dissipation, including non-linear flows, internal waves, river outflows and oceanic fronts. In practice, this typically extends to the edge of the continental shelf

Continental shelf

The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas and gulfs. The continental rise is below the with depths around 200 metres.

In marine biology, the sublittoral refers to the areas where sunlight reaches the ocean floor, that is, where the water is never so deep as to take it out of the photic zone

Photic zone

The photic zone or euphotic zone is the depth of the water in a lake or ocean, that is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur...

This results in high primary production and makes the sublittoral zone the location of the majority of sea life. As in physical oceanography, this zone typically extends to the edge of the continental shelf

Continental shelf

The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas and gulfs. The continental rise is below the...

Primary production

400px|thumb|Global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance, from September [[1997]] to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential, and not an actual estimate of it...

The benthic zone in the sublittoral is much more stable than in the intertidal zone; temperature, water pressure, and the amount of sunlight remain fairly constant. Sublittoral corals do not have to deal with as much change as intertidal corals. Corals can live in both zones, but they are more common in the sublittoral zone.

Within the sublittoral, marine biologists also identify the following:

• The infralittoral zone is the algal dominated zone to maybe five metres below the low water mark.
• The circalittoral zone is the region beyond the infralittoral, that is, below the algal zone and dominated by sessile
  
  
  Sessility (limnology)
  In limnology, sessility is that quality of an organism which rests unsupported directly on a base, either attached or unattached to a substrate. It is a characteristic of vegetation which is anchored to the benthic environment. There are two families of sessile rotifers: Flosculariidae and...
   animals such as oyster
  
  
  Oyster
  The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified.."

Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent...

 http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Littoral

Relating to the coastal zone between the limits of high and low tides. The littoral zone is subject to a wide range of environmental conditions, including high-energy wave action and intermittent periods of flooding and drying along with the associated fluctuations in exposure to solar radiation and extremes of temperature

"The Littoral Archaeological Project The archaeology of the coastal zone has emerged as a recognized area of research for the understanding of our cultural heritage, particularly the focus on maritime culture. Significant progress has been made over the last two decades as researchers have become increasingly aware of the dynamic nature of the littoral landscape. Attention has concentrated on issues relating to the changes in the natural environment."  

Littoral Encounters: The Shore as Cultural Interface in King Horn
Sebastian Sobecki
Al-Masaq: Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, 1473-348X, Volume 18, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 79 – 86

The thirteenth-century poem King Horn is widely regarded as the first Middle English romance. Consequently, a disproportional amount of attention has been paid to the work's genre and linguistic features, often at the expense of more complex interpretative concerns. One such aspect of the poem is the structural negotiation of the conflict between Saracens and the londisse men allied to the protagonist. This clash permeates the work and pits the land against the sea, elevating the shore to a defining role.