Introduction: Towards a shared language: Semantic exchanges and cross-disciplinary interaction

Abstract

Any interdisciplinary undertaking demands a comparison of the paradigms and vocabulary specific to each scientific corpus involved, particularly where the concept-landscape-is complex and applied to a difficult environment-the underwaterworld. For this first cross-disciplinarywork focussing exclusively on "underwater landscapes", certain methods and epistemological reference frameworks must therefore be put into perspective in order to mitigate the impact of partitioned and partitioning cultural schemas on this combined approach to the "underwater landscape". This general introduction thus establishes a preliminary basis for the subsequent chapters herein but also provides illustration of a complex, cross-disciplinary pathway of reflection transcending the three-part development selected.