Environment & Ecology — working glossary

Term

Working definition

Abiotic factor

A non-living physical or chemical condition, such as light, temperature, salinity or soil pH.

Adaptation (climate)

Adjustment in human or ecological systems that reduces harm from actual or expected climate effects or takes advantage of opportunities.

Adaptation (evolutionary)

A heritable trait shaped by natural selection that improves performance in a particular environment.

Alpha diversity

Diversity measured within a defined site or community.

Ambient air

Outdoor air in the surrounding environment, measured under the applicable standard and method.

Amensalism

An interaction in which one organism is harmed and another is not measurably affected (−/0), under the stated context.

Anaerobic

Occurring without free molecular oxygen.

Aquifer

A permeable geological formation that stores and transmits groundwater.

Appraisal (EIA)

Expert and regulatory review of a covered project’s assessment material under the applicable notification.

Abiotic stress

Environmental condition, such as drought or salinity, that can limit organism performance.

Bioaccumulation

Build-up of a substance within an organism when uptake and retention exceed elimination.

Biodiversity

Variation among living organisms; commonly considered at genetic, species and ecosystem levels.

Biogeochemical cycle

Movement of an element or compound through organisms and physical reservoirs.

Biomagnification

Increase in concentration of certain substances across successive trophic levels.

Biomass

Mass of living biological material in a defined place and time.

Biome

Broad ecological region associated with characteristic climate and life forms.

Biosphere reserve

A landscape-level conservation and sustainable-development framework that commonly uses core, buffer and transition zones.

Biotic factor

A living organism or biological interaction affecting an ecosystem.

BOD

Biochemical oxygen demand: oxygen used by microorganisms while decomposing biodegradable organic matter under specified test conditions.

Carbon sink

A system or process that removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases over the defined period and accounting boundary.

Carrying capacity

A context- and time-dependent population level an environment can support under specified conditions.

Causal inference

Reasoning that an observed change resulted from a particular cause, requiring more than simple association.

Climate

Long-term patterns and statistics of weather, including variability and extremes.

Climate feedback

A process through which a climate-system response influences the initial change, amplifying or damping it.

Climate forcing

An influence that changes Earth’s energy balance, including greenhouse gases and aerosols.

Climate mitigation

Action that reduces greenhouse-gas emissions or increases removals.

Community (ecology)

Populations of different species interacting in a defined area.

Commensalism

An interaction in which one partner benefits and the other is not measurably affected ( +/0 ), under the stated context.

Competition

Interaction in which organisms share a limiting resource and one or both may experience reduced performance.

Conservation reserve

A statutory wildlife conservation category established under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, with legal conditions defined by the Act and notification.

Consumer

An organism that obtains energy and matter by eating other organisms or organic material.

Corridor (ecological)

A landscape feature that may facilitate movement between habitat patches for a focal species.

Cumulative impact

Combined effect of a project with other existing or reasonably foreseeable pressures over space and time.

Decomposer

Organism, especially many fungi and bacteria, that breaks down dead organic matter and releases nutrients.

Denitrification

Microbial reduction of nitrate to gaseous nitrogen forms under suitable conditions.

Detritus

Dead organic matter and associated wastes.

Diversity index

A metric combining aspects such as richness and relative abundance; interpretation depends on the index and sampling method.

Ecological character

The combination of ecosystem components, processes and services that define a wetland or other ecosystem condition.

Ecological niche

A species’ resource use, interactions and environmental conditions in which it persists.

Ecosystem

Interacting organisms and their physical and chemical environment within a defined boundary.

Ecosystem service

A benefit people obtain from ecosystems, such as water regulation, food, cultural value or climate regulation.

Ecotone

Transition zone between ecological communities or habitats.

Endemic

Naturally restricted to a defined geographic area.

Energy flow

Transfer and transformation of energy through organisms and trophic levels, with some energy dissipated as heat.

Environmental clearance

A regulatory decision for a project covered by the applicable environmental notification.

Environmental impact assessment

Process of studying likely environmental effects, alternatives and mitigation for a proposed activity.

EPR

Extended Producer Responsibility: specified post-consumer responsibilities assigned to producers under applicable rules.

Estuary

Coastal transition system where river water and seawater interact, commonly under tidal influence.

Eutrophication

Nutrient enrichment that can increase primary production and, under some conditions, contribute to oxygen depletion.

Ex-situ conservation

Conservation outside a species’ natural habitat, for example in a seed bank or botanical garden.

Exposure

Contact between a hazard or pollutant and a person, organism or environmental receptor.

Food chain

Simplified pathway showing feeding transfer from resource to consumer.

Food web

Network of feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem.

Fragmentation

Breaking of habitat into smaller, separated patches, often with altered edge and connectivity effects.

GPP

Gross primary production: total rate at which producers capture energy and fix carbon before their respiration is subtracted.

Habitat

Place or physical setting where an organism lives or completes part of its life cycle.

Hazard

Potential of an agent or event to cause harm.

Indicator

Measured variable used to assess a stated ecological, environmental or management condition.

In-situ conservation

Conservation of species in their natural habitats and ecological settings.

Invasive alien species

Non-native organism that establishes and spreads, causing or threatening harm in a specified context.

Lagoon

Shallow coastal water body partly separated from the sea by a barrier; actual systems can share estuarine features.

Limiting factor

Condition or resource that restricts survival, growth, reproduction or distribution.

Mangrove

Salt-tolerant woody plant community associated with tropical/subtropical intertidal environments.

Mutualism

Interaction in which both partners benefit in the described context ( +/+ ).

NAAQS

National Ambient Air Quality Standards: pollutant-specific outdoor concentration standards with defined averaging periods.

Natural capital

Stocks of natural resources and ecosystems that can support ecological processes and human well-being.

NDC

Nationally Determined Contribution submitted by a Party under the Paris Agreement.

Niche partitioning

Differentiation in resource use, space or time that can reduce overlap among species.

Nitrification

Microbial oxidation of ammonia/ammonium through nitrite to nitrate under suitable conditions.

NPP

Net primary production: gross primary production minus producer respiration.

Non-point source

Diffuse pollution source spread across an area rather than discharged from one identifiable outlet.

Population

Individuals of the same species in a defined area and time.

Precautionary principle

Approach supporting preventive action where credible serious risks exist despite scientific uncertainty, as applied under law.

Primary succession

Community development on substrate with little or no developed soil or biological legacy.

Producer

Organism that creates organic matter from inorganic sources, usually through photosynthesis.

Public consultation (EIA)

Process for affected people and other participants to provide information or views when required by the governing framework.

Ramsar site

Wetland designated internationally important under the Convention on Wetlands.

Receptor

Person, organism, habitat or system that may be exposed to a pressure.

Restoration

Process intended to recover ecological structure, composition and function in a degraded system.

Richness

Number of species recorded in a defined area or sample.

Risk

Potential for harm resulting from hazard, exposure and vulnerability in a specified context.

Secondary succession

Community change after disturbance where some soil or biological legacy remains.

Screening (EIA)

Assessment step used under the applicable EIA framework to determine the route or study level for specified project categories.

Scoping (EIA)

Identification of key issues and study requirements for environmental assessment.

Source–pathway–receptor

Framework identifying where a pressure originates, how it moves and what is exposed.

Species richness

Count of species in a stated site/sample; it does not by itself describe abundance distribution.

Succession

Change in community composition or structure through time.

Sustainable development

Integration of social and economic development with environmental protection over time.

Trophic level

Feeding position in a food chain or web.

Transpiration

Water vapour loss from plant tissues, mainly through stomata.

Wetland

Ecosystem whose hydrology, soils and organisms reflect periodic or persistent saturation/inundation under the relevant ecological or legal definition.

Wise use (wetlands)

Maintenance of ecological character through sustainable use consistent with conservation objectives.