Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map
Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map
Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map
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— Glossary —<br />
biological diversity (also, biodiversity)<br />
The variety of life and its processes; it includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic<br />
differences among them, the communities and ecosystems in which they occur, and the ecological and<br />
evolutionary processes that keep them functioning, yet ever changing and adapting. (from Saving Nature's<br />
Legacy, R. Noss and A. Cooperrider)<br />
buffer or buffer zone<br />
A defined area of land that surrounds or borders a given natural feature (such as a river,<br />
designated natural area, or bluff) within which specified protections are established <strong>to</strong> minimize threats <strong>to</strong><br />
the ecological integrity of the natural feature.<br />
canopy<br />
Typically the uppermost continuous layer of branches and foliage in a stand of trees or shrubs,<br />
but can also refer <strong>to</strong> middle and lower layers in stands of multiple s<strong>to</strong>reys. (from Julian & Katherine<br />
Dunster’s Dictionary of Natural Resource Management, 1996,UBC Press, Vancouver, BC)<br />
carrying capacity<br />
Conventionally defined as the maximum population size of a given species that an area can<br />
support without reducing its ability <strong>to</strong> support the same species in the future. In the human context,<br />
William Cat<strong>to</strong>n defines it as the maximum “load” (population x per capita impact) that can safely and<br />
persistently be imposed on the environment by people. (from Our Ecological Footprint, Mathis<br />
Wackenragel & William Rees, 1996, New Society Publishers, Canada)<br />
ecology<br />
The study of the relationships between living organisms and their physical (nonliving)<br />
environment. In its broadest sense, ecology is the study of organisms as they exist in their natural<br />
environment. (from Harper Collins' Environmental Science Dictionary)<br />
ecological integrity<br />
Refers <strong>to</strong> a system's wholeness, including presence of all appropriate elements and occurrence of<br />
all natural processes at appropriate rates. A landscape or area with high ecological integrity reflects<br />
natural evolutionary processes. (adapted from Biological Integrity versus Biological Diversity as Policy<br />
Directives, Angermeir and Karr)<br />
ecosystem<br />
A dynamic complex of plant, animal, fungal, and microorganism communities and their<br />
associated nonliving environment interacting as an ecological unit. (from Saving Nature's Legacy, R.<br />
Noss and A. Cooperrider)<br />
edge<br />
The zone where two different habitat types meet. It can range from an abrupt change from one <strong>to</strong><br />
the other (hard edge) <strong>to</strong> a gradual integration of the two (soft edge). An edge can be of natural origin<br />
(such as the area where a grassland meets a woodland) or man-made origin (such as the area where a<br />
roadway clearing meets a woodland). See also edge effects. (adapted from Wisconsin's Biodiversity as a<br />
Management Issue, 1995 WI DNR.)<br />
edge effects<br />
The ecological changes that occur at the boundaries of ecosystems; these include changes in<br />
species composition, gradients of moisture, sunlight, soil and air temperature, wind speed, etc. Many edge<br />
effects have negative consequences. For example, forest-interior species have their populations reduced<br />
by edge effects. (from Saving Nature's Legacy, R. Noss and A. Cooperrider)<br />
– Glossary – 153