<descriptor thcode="62"><thesaurus thcode="62" name="Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard" scope="Categories of ecosystems for coastal, estuarine, and marine environments." creator="FGDC" rights="public domain" date="2017-05-10" codetype="alpha" prefix="cmecs" uri="https://www2.usgs.gov/science/CMECS" tblname="cmecs" root_code="root" contact="pschweitzer"><category><term thcode="25" code="16" name="hierarchical" parent="11" scope="Substantive broader-narrower relationships exist among the terms."/><term thcode="25" code="16" name="hierarchical" parent="11" scope="Substantive broader-narrower relationships exist among the terms."/></category><altlabel><altlabel>CMECS</altlabel><altlabel>CMECS</altlabel><altlabel>Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)</altlabel><altlabel>Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)</altlabel></altlabel></thesaurus><term thcode="62" code="BC-535" name="Sand Dollar Bed" parent="BC-426" scope="Biotic Group: Assemblages dominated by surface-dwelling, &quot;irregular&quot; echinoids of the Phylum Echinodermata and Order Clypeasteroida (e.g., sand dollars, sea biscuits). ..."/><bt><term thcode="62" code="BC-426" name="Soft Sediment Fauna" parent="BC-391" scope="Biotic Subclass: Areas that are characterized by fine unconsolidated substrates (sand, mud) and that are dominated in percent cover or in estimated biomass by infauna, sessile epifauna, mobile epifauna, mobile fauna that create semi-permanent burrows as homes, or by structures or evidence associated with these fauna (e.g., tilefish burrows, lobster burrows). ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-391" name="Faunal Bed" parent="BC-389" scope="Biotic Class: Seabeds dominated or characterized by a cover of animals that are closely associated with the bottom, including attached, clinging, sessile, infaunal, burrowing, laying, interstitial, and slow-moving animals, but not animals that have created substrate (Reef Biota). ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-389" name="Benthic/Attached Biota" parent="BC-C002" scope="Biotic Setting: This biotic setting describes areas where biota lives on, in, or in close association with the seafloor or other substrates (e.g., pilings, buoys), extending down into the sediment to include the sub-surface layers of substrate that contain multi-cellular life. ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-C002" name="Biotic" parent="root"/><term thcode="62" code="root" name="CMECS" scope="Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard: Category terms encompassing waters from the head of tide or inland incursion of ocean salinity to the splash zone of the coasts to the deepest portions of the oceans and the deep waters of the Great Lakes."/></bt></descriptor>