Aft: towards the stern or back of the boat |
| Benthic: term for organisms living on the sea floor |
Bow: the front, pointed end of the boat |
| Captain: the individual who oversees all ship operations and is responsible for the ship and crew safety |
| Chief Scientist: lead scientist or Principal Investigator, the individual responsible for relaying science needs to MPC and captain |
| Fore: towards the bow of the boat |
Invertebrates: all animals that do not possess a backbone, invertebrates make up 95% of all known animal species |
Larvae: the juvenile forms of animals, there may be several larval stages before reaching the adult form, some larvae look completely different from the adult form that they will eventually become |
| Mates: ship's crew responsible for "driving" the boat, typically there are 2-3 mates on a ship |
| MOCNESS: Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System, a large piece of equipment used to sample different depths of the ocean very accurately for plankton (see below) |
| NSF: National Science Foundation, the primary U.S. government agency that sponsors non-medical research including all types of basic scientific research |
Pelagic: term for organisms inhabiting the water column |
| PI: Principal Investigator, a scientist who leads a research effort |
| Plankton: animals that live in the water column and usually are moved around by tides, wind and currents, animal plankton includes jellyfish, worms, crustaceans, molluscs as well as eggs and larvae of many species |
| Port: the left side of the boat when facing forward |
| Starboard: the right side of the boat when facing forward |
| Stern: the back end of the boat |
| Symbiosis: term to describe the close and often long-term relationship between two (or more) different biological species. These relationships can range from beneficial to all members (a mutualism) to where one benefits at a cost to the other (a parasitism). |
