<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-570" name="High Salt Marsh" parent="BC-435" scope="Biotic Group: Salt marshes dominated by herbaceous, emergent vegetation and forb-like dwarf shrubs; areas are infrequently flooded by tides and characterized by distinctive patterns of halophytic vegetation (e.g., Spartina patens). ..."/><bt><term thcode="62" code="BC-435" name="Emergent Tidal Marsh" parent="BC-395" scope="Biotic Subclass: Communities dominated by emergent, halophytic, herbaceous vegetation (with occasional woody forbs or shrubs) along low-wave-energy, intertidal areas of estuaries and rivers. ..."/><term thcode="62" code="BC-395" name="Emergent Wetland" parent="BC-389" scope="Biotic Class: Areas in this class are characterized by erect, rooted, herbaceous hydrophytes?excluding emergent mosses and lichens. ..."/><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>