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The mission of the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS) is to
ensure that research contributes to halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010.
Recommendations of the
European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy
FOR
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS RELATING TO BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
“If I could remember the names of all these particles I'd be a botanist.”
ENRICO FERMI (1901-1954)
Abiotic: (adj) of or characterized by the absence of life but not rings. Alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes are
or living organisms aliphatic hydrocarbons.
Abyss: (n) profoundly deep chasm or region Alkali: (n) dissolved hydroxide of a metallic element,
Abyssal: (adj) of or pertaining to the zone of the ocean including sodium and potassium, that neutralises acids
bottom between the bathyal and hadal zones: between to form salts; any active base
depths of about 4000 and 6500m Alkaline: (adj) characterising a solution with a pH
Accidental: (adj) unintentional (happening without greater than 7
deliberate decision to make it happen) Allele: (n) gene or DNA sequence at a locus where
Accretion: (n) process of adding (outer or upper) layers alternative forms are known to exist
Accuracy: (n) closeness to the true value; measure of Allopatric: (adj) having non-overlapping ranges of
bias, (relative) lack of bias (see precision) distribution
Acid rain: (np) precipitation with a pH below about 5.2; Allozyme: (n) one or two or more versions of an enzyme
rain consisting of dilute sulphuric or nitric acid Altruism: (n) action that is likely to reduce the
produced from anthropogenic emissions of waste gas reproductive fitness of the individual that performs it,
into the atmosphere without the probability of a simultaneous and
Acid: (n) solution with a pH less than 7 equivalent or greater increase in the sum of fitness of
Acidification: (n) decrease in pH in a water body related individuals
Aerobic: (n) requiring air or free oxygen; pertaining to, Ambient: (adj) of the surrounding area or environment;
in the presence of, or caused by oxygen of prevailing environmental conditions
Age class: (np) collection of individuals with Amensal: (n) injurious to one or more species
approximately the same age in a population Anadromous: (adj) of or pertaining to an organism that
Age structure: (np) relative abundance of age classes in feeds in the open ocean but migrates to spawn in fresh
a population water
Agent: (n) a person or thing that produces an effect Anaerobic: (n) not requiring air or free oxygen; in,
(carrier or force that causes, encourages or allows pertaining to, or caused by, the absence of oxygen
something to happen) Animal: (n) organism that feeds on organic matter,
Ahermatypic: (n) of or pertaining to coral that does not usually possessing a nervous system
build reefs Anion: (n) negatively charged ion
Algae: (n) mainly aquatic, eukaryotic organisms Annual: (n) organism that completes its life cycle in a
containing chlorophyll, but lacking true roots, stems year
and leaves, and having only reproductive cells in their Anoxia: (n) condition of being without (dissolved)
reproductive structures. In one scheme algae comprise oxygen
6 phyla, including Euglenophyta, Crysophyta, Anoxic: (adj) lacking oxygen
Pyrrophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta, and Anthropogenic: (n) produced or caused by humans
Rhodophyta. Whatever some definitions may say, Anthropomorphism: (n) attribution of human qualities,
algae are not plants. reasoning, feeling or emotions to non-human
Alien: (adj) introduced from elsewhere (conveys the organisms
sense of unfamiliar, unfriendly, hostile, unacceptable, Aphotic: (adj) without light
repugnant, from another planet). Often used to qualify Aquatic respiration: (np) use of oxygen for metabolism
“invasive”, but frequently inadequate and inaccurate in in an aquatic system
this task, since invasive taxa may be hybrids of native Aquatic: (adj) of, in or belonging to water
and non-native ancestors, with no distribution outside Area-sensitive: (adj) characteristic of a trait that
the invaded area. See non-indigenous. responds to changes in the area or volume available to
Aliphatic: (adj) of or pertaining to a major class of the owner of the trait
organic compounds where carbon and hydrogen Asexual: (n) of or pertaining to reproduction without
molecules are arranged in straight or branched chains gametes and zygotes
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Genetic Biodiversity
Assemblage: (n) set of organisms whose relation to one rain forest, grassland, or coral reef. A given biome
another is either unknown of no immediate concern may be found in many places on Earth. Species widely
Association: (n) group of species typically found separated a biome may converge in their appearance
together whenever similar ecological conditions and behaviours under similar ecological pressures.
prevail in a landscape Biosafety: (n) attitudes, behaviour, techniques and
Atoll: (n) coral reef that partly or wholly surrounds a legislation intended to manage, reduce or eliminate
volcanic seamount risk from biological sources or to biological entities.
Attenuation: (n) decrease in a property Techniques include exclusion, mitigation, adaptation,
Autotrophic: (adj) of, pertaining to, or possessing the control, and eradication.
capacity to synthesise complex organic nutritive Biosecurity: (n) See biosafety
compounds from simple organic substances Biota: (n) group of organisms found in a region
Aware: (n) having knowledge or being well informed Biotic: (adj) of or characterized by the presence of life or
Bacteria: (n) single-celled or non-cellular organisms that living organisms
lack chlorophyll and reproduce by fission; taxonomy is Bioturbation: (n) disturbance of sediments due to
difficult activities of organisms
Bacteriochlorophyll: (n) substance in photosensitive Black list of species: (np) list of species that are known
bacteria that is related to chlorophyll of higher plants to be problematic invasives in certain locations
Base flow: (np) volume of flow in a water course in dry Bloom: (n) local population explosion (of
periods of the year phytoplankton)
Base: (n) water-soluble compound capable of reacting Border: (n) the line separating two political or
with an acid to form a salt and water geographical areas
Basin: (n) entire geographical area drained by a river and Boreal: (adj) of or pertaining to the Northern
its tributaries Hemisphere or north temperate zone
Bathyl: (adj) of the continental slope; relating to ocean Botany: (n) scientific study of plant evolution, life
depths between 200 and 2000m processes, life history, histology, structure, function,
Bathymetry: (n) art, science and practice of measuring functional morphology, reproduction, physiology,
the depths of the oceans ecology, genetics, taxonomy, and geography
Bathypelagic: (n) of or pertaining to free-water Boundary: (n) edge between home ranges, habitats or
organisms that live at depths of about 1000 to 3000m ecosystems. Organisms readily cross permeable
Benthic: (adj) associated with, relating to or happening boundaries, while semi-permeable boundaries tend to
on the bottom under a water body resist movement and organisms do not cross
Benthos: (n) organisms living on the ocean bottom impermeable boundaries
Berm: (n) level strip of ground at the summit or along Buffer: (n) substance that tends to prevent changes in pH
the base of a slope; nearly flat area at the top of a Buoyancy: (n) tendency to float or rise in a fluid
beach Bycatch: (n) animals caught inadvertently while trying
Bioaccumulate: (v) assimilation of a substance in the to catch another species, usually thrown back dead or
tissues of an organism so that it becomes more dying
concentrated there than it is in the environment Calcareous: (adj) made of calcium carbonate
Bioavailable: (adj) of a (form of a) substance that Capture-recapture: (np) technique to estimate
organisms are able to assimilate population size by catching and marking individuals,
Biocentric: (adj) valuing the existence and diversity of releasing them, and recapturing them
species irrespective of their potential use or value to Carbon cycle: (np) organic circulation of carbon
humans between atmosphere and organisms
Bioconcentrate: (v) increase in the concentration of a Carbon flux: (np) transport of organic compounds into,
substance in the tissue of organisms at successive out of and within an ecosystem
trophic levels Carnivore: (n) organisms that eat other organisms
Biodiversity: (n) the variety of living organisms and of Carrying capacity: (np) largest number of individuals
their relationships, at every level of organisation from of a given taxon that a habitat can support without
genome to ecosystem becoming degraded
Biogenic: (adj) produced or caused by biological Casual: (adj) used to qualify a non-indigenous organism
processes that has not established itself, and which relies for its
Biogeography: (n) study of the distribution of organisms persistence on repeated introductions
and the processes that lead to these distributions Catadromous: (adj) of or pertaining to organism that
Biomarker: (n) tracer used to detect, distinguish or spawns in seawater but spends most of its life in
monitor processes, structures or functions in a estuarine or fresh water
biological system or sample Catastrophe: (n) disaster that results in the abrupt
Biomass: (n) mass of living matter reduction or elimination of a population
Biome: (n) large region with similar ecology, often Cation: (n) positively charged ion
dominated by characteristic vegetation and named Change, Climate: (np) alterations in local mean
after the dominant type of life form, such as tropical temperature, precipitation and weather patterns that are
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Genetic Biodiversity
roughly monotonic when averaged over decades, and of the individuals involved is the exclusion from,
that are accompanied by associated regional or global restriction of access to or exploitation of the resource
changes Connectedness: (n) characteristic of the distribution of
Change, Global: (np) regional shifts in temperature, habitats in a landscape, reflecting the ease with which
precipitation, weather patterns, climate patterns of land organisms of a given taxon can disperse between
cover and of land and water use, environmental habitat patches
chemistry, biodiversity, and ecosystem distributions, Connectivity: (n) degree to which disjunct populations
functions and integrity, that are essentially monotonic function as a meta-population
over the scale of decades, and that are associated with Conservation biology: (np) science whose objective is
other regional shifts at a planetary scale to provide methods and results that can be used by
Chlorophyll: (n) pigment found in photosynthetic managers to slow or halt the loss of biological
organisms, essential to the production of carbohydrates diversity in the areas they manage
by photosynthesis, and occurring both as the bluish- Conservation: (n) protection from unwanted change
black chlorophyll a, and the dark green chlorophyll b Consumer: (n) organisms that cannot produce new
Chloroplast: (n) photosynthetic organelle in eukaryotic organic matter by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis
organisms but must eat other organisms
Circulation: (n) current patterns, determined by winds, Consumption: (n) human abrogation, use and disposal
differential temperatures, hydrology and geophysical of resources that reduces their availability for the
forces, and in shallow water, by topography and water future and that reduces, tends to reduce or places at
inflow risk the stability of biophysical systems
Class: (n) taxonomic category that ranks below phylum Contain: (v) prevent an organism from moving or
and above order extending its range
Climax: (n) status of a community that is in dynamic Containment: (n) the action or policy of impeding the
equilibrium under prevailing environmental conditions expansion of the range of an organism
Cline: (n) gradient a character or phenotype, or in Continental margin: (np) ocean floor from the dry land
relative frequency of alleles or genotype of a continent to the abyssal plain; consisting of the
Clone: (n) genetically identical offspring of an continental shelf, slope, and rise
individual Continental rise: (np) ocean floor from the continental
Coarse-grained: (adj) characteristic of the distribution slope to the abyssal plain
of a resource that occurs in patches that are large with Continental shelf: (np) sea floor that slopes gradually
respect to the displacements of an organism, but not so from the dry land edge of a continent to the continental
large that all its movements would typically take place slope
within a single patch Continental slope: (np) drop-off from the continental
Cold seep: (np) place where fluids at nearly ambient shelf to the continental rise or oceanic trench
temperature seep from the deep sea floor Control, Border: (np) actions aimed at restricting
Colonize: (v) establish a colony movement of organisms from one political area to
Colony: (n) a community of organisms of one species or another
variety Control, Post-establishment: (np) actions to limit the
Commensal: (n) species living on, in, or in close spread or increase in density of an organism, taken
association with, another, but not dependent on the after the organism has achieved a permanent presence
other and without injury to either in a location
Community, Bottom: (np) community living at the Control: (v) hold in check, restrain, dominate (restrict or
bottom of a water body prevent the spread of an invasive)
Community, Chemosynthetic: (np) community that Control: biological: (np) combat an invasive with a
depends on primary production from bacteria capable predator, parasite, or disease
of oxidising sulphur or methane, or of reducing Control: chemical: (np) weaken or restrain an invasive
sulphides. Chemosynthetic communities form around with pesticides
whale carcasses, cold vents and hydrothermal vents. Control: ecological: (np) render an invasive less
Community, Cold seep: (np) Chemosynthetic competitive by changing the environment
community formed in the water near a cold seep Control: mechanical: (np) counter an invasive by
Community, Hydrothermal vent: (np) chemosynthetic damaging or removing it
community formed around a hot vent Convergence: (adj) of or pertaining to the surface where
Community: (n) association whose species interact one water mass plunges below another
through competition, predation, and mutualism Coprophagous: (n) feeding on faeces
Competition, Direct: (np) employment by an organism Coral bleaching: (np) death of coral when, apparently in
of behaviour or mechanisms whose effect is to exclude response to high water temperature, the polyps expel
others from, or restrict their access to, or use of, a their zooxanthellae and lose simultaneously the colour
resource of their symbionts and capacity to survive
Competition: (n) interaction over access to or enjoyment Coral reef: (np) elevated part of the seafloor formed by
of a shared resource, whose outcome for one or more a rock-like accumulation of calcareous exoskeletons of
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Genetic Biodiversity
corals, calcareous red algae, and molluscs. Coral reefs Density-dependent: (adj) pertaining to a parameter
grow at 1 to 20 cm each year. whose quality or quantity changes with the number of
Coral: (n) one of many species of marine colonial polyp, individuals per unit area or volume
some of which are characterized by a calcareous Destroy: (v) put an end to, wipe out, spoil utterly
exoskeleton. Many species of coral polyps receive part Destruction: (n) an instance of destroying
of their nutrition from symbiotic algae called Detectability: (n) measure of the degree to which
zooxanthellae, which give the coral its characteristic organisms can be observed in an environment, in
colour. Successive generations of individuals build relation to the abundance of the organism in the
their skeletons on those of earlier generations; in this environment
way a coral head is formed. After many centuries of Detritivore: (n) organism that feeds on particles of
such building a reef is formed. organic waste and decaying organic matter, deriving
Coriolis effect: (np) apparent force that acts on a body in nutrition mainly from bacteria on the particles
motion in a rotating reference frame. The Earth's Detritus: (n) particles of dead or decaying organic
rotation results in a Coriolis effect on the scale of the matter
planet's atmosphere and oceans. In the case of the Diatom: (n) phytoplankton species whose cell walls
atmosphere, as air moves from a high pressure zone contain silica
towards a low pressure zone, the Coriolis effect Diel: (adj) of or pertaining to a 24-hour period
apparently deviates it from a straight line (as the Earth Diffusion: (n) intermingling of molecules as a
rotates under it) and causes the air to rotate in the same consequence of random thermal agitation until the
direction as the Earth. In the northern hemisphere the concentration of soluble substances becomes uniform
air flowing around a hurricane spins counter-clockwise throughout a volume of gas or liquid
(this rotation is called cyclonic) when viewed from Dimictic: (adj) of a lake that has two mixing periods
space. each year
Corridor: (n) ribbon of habitat favourable to the Dimorphism: (n) existence of two morphs in a the
survival, dispersion or movement of an organism object of study (molecule, species etc.).
between larger favourable patches of habitat, through Dinoflagellate: (n) planktonic algae
an otherwise unfavourable matrix Dispersal: (n) movement of organisms away from parent
Current, Convection: (np) movement of a fluid arising organisms or place of birth
from differences in density or temperature Disperse: (v) spread, disseminate, distribute over a wide
Current, Density: (np) currents established as denser, area
more saline water, sinks under or through less dense, Dissolved organic matter: (np) dissolved molecules
less saline water derived from degradation of biogenic material
Current, Longshore: (np) movement of water parallel Dissolved oxygen: (np) free molecular oxygen dissolved
to the shoreline in water
Current, Rip: (np) rapid current moving offshore from Dissolved solids: (np) mineral or chemical compounds
beneath a longshore current dissolved in water
Decomposer: (n) organism which consumes dead Disturbance: (n) abrupt change to a habitat, ecosystem,
organic matter community, or population that has significant
Deep ocean: (np) abyssal regions of the ocean consequences for organisms living in the affected
Deforestation: (n) conversion of forest by human space, or for their relationships
actions to a different land cover Diurnal: (adj) of or pertaining to a day; belonging to or
Deliberate: (adj) with intent (happening as a active during the day; altering condition with day and
consequence of someone's decision to make it happen) night
Delta: (n) nearly flat plain of alluvial deposits where a Diversity gradient: (np) changes in diversity over space
river discharges to a larger, slower-moving water or in relationship with changes in an environmental
body, sometimes formed between diverging branches parameter
of the river, and often, though not necessarily, fan- Diversity: (n) variety apparent in a quality, character or
shaped trait
Deme: (n) a panmictic local population Driver: (n) external activity, event, factor or process that
Demersal: (adj) dwelling at or near the bottom of the changes the behaviour or viability of individuals,
sea, or in very deep water populations, communities, or ecosystems
Demographic parameter: (np) population structure, Dune: (n) sand hill or ridge formed by the wind, in
absolute or age-specific fecundity and mortality rate, sandy deserts or beaches
or other measure of the characteristics of the structure Ecocline: (n) spatial gradient in the composition of
or dynamics of population associations in response to the effect of a gradient in
Demographic: (adj) of or referring to numerical an environmental variable
characteristics of a population Ecological release: (np) increase in density or extension
Density stratification: (np) layers in a water body of distribution of an organism that occurs in response
established as a consequence of differences in density to the absence of competitors, predators or pathogens
Density: (n) number in a unit area or volume
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Genetic Biodiversity
Ecological restoration: (np) process of deliberately should also admit that they provide disservices,
altering the ecology of a site until it possesses the including disease, toxic gases and other waste, and the
structure, function, diversity, and dynamics of an propagules of weeds or pests.
ecosystem that was previously present in the site Ecotone: (n) habitat or ecosystem that characterises the
Ecological risk assessment: (np) simultaneous transition zone between distinct ecosystems
evaluation of the exposure of an element (e,g, habitat, Ecotone: (n) boundary or line of transition between
ecosystem, population or organism) to a hazard and the neighbouring ecosystems; habitat or ecosystem that
severity of the effect on that element should the hazard characterises the transition zone between distinct
occur ecosystems
Ecosystem management: (np) actions taken to achieve Ecotope: (n) distinct habitat type in a larger ecological
desired future conditions of composition, structure or area
function of a selected ecological area Ecotourism: (n) tourism based upon or encouraged by
Ecosystem: (n) community of organisms dependent on ecological attractions
or reacting to the chemical and physical factors (such Ecotoxicology: (n) the study of the impacts of poisons
as sunlight, humidity, soil, climate or salinity) that on organisms in the natural environment. The
make up their environment, and dependent on or complexity and significance of the problems greatly
interacting with organisms in the same ecosystem increase as the scope of the study moves from
more than with those of different ecosystems. Energy, individuals and populations to communities and
nutrients and organisms move across the boundaries of ecosystems.
ecosystems, and the separation of ecosystems is mostly Ecotype: (n) locally adapted population
artificial and only for convenience. Every organism is Edge species: (np) species whose typical habitat is an
part of several overlapping or nested ecosystems, each ecotone
of whose limits are decided largely by the observer El Nino: (np) or more fully, the El Niño-Southern
(who would normally try to use ecologically relevant Oscillation (ENSO): a warm ocean current that, around
boundaries as limits). Disjunct spaces are normally the end of the year, flows from the western tropical
considered to belong to similar but not the same Pacific ocean towards the east, and then along the
ecosystem. coast of Ecuador and Peru. In years when it develops
Ecosystem function: (np) process, product or outcome strongly it may suppress coastal upwelling and raise
arising from the biogeochemical activities of living the temperature of surface waters. This in turn
things as they absorb, transform, excrete and exchange provokes an increase in local precipitation and may
materials and energy, delivered across the boundary of significantly influence the weather at great distances.
some nominally bounded system. Products include Emigration: (n) movement of individuals away from an
energy and materials, processes comprise flow of area more or less permanently
energy or transformation of materials, and outcomes Endangered: (adj) in immediate danger of extinction
include the rate of change of flows or stocks. Endemic: (adj) pattern, process or organism confined to
Ecosystem functioning: (np) interactions and exchanges a particular locality (being exclusive to a small area)
between organisms and their non-living environment, Endosymbiotic: (adj) of or pertaining to an organism
within a nominally bounded system, involving but not that is symbiotic with another and lives with its body
limited to transformations of material or energy, gene Entrainment: (n) transport of organisms by a current
flow and changes in gene frequency, population Environment: (n) physical, chemical and biological
demography and dynamics, and behaviour. The surroundings in which an organism lives and with
interactions are typically subject to feedback and which it interacts
exhibit non-linear relationships with forcing agents Environmental stress: (np) environmental change that
and with the processes that they influence. disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological
Ecosystem goods: (np) ecosystem service consisting of equilibrium of an organism or ecosystem
part, product of, or whole organism Enzootic: (adj) pertaining to a disease that afflicts
Ecosystem process: (np) change within a nominally animals in one locality
bounded system arising from the metabolism, Ephemeral: (adj) organism that completes its life cycle
catabolism and activities of organisms and exchanges in a day, or more broadly, in a period substantially less
with their non-living environment than a year; a perennial herbaceous plant whose above-
Ecosystem service: (np) benefit provided by the living ground biomass dies back early in the year
world to individuals, communities, and economies, Epibenthic: (adj) of or pertaining to the region near or at
derived from the existence of an ecosystem or from the bottom of a body of water
one or more ecosystem functions. Humans tend to Epidemic spawning: (np) shedding of gametes by many
focus more on services that sustain, enrich or fulfil individuals in the same place at the same time
human life than on services provided to other Epidemic: (n) widespread outbreak of an infectious
organisms. disease; pervasive spread of parasitic, predatory, or
Ecosystem disservice: (np) term that should logically damaging organisms
exist, but apparently does not yet have any currency. Epifauna: (n) invertebrates living on, but not in, the sea
If we recognise that ecosystems provide services, we floor
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Genetic Biodiversity
Epilimnion: (n) upper, wind-mixed layer of a thermally Feral: (adj) characterising a free-living animal;
stratified lake characterising an animal that is not (or no longer)
Epipelagic: (adj) of or pertaining to organisms that live domesticated
in the photic zone, between the surface and depths of Fetch: (n) distance the wind blows over water without
about 200 to 300m altering direction
Epiphyte: (n) organism growing on and supported by a Fine-grained: (adj) characteristic of the distribution of a
plant resource that occurs in patches that are sufficiently
Epizootic: (n) disease abruptly prevalent and widespread small that the organism can not readily benefit from
among an animal population that resource on its own
Eradicate: (v) destroy completely, get rid of, root out, Fishery: (n) organized harvest of fish or shellfish for
extirpate, eliminate commercial gain
Establish: (v) achieve a permanent presence in a Floristic: (adj) of flowering plants
locality; achieve autonomous population of a place Food chain: (np) theoretical unbranching pathway that
Establishment: (n) the act or instance of establishing summarises the flow of energy or materials between
Estimator: (n) measure that approximates the value of a organisms of different taxa in a community
parameter Food web: (np) theoretical representation of the multiple
Estuarine realms: (np) volume of water along the coast pathways through which energy or materials flow
that is less saline than the open sea as a result of flow between organisms of different taxa in a community
of fresh water from the land Forcing: (n) an external constraint imposed on a model
Estuary: (n) wide part of a river where the river's current or a system that limits its range of behaviours or
meets the sea's tide and fresh and salt water mix causes a change in its behaviour. Most such
Euphotic: (adj) of or pertaining to a layer of water above constraints are dynamic and change over time. In
the depth at which sunlight is too attenuated to allow some cases the constraint changes in part as a response
photosynthesis to the behaviour of the system. Such feedback might
Euryhaline: (adj) of or pertaining to an organism that suggest a redefinition of the system to include the
tolerates a wide range of salinity constraint as a variable of the system. Often qualified
Eutrophic: (adj) of or pertaining to water that is by "anthropogenic".
biologically highly productive or of a habitat with high Foreign: (adj) originating or characteristic of another
nutrient availability place (unfamiliar, strange, uncharacteristic)
Eutrophication: (n) over-enrichment of a water body Forest-interior species: (np) species whose typical
Evenness: (n) degree of uniformity in relative abundance habitat is wholly contained within forest, away from
of the various taxa in an assemblage the forest edge
Exogamy: (n) reproduction between organisms from Founder principle: (np) gene frequencies and alleles in
historically separate populations isolated outlying populations are different from those
Exotic: (adj) introduced from a foreign place of the source population (because the genetic pool of a
(attractively or remarkably strange or unusual) small colonizing population can never be
Exploit: (v) use ecosystem goods or services, usually by representative of the original population)
removing individuals or biomass from the ecosystem Fragment: (n) patch of habitat isolated from other
Extend: (v) enlarge over an area or volume similar habitat by ecologically distinct matrix
Externality: (n) ecological or other cost that is not Freshet: (n) seasonal increase of water flow into an
accounted for when assessing the debits against an estuary
action or transaction Front: (n) discontinuity between water masses or
Extinction, Local: (np) disappearance of a species or currents
other taxon from a defined area that is smaller than its Fugitive: (n) of or pertaining to a species that colonises
total range virgin or freshly disturbed habitats
Extinction: (n) total destruction or annihilation of a Functional response: (np) change in behaviour
taxon consequent on a change in prevailing conditions
Extirpate: (v) remove all instances of an organism and Functional trait: (np) well-defined, measurable
its propagules from an area ecological effect or response to environmental change,
Family: (n) taxonomic category that ranks below order that is a representative characteristic of a taxon
and above genus Gap analysis: (np) process of identifying and classifying
Fecundity: (n) number of offspring produced by an components of a system or body of knowledge to
individual in unit time determine which components are missing or under-
Feeder, Deposit: (np) organism that feeds on micro- represented
organisms and organic matter deposited on the bottom Gap formation: (np) creation of a patch with
of a water body characteristics different from that of the surrounding
Feeder, Filter: (np) organism that feeds by filtering out habitat
suspended material Gene flow: (np) spread of genes, alleles or other genetic
Feeder, Suspension: (np) organism that feeds on traits through or between populations
particles suspended in the water column Gene pool: (np) total of genes in a population
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Genetic Biodiversity
Gene splicing: (np) introduction of a foreign gene into Greenhouse effect: (np) warming of the atmosphere by
the genome of an organism greenhouse gasses
Generalist: (adj) relatively unselective or undemanding; Greenhouse gas: (np) one of several naturally occurring
having broad preferences and anthropogenic gases in the atmosphere, including
Generation time: (np) characteristic age at which methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, ozone, CFCs,
individuals in the population produce offspring and HFCs, that are transparent to high-frequency
Genetic drift: (np) change in allele frequency in a infrared light characteristic of sunlight, but opaque to
population that is not caused by any differential fitness the long-wave infrared radiated by the Earth. This
of the alleles under prevailing conditions; change in characteristic traps heat from the sun in the earth's
allele frequency as a result of chance atmosphere, in the same way as glass traps heat in a
Genetic engineering: (np) technique in which genes are greenhouse.
manipulated within and between species Groundwater: (n) water beneath the land surface
Genetic locus: (np) location on a chromosome Guild: (n) co-occurring populations of different species
Genome: (n) material that comprises the complete that occupy similar niches
genetic complement of an organism; the genetic Gyre: (n) rotational current, usually cyclonic and
material in the chromosomes of an organism occupying large areas of the surface of the sea
Genomics (n) study of genomes; study of genes and their Habitat fragmentation: (np) disaggregation of a habitat
function; mapping relative positions of genes or into more or less isolated patches that are scattered in a
markers on chromosomes matrix of other habitat types
Genotype: (n) genetic constitution of an individual or Habitat patch: (np) communities whose geographical
population expressed as the specific set of alleles it extent is limited by environmental boundaries that are
possesses (in contrast to the different set possessed by of biological significance to the organism under
another individual or population); often the word is consideration
used in a restricted way to refer to the presence of one Habitat selection: (np) preference for a given habitat
particular allele rather than another at a certain Habitat, Source: (np) habitat that is a net exporter of
location in the genome individuals of the organism under consideration
Genus: (n) taxonomic category that ranks below family Habitat: (n) the natural home of an organism, often
and above species characterised by a dominant life form (such as a plant
Geotaxis: (n) movement of an organism in response to or coral species) or assemblage, or by some
the direction of Earth's gravity biophysical characteristic (such as acid bog or coastal
Global warming: (np) increase in the mean surface sand dune)
temperature of planet Earth - principally the Hadal: (adj) of or relating to the deepest regions of the
temperature of the atmosphere and surface waters of ocean, below about 6000m
the oceans Halocline: (n) depth at which the increase in salinity
GMO: (n) Genetically Modified Organism; organism between layers of water is at its greatest
whose genetic material has been altered by technology Hazard: (n) potential to cause harm; event whose
(rather than selective breeding). Genetic modification occurrence would damage a habitat or an ecosystem,
by moving genes within the genome (recombining or otherwise reduce the viability of populations or
DNA) does not give rise to a GMO in the normally reproductive success of individuals
accepted sense. Techniques resulting in what most Heavy metal: (np) toxic element such as lead, mercury,
people would define as a GMO involve moving genes iron, copper, manganese, cadmium, arsenic, nickel,
between organisms that are not in the same species, aluminium, silver, and beryllium, that forms
genus, or even family, or the modification of a gene by complexes with organic molecules and thereby
artificial means, or the insertion into a genome of an inactivates enzyme systems
artificial gene. Genetic modification may cause the Herbivore: (n) animal whose diet consists of vegetation
organism to be considered non-indigenous by many Hermatypic: (n) of or pertaining to capacity to build
stakeholders. reefs
Goods: (n) commodities; products having a value; Heterotroph: (n) organism that requires organic
objects that can be possessed, exchanged, consumed, compounds for its nutrition
used, bought or sold Holomictic: (n) of or pertaining to a water body that
Grab: (n) benthic sampling device that seizes sediment mixes completely during the year
or organisms Holoplankton: (n) organism that spends its life as
Gradient: (n) (monotonic) continuum of values of a plankton
parameter Home range: (np) area used by an animal for most or all
Grazer: (n) herbivore depending wholly or largely on of its activities
grass; zooplankton subsisting on phytoplankton; Homeotherm: (n) (or homoiotherm) organism whose
predator that consumes animals two or more orders of physiology allows it to maintain its body temperature
magnitude smaller than itself roughly constant, independent of the ambient
Green revolution: (np) introduction and spread of temperature (provided that it doesn't get too hot or
scientifically bred high-yielding crops cold)
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Genetic Biodiversity
Hot list of species: (np) list of species that are likely to brought to an area outside its natural range and
become invasive in certain circumstances dispersal potential
Hot spot: (np) location possessing unusually high Introduced: (adj) organism that has been brought into
number of (often endemic) species an area from elsewhere
Human: (adj) belonging to the genus Homo (primary Invade: (v) encroach rapidly upon (an ecosystem);
agents of dispersal of non-native species) become suddenly more abundant (in ecosystems where
Hydric: (adj) characterised by a humid environment, or previously absent or less common) (rapid and often
by excessive moisture unwelcome extension of range of an organism)
Hydrography: (n) study of the boundaries, physical Invaded (host) region: (np) area over which an
conditions, flow, and related characteristics of rivers, organism has established itself by encroaching on
lakes and oceans ecosystems where it was previously less common or
Hydrologic cycle: (np) circulation of water through not found
atmospheric water vapour, precipitation, ice, water Invader, Potential: (np) organism with the latent
bodies, and organisms capacity to invade new habitats or localities (organism
Hydrology: (n) study of water; its properties, known to have become invasive elsewhere)
distribution, flow, and related processes Invasion: (n) abrupt increase in abundance in an
Hydrophytic: (adj) living wholly or partially in water ecosystem of an organism previously absent or
Hydrostatic pressure: (np) pressure exerted by a relatively rare in that ecosystem
column of water Invasive: (adj) tending to spread rapidly or become
Hydrothermal vent: (np) fissure near the mid-ocean abruptly more abundant in an ecosystem (in spite of
ridge, from 1cm to 10m or more across, from which attempts to restrain the spread)
water at about 350C, heated by its passage through Invasive: (n) organism known to have extended its range
geothermally heated rock, streams at up to 5m/s. The rapidly after introduction
water is prevented from boiling by hydrostatic Island: (n) an area of land surrounded by water; an
pressure. Sulphides crystallise from the mineral-rich ecosystem or habitat detached or isolated from similar
hot water to form a chimney through which the hot areas by a matrix of dissimilar areas
water flows. Isolated: (adj) cut off from contact, out of reach, alone,
Hygrophytic: (adj) requiring much moisture untypical of the surroundings
Hypertonic: (adj) being more saline than the Isothermal: (adj) of or having constant temperature
environmental water Isotonic: (adj) having the same salinity as the
Hypolimnion: (n) bottom, perennially cold, and most environmental water
dense layer of a stratified lake, often below the photic Keystone species: (np) species whose presence, absence
zone or changes in abundance alters the structure, dynamics
Hypotonic: (adj) being less saline than the or biodiversity of the ecosystem to an extent that
environmental water significantly impacts the viability of organisms of
Hypoxia: (n) deficiency of available oxygen other species in the ecosystem
Impact: (n) effect or influence (more or less strong Kingdom Protoctista: (np) comprise the nucleated
effect) algae, flagellated water moulds, slime moulds and
Indicator: (n) surrogate measure used to gauge the slime nets, and the protozoa. This kingdom is largely
status, condition or trend of a phenomenon that would defined by exclusion: its members are neither animals,
be too difficult or costly to measure directly plants, fungi, nor prokaryotes.
Indigenous: (adj) originating naturally in a region Kingdom: (n) highest widely-accepted category of
Infauna: (n) animals living in underwater sediments taxonomic grouping. Most taxonomists recognise five
Inocculate: (v) introduce (a non-native organism) into Kingdoms. Plantae are the subject of botany; Fungi
an ecosystem or infective agent into an organism that of mycology; Animalia of zoology; Monera of
Inoculation: (n) the act or instance of inoculating bacteriology; but there is no single name for the study
Intentional: (adj) done deliberately or for a purpose of Protoctista (which includes a huge range of
Interbreeding: (n) mating or hybridization between organisms from single-celled microbes to giant algae).
organisms, populations or varieties to produce a Microbiologists prefer to divide life into three domains
subsequent generation of the organism (Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucaryota). In this scheme,
Interfertile: (adj) capable of interbreeding Archaea, Bacteria correspond to the Monera, while the
Interstitial: (adj) of, relating to or situated in the spaces Eucaryota include Plantae, Fungi, Animalia and
between cells, tissues, or grains of soil or sediment Protoctista.
Intertidal: (adj) of or relating to the portion of shore that Lacustrine: (adj) relating to or located in, lakes or ponds
is submerged between low and high tides Land cover: (np) nature of vegetation or other surface
Introduce: (v) bring into, relocate from elsewhere, add, characterising an area
incorporate Landscape change: (np) alteration in the structure,
Introduced organism: (np) organisms found in function, form or ecology of a landscape
locations other than where they evolved; organism Landscape characterization: (np) inventory and
description of the elements of the landscape
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Genetic Biodiversity
Landscape composition: (np) variety and abundance of Macroalgae: (n) algae large enough to be visible
the component elements in a landscape Macrobenthos: (n) bottom-dwelling organisms large
Landscape configuration: (np) distribution of elements enough to be visible
in the landscape Macrofauna: (n) animals large enough to be visible
Landscape ecology: (np) study of the distribution and Macroflora: (n) plants large enough to be visible
changes in patterns of communities, ecosystems, Macroinvertebrate: (n) invertebrate large enough to be
processes and interactions, including the flow of visible
energy, materials, and organisms within the landscape Macrophyte: (n) alga large enough to be visible
Landscape function: (np) flows of energy, materials, Mainstream flow: (np) flow well away from solid
and taxa among ecosystems in the landscape surfaces and not under the influence of the boundary
Landscape indicator: (np) surrogate measure to layer
characterise landscapes or to describe spatial patterns Mammal: (n) vertebrate characterised by secretion of
of land use and land cover in the landscape milk by the female to feed the young and often by the
Landscape structure: (np) spatial relationships between presence of hair or fur
landforms and associated habitats in a landscape Mangel: (n) mangrove forest
Landscape: (n) land area whose dimensions are Mangrove forest: (np) shoreline mudflat ecosystem
typically of the order of kilometres, composed of dominated by mangroves
spatially associated, interacting landforms and physical Matrix: (n) landscape element that dominates local
environment, habitats, ecosystems, communities, and landscape functions by virtue of its extent and
anthropogenic characteristics and patterns. Landscapes connectivity
are themselves elements in larger landscapes. There is Meiobenthos: (n) benthic organisms between 0.1mm
no marine equivalent of this concept, especially for and 0.5mm long
pelagic communities in the open ocean. The EPBRS Meiofauna: (n) animals about 0.1mm to 0.5mm long
has used the term “marine volumes”, but this term Meromictic: (adj) of or pertaining to a lake that does not
carries none of the flavour of “landscape”, being mix completely
entirely physical, and lacking any sense of Meroplankton: (n) planktonic life stage of otherwise
environment or the presence of living organisms. non-planktonic organism
Larva: (n) life stage in many animals, differing Mesic: (adj) moderately humid
markedly in form and appearance from the adult, that Mesopelagic: (adj) of or pertaining to organisms that
starts when the animal hatches and ends with live in the open ocean at depths of about 300 to 1000m
metamorphosis Mesotrophic: (adj) moderately productive
Leach: (v) remove constituents from a medium by Metalimnion: (n) transitional zone containing the
percolating a liquid through it thermocline between the epilimnion and the
Leeward: (n) on the side away from the wind, the hypolimnion
sheltered side Metamorphosis: (n) process by which the young form
Liability: (n) obligation, penalty, responsibility, or debt; of many aquatic organisms, insects, frogs, and other
the outlay required to satisfy the terms of an obligation animals develops into the adult form, undergoing a
Life: (n) condition that distinguishes those that possess it complete change of form, structure, substance, and
from inorganic objects and dead organisms, appearance
characterised by a complex structure based on organic Meta-population: (n) semi-isolated group of organisms
material. Living things are capable of consumption, with intermittent gene flow between it and other
catabolism, metabolism, growth and reproduction. similar groups
Many living things are capable of responding to Microalgae: (n) algae too small to see
external stimuli and adapting to the environment while Microbenthos: (n) benthic organisms smaller than
maintaining some degree of homeostasis. Living 0.1mm
things belong to a larger sample of similar entities, but Microfauna: (n) animals less than 0.05mm long
show small individual variations in morphology or Microflora: (n) microscopic plants
behaviour that are consistent with genetic differences. Micro-habitat: (n) structurally or biologically
Limnetic: (adj) pertaining to or living in the open water distinguishable patches within, and contributing to, a
of a freshwater pond or lake habitat
Litter: (n) uppermost layer of the forest floor consisting Micro-nutrient: (n) trace nutrient required by an
chiefly of accumulations of dead leaves in various organism
states of fragmentation and decomposition and other Micro-organism: (n) organism normally visible
decaying organic matter exclusively with microscope, including bacteria,
Littoral: (adj) of or pertaining to the zone between the viruses, and uni-cellular organisms
shore and the end of the euphotic zone Migrate: (v) to move periodically or seasonally, often
LMO: (n) Living Modified Organism; a living GMO over a long distance, from one area or stratum to
Longevity: (n) age at death another, often in response to seasonal changes in the
Lower taxon: (np) taxonomic group below a species, environment
including sub-species, variety, population
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Genetic Biodiversity
Migration: (n) displacement of organisms related to, and Non-indigenous: (adj) not indigenous (preferred in most
repeated with, seasonal changes in the environment cases to near-synonyms alien, non-native, foreign,
Mitigate: (v) make milder, less intense or less severe exotic, and introduced, on the grounds that is accurate,
Mixing depth: (np) depth of water up to which wind reasonably neutral, and has few cultural or other
energy mixes the water column overtones). Refers to an organism that is found in an
Mixolimnion: (n) upper layer of lake water that mixes area outside its recent natural range, or in an
completely at least once a year ecosystem in which it has not previously been
Mixoplankton: (n) plankton that occupy several trophic endemic; or to a hybrid of organisms at least part of
levels whose genome originates from outside the area of its
Mixture: (n) blend or aggregate of substances that retain current distribution.
their individual identity and properties and do not unite Non-motile: (adj) Not able to move at will.
chemically Non-native: (adj) not native
Model: (n) mathematical, logical, verbal or mental Nonpoint source: (np) origin or cause whose location is
representation of a system diffuse, and not readily or specifically identifiable
Monandry: (n) mating system in which a female mates Nontarget: (adj) of a taxon or community that is
with only one male influenced (the inference is that this influence is
Monimolimnion: (n) bottom layer that never mixes usually unfavourable to the organism concerned), by
completely in a meromictic lake actions directed towards another organism
Monitor: (v) repeated measurement of variables with the Noxious: (adj) harmful, unwanted, unwholesome
aim of detecting trends in some parameter or complex Ocean: (n) vast expanse of salt water that surrounds the
of parameters continental land masses; any of the major divisions of
Monogamy: (n) mating system in which each male this expanse
mates with a single female Oceanic ridge: (np) submarine rift zone where
Monophyletic: (n) of or pertaining to a group of species continental plates are spreading apart, giving rise to a
that share an ancestor sinuous chain of mountains where oceanic crust is
Morph: (n) form, shape, or structure created from rising magma plumes and associated
Mortality: (n) death rate volcanic activity
Motile: (n) able to move of its own volition Oceanic: (n) of, relating to, occurring, living in,
Mutualism: (n) mutually beneficial interaction between frequenting or produced by the ocean
species Oceanography: (n) study of oceans
Mutualistic: (adj) of or pertaining to a relationship that Oesotrophic: (adj) moderately productive
confers reciprocal benefit to individuals of associated Oligotrophic: (adj) unproductive, low in nutrients
species Omnivorous: (adj) devouring animals, plants and food
Natality: (n) birth rate of of all origins
Native: (adj) living naturally within an area, belonging Opportunistic: (adj) capable of thriving in environments
to or characteristic of a specific place where availability of resources change erratically
Natural enemies: (np) competitors, predators or Order: (n) taxomomic category that ranks below class
pathogens of an organism in its natural habitat and above family
Natural: (adj) existing in or caused by nature; not Organic: (adj) containing molecules depending on
cultivated or altered by human action; original carbon-carbon bonds; deriving from living organisms
Naturalized: (adj) previously non-indigenous but now Organism: (n) living entity
sufficiently well established to be widely viewed as Osmoconformer: (n) organism whose body fluids
native maintain the same concentration of salts as the ambient
Nekton: (n) aquatic animals that swim sufficiently environment
strongly to be essentially independent of waves and Osmoregulate: (v) process of maintaining biochemical
currents balance despite changes in environmental conditions
Neritic: (adj) of or pertaining to environments between Osmosis: (n) movement of salts across a membrane from
the shelf-slope break and the shore more concentrated towards less concentrated solution
Net reproductive rate: (np) average number of Outflow: (n) quantity of water flowing out of a lake
offspring produced over the lifetime of females in the Outlier: (n) data point that lies outside the normal scatter
population PAH: (n) polycyclic (or polynuclear) aromatic
Neuston: (n) organisms that live just beneath or on the hydrocarbon; compounds with more than one benzene
water surface film ring, occurring in oil-derived products including
Niche: (n) environmental tolerances of an organism, and asphalt, fuel, and grease.
its requirement for and use of resources Palustrine: (adj) of or pertaining to inland marshes,
Nitrogen fixation: (np) conversion of nitrogen gas to swamps, bogs, fens, tundra, floodplains and other
nitrates wetlands lacking flowing water and with no, or very
Nominalist: (n) scientist who views the species as an low concentrations of, ocean derived salts
artificial mental construct Panmictic: (adj) randomly (in the sense of
unrestrictedly) interbreeding
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Genetic Biodiversity
Parameter: (n) measurable factor that determines or Plant: (n) multi-cellular, typically holophytic, eukaryote
limits the function, form or behaviour of a system or lacking locomotion and sense organs but with cellulose
part of a system cell walls
Parasite: (n) organism living on or in, and at the expense Plate: (n) major coherent section of the Earth's crust
of, another organism Pleuston: (n) aquatic organisms whose bodies project
Patch dynamics: (np) change in distribution or quality into the air
of habitat patches Poikilotherm: (n) organism whose body temperature is
Pathogen: (n) virus, bacterium or other organism that that of the ambient environment or that maintains a
causes disease different temperature by behaviour adapted to that end
Pathway: (n) route (of entry) Polyandry: (n) mating system in which a single female
PCB: (n) polychlorinated biphenyl; a class of organic mates with more than one male; reproductive system
compounds with 1 to 10 chlorine atoms, soluble in in which flowers have a large number of stamens
most organic solvents, oils, and fats. PCBs are stable Polygynandry: (n) mating system in which males mate
compounds and do not degrade easily. Environmental with more than one female and females mate with
concerns led to their abandonment in the 1970s, but more than one male
they still persist in nature. The extent to which PCBs Polygyny: (n) mating system in which a male mates with
are toxic is controversial. more than one female
Pelagic: (adj) of or pertaining to organisms living in Polymictic: (n) of or pertaining to a system that mixes
open waters, not associated with the bottom or other completely (and frequently)
structures, and whose movements are largely Polymorphism: (n) existence of more than two morphs
determined or dominated by currents or waves within a the object of study (molecule, species etc.).
Perennial: (n) organism that lives for more than a year Polyp: (n) individual coelenterate
Periphyton: (n) attached algae Polyphyletic: (n) of or pertaining to a group of species
Pest: (n) organism or taxon that is undesirable in that it with different ancestor species
diminishes human health, comfort or welfare, or Population density: (np) number of individuals per unit
interferes with economic activity, or encroaches in an area or volume
environment in which it is not welcome Population dynamics: (np) changes in demographic
pH: (n) measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions characteristics of a population
Phenotype: (n) morphological, physiological, Population genetics: (np) study of the inheritance,
behavioral, and other measurable traits of an organism prevalence, distribution and dynamics of genes and
resulting from the interaction of its genes and genotypes in populations; study of genetic influences
environment on the phenotypic characteristics of populations
Photosynthesis: (n) process by which plants possessing Population, Minimum viable: (np) number of
chlorophyll use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide to individuals below which a population is unlikely to
sugars and oxygen survive
Phototactic: (adj) of an organism whose orientation of Population, Source: (np) population from which
movement is determined by the direction of ambient individuals disperse to establish or join other
light populations of the organism
Phreatic: (adj) of or relating to groundwater Population: (n) all individuals of a species occupying a
Phylum: (n) taxonomic category that ranks below defined area, usually isolated from other similar
kingdom and above class groups
Physiognomy: (n) vegetation, topography and other ppb: (n) part per billion (thousand million)
salient characteristics of a landscape ppm: (n) part per million
Physiography: (n) physical structure of an environment Precaution: (n) action taken beforehand to reduce risk
Phytosanitary: (adj) relating to the health of plants or or to make a positive result more likely
vegetation Precision: (n) degree to which repeated observations
Piscivorous: (adj) fish-eating tend towards the same value; magnitude of the error
Plain: (n) expanse of low relief terms (see accuracy)
Planktivore: (n) plankton eater Predation: (n) consumption of one animal by another
Plankton: (n) organisms living suspended in the water, Predict: (v) make a statement about the future, or about
drifting with currents. The size of the organism is an outcome resulting from a combination of events or
indicated by a prefix; thus ultraplankton are less than 2 processes that has not yet been observed
micrometers (μm) long, nanoplankton 2 – 20μm, Preserve: (v) protect an entity or resource against decay,
microplankton 20 – 200μm, mesoplankton about damage or destruction, often by preventing its
200μm (2mm), macroplankton 2 – 20mm, and exploitation or use
megaplankton < 20mm. If the organism is an animal, Pressure: (n) force per unit area
the prefix is followed by “zoo”, while if it Prevent: (v) stop from happening, make impossible
photosynthesises, it is followed by "phyto": e.g. Prevention: (n) action taken to stop something
microzooplankton, megaphytoplankton. (For prefixes happening
holo-, mero-, and mixo-, see alphabetical entry.)
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Genetic Biodiversity
Primary consumer: (np) organism that eats primary Resource, Renewable: (np) resource that has the
producers capacity to regenerate or to increase at a rate
Primary producer: (np) organism capable of significant over months, years or decades
photosynthesis or of metabolism using energy sources Resource: (n) organism, material, energy source,
from inorganic chemicals to convert carbon dioxide substrate or other commodity that is both required by
into biomass and potentially available to an organism
Primary production: (np) production of living matter Respiration: (n) aerobic metabolism in which energy is
by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis generated as organic carbon molecules are oxidized to
Proactive: (adj) of an initiative taken to create or control carbon dioxide and water
a situation or a process Restoration ecology: (np) study of the reintroduction of
Problematic: (adj) attended by difficulty (organism species, the re-establishment of populations and the
whose control has proved or is proving difficult) repair of habitats and ecosystems, with the aim of
Process: (n) series of connected actions or events that regenerating a viable community or ecosystem
lead to a predictable outcome Restoration: (n) returning or attempting to return a
Productivity: (n) rate of production of biomass habitat, resource or other object or process to some
Propagule: (n) part of an organism that is capable of prior condition
giving rise to a new individual Riparian: (adj) relating to or located on the banks of a
Proteome: (n) complete set of proteins produced by a river or stream
species (by analogy with genome) Risk: (n) probability that a hazard will occur, qualified
Proteomics: (n) study of the proteome, including how, by the severity of the harm should the hazard occur
when and where proteins are modified, expressed, ROV: (n) remotely operated vehicle: unmanned
involved in metabolism, and how they interact. submersible that is operated from the surface
Neologism 1994. Safety: (n) freedom from risk or danger
Province: (n) area with a characteristic set of species Salinity: (n) salt content of water
Pycnocline: (n) depth at which the increase in density Scavenger: (n) organism that feeds on dead animals that
between layers of water is at its greatest it did not itself kill
Quarantine: (n) isolation of fixed duration imposed on Sedentary: (adj) of an animal that does not move far
organisms that have arrived from elsewhere from its original location at any time; not migratory
Rafting: (v) crossing a body of water by floating on Seed bank: (np) facility designed to conserve varieties
debris of plants by preserving viable seeds for a long time
Range: (n) geographical distribution of an organism Seep, cold: (np) location where water oozes from the sea
Reactive: (adj) character of an action taken in response floor, driven by pressure from the tectonic-based
to an event or an observation compaction of sediments. Although the water seeping
Recombinant DNA: (np) DNA spliced from two or from the ocean floor is close to the ambient
more organisms temperature of the surrounding waters, it is very cold
Recovery plan: (np) tasks to be undertaken to improve by comparison with hydrothermal water.
the status of a taxon, together with a quantified Semi-diurnal: (adj) occurring twice daily
account of actors, targets and schedules Sere: (n) sequence of changes from the original state to
Red tide: (np) algal bloom of phytoplankton that the climax
manufacture biotoxins Services: (n) benefits generated by a system. These
Refuge: (n) place in which an organism can find shelter benefits are not tangible commodities, which are called
or protection "goods". They provide for the needs, or contribute to
Refugium: (n) in the midst of a matrix that has become the welfare, of organisms. Humans are implicitly the
unfavourable, an area that retains its original habitats beneficiaries in many cases. Most commonly found in
and provides sanctuary to components of biodiversity the phrase "goods and services".
Relative abundance: (np) measure of the number of Sessile: (adj) of an organism fixed permanently to the
individuals in one taxon in proportion to the numbers substratum, or attached directly by the base
of individuals of all equivalent taxa in the community Seston: (n) suspended matter in the ocean, including
Relaxation: (n) loss of species in an ecosystem brought organisms, organic debris and minerals
about by its isolation Silviculture: (n) planting, care, cultivation, protection
Resident: (adj) animal taxon of which individuals can be and management of forest resources
found in the area of interest at any time of year Sink habitat: (np) habitat in which, for the organism
Resistance: (n) ability to withstand adverse conditions under consideration, the reproductive rate is lower than
Resource, Limiting: (np) resource that is both the mortality rate
irreplaceable and critical for the survival of individuals Sink population: (np) population that occupies a sink
in a population, and for which demand would become habitat
greater than supply as the population increases to or Sled: (n) device that slides along the sea or lake bottom,
beyond a certain size, before the population increase is collecting sediment and organisms
prevented by lack of access to any other resource Sociobiology: (n) study of the biological bases of social
behaviour
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Genetic Biodiversity
Sociology: (n) study of human social, economic, Stewardship: (n) attitude and behaviour towards natural
political, and religious behaviour resources that tends to conserve them for future
Sound: (n) correct, well-founded, judicious generations
Specialist: (n) species with stringent requirements for a Stochastic: (adj) governed by, depending on, or
particular resource involving chance or probability; not deterministic;
Speciation, Allopatric: (np) differentiation of process whose outcome is not exactly predictable. A
geographically isolated populations into species stochastic model is one in which the value of one or
Speciation: (n) formation of a new species from an more variables is unlikely to be the same in two
existing one successive runs of the model, since the magnitude of
species (biological): (np) groups of actually or the variable is not determined absolutely but reflects a
potentially interbreeding populations, reproductively probability distribution
isolated from other such groups Stratification: (n) separation of water masses, species,
species (cohesion): (np) groups of organisms coherent in or other elements into distinct layers
the sense that they share a gene pool in which gene Stratified: (adj) in layers
flow between organisms is acted on by natural Stratigraphy: (n) study of the formation, composition,
selection sequence and other characteristics of layered rocks of
species (ecological): (np) groups of organisms adapted the Earth's crust
to a local ecology, and evolving independently of other Streamline: (n) form that tends to reduce or minimize
similar groups viscous resistance to motion in a fluid
species (keystone): (np) species whose removal from an Stressor: (n) activity, event, or other stimulus that
ecosystem would result in significant changes in the disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological
frequencies or interactions of the remaining species equilibrium of an organism or ecosystem
species (phylogenetic): (np) cluster of organisms Subclimax: (adj) penultimate stage of succession along a
sharing both ancestry and descent sere
Species richness: (np) number of species in an area or Subspecies: (n) taxonomic group below species, whose
collection members share phenotypic or genotypic traits that
Species turnover: (np) change in species composition in distinguish them from other populations of that species
an area (often an island or other isolated ecosystem) Substrate: (n) material on or in which organisms live
brought about by the establishment of new species and Subtidal: (adj) of or relating to the portion of sea floor
the local extinction of others that is close to the shore but submerged at low tide
Species: (n) taxonomic group below genus; in the Succession, Primary: (np) initial sequence of
context of the EPBRS, the term is taken to mean a communities observed in a site previously devoid of
group of organisms that are similar to one another and life
formally recognized as distinct from other groups. The Succession: (n) change from the species composition
concept of a biological species is notoriously difficult characteristic of one community to another one; in an
to define. A definition that works for many sexually- undisturbed ecosystem with stable environmental
reproducing species is “a group of organisms whose conditions, this represents a step from one community
individuals of opposite sex can successfully breed, to the subsequent one on the sere
producing offspring that are themselves fertile”. This Suspended sediment: (np) particles in neutral bouyancy
definition struggles with chronospecies, evolutionary in the water column
or successional species (an ancestor and its distant Sympatric: (adj) having coincident or overlapping
descendant would not belong to the same species had ranges of distribution
they existed simultaneously), geographical species (in Syntopic: (adj) occupying the same habitat
which individuals from the extremes of a continuous Target: (adj) object of intention, action or attack
geographical distribution are not inter-fertile), Taxon: (n) group of organisms sufficiently homogenous
morphospecies or taxospecies (which are determined amongst themselves and distinct from other such
purely on morphological grounds), typological species groups for taxonomists to identify them as a unit
(determined, as is most often the case in practice, Territory: (n) home range; area, often defended against
purely on the basis of the type specimen)and intruders, occupied by individual, mating pair, or
ecospecies (an organism whose populatio group
Spread: (v) to extend over a larger surface, to occupy a Thermocline: (n) water layer within which temperature
wider range than previously changes rapidly
Stakeholder: (n) a party with an interest in the outcome Thermohaline circulation: (np) movement of seawater
of an action, process or transaction, whether or not due to differences in temperature and salinity (and
themselves an actor or participant hence density)
Stenohaline: (adj) tolerating only a narrow range of Threatened: (adj) likely to become endangered
salinity (high) Throughput sequencing: (np) techniques and
Stenotopic: (adj) having a limited capacity to adapt to methods to produce DNA sequences automatically.
changes in environmental conditions High throughput depends on computerised production
lines with a capacity for processing samples rapidly.
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Genetic Biodiversity
Tidal stream: (np) bulk movement of sea water due to Vector: (n) agency responsible for the dispersal or
tides introduction of an organism
Tide, Neap: (np) tide when there is the least rise and fall Vent, Hydrothermal: (np) submarine geyser. Hot vents
of water (at the first and third quarters of the moon) are formed where two oceanic plates separate,
Tide, Spring: (np) tide when there is the greatest rise cracking the sea floor. Water seeps into the cracks, to
and fall of water (at the second and fourth quarters of be super-heated by magma, and emerge again, an
the moon) extremely hot submarine geyser that is unable to boil
Topography: (n) configuration of surface of land or because of the intense pressure at the bottom of the
ocean floor ocean. The flow cools rapidly in the very cold ambient
Transcriptome: (n) the set of RNA transcripts generated water, precipitating much of its mineral load as black
in the process of translating the genetic code of the roiling water, or forming chimneys that grow several
DNA into proteins. The tightly regulated process of metres or tens of metres before collapsing.
transcription includes the initiation of mRNA, Viscosity: (n) internal resistance to flow of a liquid
followed by its elongation and termination. The copies Viviparous: (n) giving birth to live young
of mRNA that are subsequently exported from the Water column: (np) conceptual column of water from
nucleus is the transcriptome. the surface to the bottom or to a given depth
Trench: (n) deep, long, narrow, steep-walled, often Watershed: (n) area that contributes water to the flow of
sinuous depression in the ocean floor, associated with a river or stream at a given point; the line along high
a subduction zone ground from which surface water flows into distinct
Tributary: (n) stream that supplies water to another drainage basins
Trophic level: (np) position in a food chain determined Weed: (n) plant growing where it is not wanted
by counting the number of steps from the primary Wetlands: (n) habitats that are seasonally inundated with
producer water, and that typically have special soils and
Trophic state: (np) (of a water body) extent or degree of vegetation.
nutrient enrichment Wildlife: (n) commonly used to mean wild animals
Trophic structure: (np) organization of a community collectively; sometimes restricted to free-roaming
described in terms of energy transfer from species to vertebrate animals; increasingly used to identify all
species in the food web non-domestic forms of life
Trophic web: (np) theoretical representation of how Windward: (n) on the side toward the wind, the exposed
feeding groups are connected side
Trophic: (adj) relating to the relationship of organisms Xeric: (adj) referring to habitats in which plant
in a food web or to their feeding habits production is limited by lack of water
Turbidity: (adj) degree to which light is blocked by Xerophytic: (adj) adapted to a dry environment
suspended matter in water Zone, Abyssopelagic: (np) water 4000 to 6000m deep,
Turnover: (n) heat-driven exchange of upper and lower off the shelf-slope break
strata in bodies of fresh water Zone, High tide: (np) part of the shore that is only under
Upwelling: (n) phenomenon along the western margins water at high tide
of continents in which the wind-induced movement of Zone, Low tide: (np) part of the shore that is only
the surface water brings nutrients from deep water and exposed to the air at low tide
results in areas of high productivity. Zone, Middle tide: (np) part of the shore that is
Value, Instrumental: (np) the worth of an entity repeatedly covered by water and exposed to the air as
measured by its usefulness to humans the tide ebbs and flows
Value, Intrinsic: (np) value in absence of an evaluator; Zone, Photic: (np) upper portion of the water column
the worth of an entity originating solely in the admitting sufficient light for photosynthesis
existence of that entity; the true, genuine, real, Zone, Spray: (np) region above the normal high water
essential or inherent worth of the entity (in particular, mark reached by salt spray from the sea; supralittoral
the worth of an entity irrespective of human perception fringe
or assessment or of its actual or potential usefulness to Zone, Wash: (np) near-shore zone in which sediments
humans) are disturbed by wave action
Value, Option: (np) value of a resource whose use is Zoology: (n) scientific study of animal evolution,
deferred anatomy, life processes, life history, histology,
Value: (n) importance, desirability, merit, use or worth functional morphology, embryology, physiology,
of a thing, event or outcome for stakeholders; the ecology, ethology, taxonomy, and geography
equivalent for something in money, goods or services Zooxanthellae: (n) symbiotic dinoflagellates (associated
Variance: (n) statistical measure of the dispersion of a many organisms, including corals)
set of values about its mean
Variety: (n) a group of organisms within a (sub-)species
that is distinct from other such groups in the (sub-)
species
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