Environmental glossary
BIRD: linking the biodiversity community
[edit] Common Terms and links to further information
- Biodiversity
- Aquatic systems (lakes, wetlands & waterways)
- Environmental Legislation, Policy, Plans & Strategies
[edit] Biodiversity |
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| Arboreal fauna | a term used to describe tree dwelling fauna, (also see terrestrial fauna) |
| Biota | the total assemblage of plants and animals in an area. |
| Biodiversity | the variety of all life forms, the different plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystem of which they form a part.Victoria’s biodiversity strategy. |
| Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) | a structured approach to mapping and summarising significant native biodiversity assets, identifying actions, priorities and tools which can be used at the bioregional and landscape level. more information on BAP’s. |
| Biodiversity Landscape Plan | a high resolution plan over several to tens of kilometres which comprises part of the Biodiversity Action Plan within a particular bioregion. more information on landscape plans. |
| BioMap | a DSE mapping product which displays biodiversity data for Victoria over various background themes eg. land tenure, boundaries etc | .
| Bioregion | biogeographic areas that capture the patterns of ecological characteristics in the landscape or seascape and form part of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia. more about bioregions, also map of Victoria’s bioregions. |
| Bioregional Network Analysis (BNA) | bioregional analysis of threatened species abundance, threats (risks) and land tenure which provides a ranking system for the allocation of threatened species priorities within each bioregion, eg. full commitment, substantive participation, planning awareness/opportunistic action or planning awareness/watching brief |
| BioSite | an area containing one or more biological assets |
| BioSites | a DSE database which houses text and spatial information on sites of biological significance (BioSite) DSE Standard Criteria for Sites of Biological Significance. |
| Broad Vegetation Type (BVT) | simplified classification of vegetation based on land systems or biophysical attributes (geology, rainfall, elevation, soil type and landform). |
| Buffer Zone | a designated area which is used to reduce impact on a core area or biodiversity value to be protected. |
| CAMBA | China Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (also see JAMBA) CAMBA - more information. |
| Community | an assemblage of plants and animals that exist together to make up a particular type of ecosystem. |
| Connectivity | the capacity for biodiversity to move between disjunct landscape elements such as habitat patches, lakes and streams. (also see corridors and links). |
| Conservation covenant | a covenant which is a voluntary agreement made between the landowner and an authorised body with the aim of permanently protecting the natural, cultural and/or scientific values of the land. In Victoria, the Trust for Nature is the organisation that deals with conservation covenants. |
| Conservation status | a systems of rating the level of threat for a species, some variations exist according to jurisdiction eg. ICUN (world), EPBC (Australia), FFG (Victoria), IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria ver 3.1 |
| Conservation status – Victorian Fauna | (EX) Extinct, (RX) Regionally Extinct, (WX) Extinct in the Wild, (CR) Critically Endangered, (EN) Endangered, (VU) Vulnerable, (NT) Near Threatened, (DD) Data Deficient DSE advisory list of threatened fauna of Victoria. |
| Conservation status – Victorian Flora | (x) Presumed extinct, (e) Endangered, (v) Vulnerable, (r) Rare, (k) Poorly Known DSE advisory list of rare or threatened plants in Victoria. |
| Conservation status Australia | categories under EPBC Act, (EX) Extinct, (CR) Critically Endangered, (EN) Endangered, (VU) Vulnerable DEH list of threatened species. |
| Corridor | a liner strip of habitat that facilitates the movement of biodiversity between separated habitats, thereby increasing ‘connectivity.’ |
| Coupe | a term used in forestry operations which describes a delineated area on either private or State Forest land. |
| Distribution | the known limits or geographic extent of an area where a species is known to occur (this does not imply the species occurs in all parts of its distribution but rather it may occur at suitable habitats within its distribution). |
| Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC) | a native vegetation classification system that incorporates vegetation structure, floristic and ecological characteristics together with environmental attributes such as aspect, slope, elevation, rainfall and soils.more information from DSE biodiversity interactive map. |
| Ecosystem | the organisms of a community, together with the atmosphere, soil, water and light which form a functioning system. |
| Ecotone | transitional zone or area between ecological communities. |
| Endemic | having a natural occurrence to a specified area. |
| Environment | incorporates all living and non-living surroundings of a plant or animal. |
| EPBC Act | Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Commonwealth of Australia more about EPBC Act |
| Extant vegetation | vegetation still remaining, often referred to in EVC mapping. |
| Exotic species | a species not native to Australia. |
| Flagship species | also referred to as ‘icon species’, they are species which have public appeal, promotional and publicity value which can be harnessed to increase support for their conservation as well as other taxa. |
| Focal species | referred to in Biodiversity Action Plans, it is a species identified as having requirements that reflect many other associated species or communities. Therefore action for one focal species will also favour wider biodiversity conservation. |
| Habitat | all the physical and biological things which collectively make up ‘the place’ where a plant or animal lives. |
| Habitat hectare | a site based measure of native vegetation in terms of quality and quantity of vegetation in relation to EVC’s more on Habitat Hectare on DSE site. |
| Home range | the area utilised by an individual animal to facilitate its normal life functions such as feeding and breeding. |
| Indigenous species | belonging to, or found naturally in a particular environment and forms part of the natural biodiversity of a place. |
| JAMBA | Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (also see CAMBA). JAMBA - more information. |
| Native Vegetation | an indigenous plant community either natural or regenerated but excludes vegetation established for commercial purposes eg. plantations |
| Net Gain | where over a specified area and time losses of native vegetation are more than off-set by gains in habitat hectare. |
| Old growth forest | an ecologically mature forest that contains significant amounts of vegetation in its oldest growth stage, including senescent trees and where the effects of disturbances are now negligible. |
| Potentially threatening process | a process which could pose a significant threat to the survival, abundance an evolutionary development of any taxon or community of flora or fauna, these can be listed under schedule 3 of the FFG Act. FFG Act, listed potentially threatening processes. |
| Protected flora | Victorian flora which is published in the Victorian Government Gazette under Section 46 of the FFG Act, which may include threatened species or communities, or those that are not threatened but require protection. The definition protected applies to all living and non- living parts of the plant and can include deliberate and incidental take, damage to habitat, trading, keeping, moving or processing. |
| Protected wildlife | referrs to all wildlife under the meaning of the Wildlife Act 1975 and includes any animal of a vertebrate taxon indigenous to Australia other than mankind, non-indigenous deer, quail, pheasants and partridges, any taxon of terrestrial invertebrate animal listed under the FFG Act and any other taxon of animal all which is published by order in the Victorian Government Gazette. |
| Rare | used where there are relatively few known populations or the taxon is restricted to a relatively small area (see conservation status, threatened species). |
| Remnant vegetation | the remains of native vegetation uncleared since European settlement. (for planning purposes it can include areas of native revegetation/regeneration greater than 10 years old. |
| Species | individuals of the same type which are able to interbreed to produce fertile offspring under natural conditions contributing to a common gene pool. |
| Subspecies | a discrete geographical or independent breeding group of a species which can be consistently characterised by given features. |
| Taxon | generally refers to a species but it may sometimes be a unique form of a species or a closely related group of species. Taxa is used when referring to more than one taxon. |
| Terrestrial fauna | fauna that is ground dwelling (also see arboreal fauna). |
| Threatened species | a species that is assigned a conservation status of vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered or extinct in the wild. Assigning a conservation status can be achieved where a species is listed under legislation such as the Victorian Flora Fauna Guarantee Act (FFG Act) or the Commonwealth Environment Protection Biodiversity Act (EPBC Act). Advisory Lists such as the DSE advisory list of rare or threatened plants of Victoria or advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria also provide a non legislative means of assigning a conservation status to a species (also see conservation status). |
| Victoria’s Biodiversity Strategy | a Victorian State Government strategy to conserve and maintain Victoria’s biodiversity. It comprises three documents, Victoria’s biodiversity – Our living Wealth, Victoria’s biodiversity – Sustaining Our Living Wealth, Victoria’s biodiversity – Directions in Management Victoria’s biodiversity strategy. |
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This BIRD page is brought to you by the South West Integrated Flora & Fauna Team. SWIFFT does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of information on this page and any person using or relying upon such information does so on the basis that the SWIFFT shall bear no responsibility or liability whatsoever for any errors, faults, defects or omissions in the information. |
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