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E

ecology

The relationships of living things to one another and their environment, or the study of such relationships.

edentate

Lacking hinge teeth.

effective population size

The number of individuals in a population that can actively contribute to the gene pool of the next generation; also as N_e.

electron microscopy

A form of microscopy in which the interactions of electrons (instead of light) with a specimen are used to provide detailed information about structure.

embryology

Individual development from egg to a free-living juvenile.

epibenthic

Living on the surface of the sediment, most usually at the bottom of a body of water.

epibiont

An organism that lives on the surface of another living organism.

epifaunal

Living on top of the sediment, i.e., unburied; also called epibenthic.

evidence

Information accumulated through observations of phenomena that occur in the natural world, or which are created as experiments in a laboratory. Scientific evidence usually goes toward supporting or rejecting a hypothesis.

evolution

Inheritable change within a lineage, or the change that occurs between generations within one population of a species. This refers of course to change expressed from one individual to another, but we are usually most interested in the changes so great that the later generation is considered a different species.

evolutionary biology

The study of how evolution occurs.