Bioturbator

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An animal or other organism whose burrowing, digging and feeding churns up and mixes the sediment or soil it lives in
2. A creature that reworks the ground around it by burrowing and moving material, stirring layers of earth or seabed together
3. Any living thing, such as a worm or burrowing crustacean, that physically mixes sediment or soil through its activity

Etymology: "Bioturbator" is a technical coinage from modern biology and geology, built from two parts: "bio-", from Greek "bios" meaning "life", and "turbator", from Latin "turbare", "to disturb or stir up", ultimately from "turba", a crowd or tumult. Put together, the word names an organism that churns up sediment or soil through its activity, such as burrowing worms, crabs, or clams. The "turb-" in the middle is the same root that gives English "turbulent" and "disturb", so the word literally describes a living thing that stirs things up. Ecologists and geologists use it, often in the phrase "bioturbation", for the mixing of sediments by animals, which can profoundly affect how layers of rock and seabed are preserved.