The Littoral reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Littoral

A littoral is the region near the shoreline of a body of fresh or salt water. The term may also be used as an adjective. Depending on context, it may mean the region within a few meters of the water, or everything influenced, possibly extending back many kilometers.

The littoral zone of a freshwater biome refers to the region of well-lit water close to shore. This zone is home to most of the aquatic plantlife (both rooted and floating) in a pond or lake because the high amount of sunlight reaching it allows for significant photosynthetic activity.

The adjacency of water gives a number of distinctive characteristics to littoral regions. Water's erosive power results in particular types of landforms, such as sand dunes, and estuaries. Biologically, the ready availability of water enables a greater variety of plant and animal life, and the additional local humidity due to evaporation usually creates a microclimate supporting unique types of organisms.

In human culture, the littoral is most important; a large percentage of the world's population lives close to lakes or the sea.

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"Littoral" is the name of coastal departments of Benin and Cameroon.

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