Unit 3.0 vocab - ESS

Critically Endangered (CR)

when a species is considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild

Other IUCN categories include

Endangered (EN), Extinct (EX), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Least Concern (LC), Near Threatened (NT)

Diversity

A generic term for heterogeneity. The scientific meaning of diversity becomes clear from the context in which it is used; it may refer to heterogeneity of species or habitat, or to genetic heterogeneity.

Genetic Diversity

The range of genetic material present in a gene pool or population of a species.

Species Diversity

The variety of species per unit area. This includes both the number of species present (richness) and their relative abundance (evenness).

Habitat Diversity

The range of different habitats or number of ecological niches per unit area in an ecosystem, community or biome. Conservation of habitat diversity usually leads to the conservation of species and genetic diversity.

Biodiversity

The amount of biological or living diversity per unit area. It includes the concepts of species diversity, habitat diversity and genetic diversity.

Biodiversity Hotspot

a region with a high level of biodiversity that is under threat from human activities

CITES

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

IUCN

International Union for the Conservation of Nature

MDG

millennium development goals natural hazards: naturally occurring events that may have a negative impact on the environment e.g. volcanic eruption, earthquakes, floods, etc

NGO

non-governmental organisation

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNEP

United Nations Environmental Programme

WWF

Worldwide Fund for Nature

Climax community

A community of organisms that is more or less stable, and that is in equilibrium with natural environmental conditions such as climate; the end point of ecological succession.

Conservation Biology

the sustainable use and management of natural resources

Continental Drift

the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates which leads to the movement of the continents

Environmental Gradient

The changes/fluctuations within an environment.

Environmental Impact Assessment

A method of detailed survey required, in many countries, before a major development. Ideally it should be independent of, but paid for by, the developer. Includes a baseline study to measure environmental conditions before development commences, and to identify areas and species of conservation importance

Invasive species

A non-native species that spreads widely and rapidly, and begins to dominate an ecosystem/aspect of the ecosystem (a community within the ecosystem), interfering with the normal function of the ecosystem.

Plate Tectonics

the study of the movement of the tectonic plates

Succession

The orderly process of change over time in a community. Changes in the community of organisms frequently cause changes in the physical environment that allow another community to become established and replace the former through competition. Often, but not inevitably, the later communities in such a sequence or sere are more complex than those that appear earlier.

Primary succession

Succession that begins with bare mineral surfaces or water.

Secondary succession

Succession that begins with the destruction or disturbance of an existing ecosystem.

Zonation

The arrangement or patterning of plant communities or ecosystems into parallel or sub-parallel bands in response to change, over a distance, in some environmental factor. The main biomes display zonation in relation to latitude and climate. Plant communities may also display zonation with altitude on a mountain, or around the edge of a pond in relation to soil moisture.

Speciation

the gradual change of a species over a long time. When populations of the same species become separated, they cannot interbreed and if the environments they inhabit change they may start to diverge and a new species forms.

Natural Selection

A process that determines which individuals within a species will reproduce more effectively and therefore results in changes in the characteristics within the species. Those individuals more adapted to their environment have an advantage and flourish and reproduce more than those that are less well adapted. Survival of the fittest.