Ecosystem:
An interacting system of living organisms and their physical
environment which is independent of other groups and is self-sustaining,
provided it receives radiant energy (Little and Jones, 1980).
Ecosystem
Complexity: That bio-complexity that exists within an
ecosystem.
Ecosystem
Functions: Processes that are necessary for the self-maintenance
of an ecosystem such as primary production, nutrient cycling,
decomposition, etc. The term is used primarily as a distinction
from values (Lee, 1993).
Ecotone:
A transition zone; a region of overlapping [organismal]
associations, as that between adjacent habitats or ecosystems
(Little and Jones, 1980).
Endemic: Native or confined naturally to a particular
and usually very restricted geographic area or region (Little
and Jones, 1980).
Enhancement:
The removal of impediments to improve habitat structure,
function, or value.
Environment:
The complex of factors that act upon an organism or an ecological
community and ultimately determine its form and survival
(Warner and Hendrix, 1984).
Exotic Species: A species not native to an area (Zedaker,
1998).
Fanglomerate: A sedimentary rock of heterogeneous materials
that were originally deposited in an alluvial fan and have
since become or are in the process of becoming cemented
into solid rock (Bates and Jackson, 1984).
Fault
Sag Ponds: A small, enclosed depression along an active
or recent fault. It is caused by differential movement between
slices and blocks within the fault zone or by warping and
tilting associated with differential displacement along
the fault, and it forms the site of a sag pond (Bates and
Jackson, 1980).
Fledge:
To acquire the feathers necessary for flight or independent
activity (Merriam-Webster, 2001).
Floodplain:
The deposit of alluvium that covers a valley flat, which
is the fundamental land form produced by lateral erosion
of meandering streams and rivers (Thornbury, 1969).
Functions:
Services provided by one element of an ecosystem to another.
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Geographic
Information System (GIS): An information system that is
designed to work with data referenced by spatial or geographic
coordinates. In other words, a GIS is both a database system
with specific capabilities for spatially-referenced data,
as well as a set of operations for working with the data (Star
and Estes, 1990 in Clarke, 2001).
Geologic
Fault: A fracture or fracture zone along which there has
been displacement of the sides relative to one another parallel
to the fracture (Bates and Jackson, 1984).
Groundwater
Recharge: The processes involved in the addition of water
to the subsurface zone of saturation, i.e. groundwater as
distinct from surface water (Bates and Jackson, 1984).
Guild:
A group of species that exploit the same class of functional
resources in a similar way (Begon et al., 1990).
Habitat:
The ecological and/or physical place determined and bounded
by the needs and the presence of a specific plant or animal
population, which contains a particular combination of environmental
conditions sufficient for that population’s survival
(Warner and Hendrix, 1984).
Habitat Connectivity: The degree to which wildlife
habitats remain connected and viable for movement and dispersal
despite fragmentation. [Non-contiguous habitat is unable to
support the same density of species diversity and population
as a similarly contiguous area of land.]
Habitat
Corridor: Segments of suitable habitat that provide avenues
for movement and dispersal between larger fragmented habitats.
Herbaceous:
Having little or no woody tissue and persisting usually
for a single growing season (Merriam-Webster, 2001).
Herbivore:
Plant-eater (Abercrombie et. al., 1951).
Hydrology:
A science dealing with the properties, distribution, and circulation
of water on and below the earth’s surface and in the
atmosphere (Merriam-Webster, 2001).
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