Biodiversity
See also:
Biodiversity Terminology
Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the variety of life: the different plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes they contain, and the ecosystem of which they form a part. The concept is often considered at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. It is a reflection and essential part of the operation of ecological processes. Conservation of biodiversity is a fundamental principle of ecologically sustainable development.
Ecological processes are the processes that play an essential role in maintaining the integrity and continuity of an ecosystem. Important ecological processes are water and nutrient cycling, the flow of energy, and evolution by natural selection.
An Ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, fungal, and micro-organism communities and associated non-living environment interacting as an ecological unit.
Habitat is an area or place occupied by a species, population or ecological community. It may be occupied permanently, periodically, or occasionally.
A Habitat corridor is an area of habitat that enables migration, colonisation, and interbreeding of plants and animals between two or more larger areas of habitat. Wildlife corridors are habitat corridors.
Habitat value refers to the extent to which an area is capable of supporting large numbers of a range of species.
Population is a group of organisms, all of the same species, occupying a particular area.
A Species is a group of organisms capable of interbreeding freely with each other but (usually) not with members of other species. A locally indigenous species is a species that occurs naturally within a local area and which has genetic material deriving from that local area. An introduced species means a specific species that is not locally indigenous.
Threatened species is a species considered to be at risk of becoming extinct, or of becoming endangered. Such species are listed in the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 or Part 7A of the Fisheries Management Act 1994.
Threatening process is a process that threatens, or may have the capability to threaten, the survival or evolutionary development of species, populations, or ecological communities.
