| Bathymetry – The shape of the sea floor usually shown by depth contours in the same way that contours show the shape of land as topography |
| Biodiversity – The variety of living things that are found in an area. Marine biodiversity in Victoria is some of the highest in the world. |
| Carnivore – An organism that gains its energy and building materials by eating other animals |
| Catchment – The area of land from which water drains into a water body such as a river, lake, bay, inlet or a section of coast. |
| Communities – the animals and plants that live together as part of an ecosystem. |
| Contour – a line on a map used to connect points that represent equal heights |
| Depth Sounder – a device used on boats to obtain the depth of water by sending pulses of sound to the bottom, collecting reflected signals by a receiver, and interpreting this into a depth based on the length of time for the sound to return. |
| Filter Feeder – an animal that gets its food by filtering water through its body. Sponges, mussels, and corals, are all examples of filter feeders. |
| Geographic Positioning System – A piece of equipment that is used to obtain an accurate position on the earths surface by comparing signals received from a number of orbiting satellites. |
| Habitat – The place where an organism lives which meet its needs for food and shelter. |
| Habitat Map – A map drawn to show the main habitats found in an area. |
| Herbivore – An organism that gets its energy by consuming primary producers including plants like algae. |
| Latitude – The number of degrees north or south of the equator at a position on the earth’s surface and shown by horizontal lines on a map. |
| Lead Line – A piece of lead attached to a cord used to measure the depth of water. |
| Longitude - The number of degrees east or west of a line drawn through Greenwich, England shown by vertical lines on a map. |
| Marine National Park – A large fully protected National Park to protect the marine environment. |
| Marine Sanctuary - A small but fully protected area of the sea that has been reserved to protect a particular feature or use in the marine environment. |
| Multibeam Sonar – a Depth sounder that uses a large number of sonar pulses that are spread out and able to provide detailed information about sea floor. |
| Nutrients – Chemicals that are essential for the growth of plants including nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. |
| Parks Victoria – A park management agency with responsibility for managing Victoria Marine National Park system, as well as Victoria’s park system on land. |
| Photo Points – Points where a camera or video camera has been lowered from a boat to see what is located beneath and marked on a map. |
| Rhodolith – A roundish type of coralline algae that grows slowly on the sea floor and is able to roll around on the bottom. |
| Scavenger – An animal that feeds on dead and decomposing materials within the environment. |
| Sea Country – A term use to describe an area of sea that has important spiritual and cultural significance to Indigenous Australians. |
| Sea Search – A community monitoring program established to provide opportunities or the community to participate in collecting information about Victoria’s marine environment (www.seasearch.org.au) |
| Sediment – Soil or other materials that wash into waterways that eventually settles to the bottom. |
| Substrate – The material on the bottom of the sea or earth in which things can grow. |
| Texture – The patterns formed when multibeam sonar images are a generated that shows differences in the type of materials on the sea floor. |
| Transect – A line cut through a community to provide reference point for measurements about the community. |
| Video Tow – A video camera towed behind a boat in order to gather information about the sea floor and animals and plants in an area |
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