Twenty-eighth Report Adapting Institutions to Climate Change Cm ...

species that might survive and subsequently reproduce. Synonyms include non-native, non-indigenous,
and exotic species. (Taken from ‘Biological Invasions in Europe: Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and
Responses’ by Philip E. Hulme, in Issues in Environmental Science and Technolog y, No. 25).
Adaptability is the capacity of actors in a system to influence resilience. (Taken from Holling et al. (2004).
Ecolog y and Society, 9(2), 5.)
Ecological resilience is a measure of the amount of change or disruption that is required to transform a
system from being maintained by one set of mutually reinforcing processes and structures to a different
set of processes and structures. (Taken from Garry Peterson – http://www.geog.mcgill.ca/faculty/
peterson/susfut/resilience/rLandscape.html.)
Ecosystem – a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living
environment interacting as a functional unit. (Taken from the Convention on Biological Diversity.)
Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning
services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services
such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling,
that maintain the conditions for life on Earth. (Taken from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.)
Habitat – the place or type of site where an organism or population naturally occurs. (Taken from the
Convention on Biological Diversity.)
Habitat connectivity describes the spatial interlinkages between core areas of suitable habitat. It is often
focused on the establishment or maintenance of corridors of similar habitat to link core areas, although
consideration may be given to the capacity of other habitats to act as conduits for dispersal. (Taken from
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2006). Guidance for Promoting Synerg y Among activities
Addressing Biological Diversity, Desertification, Land Degradation and Climate Change. Montreal, Technical Series
no. 25.)
Inertia is the delay, slowness, or resistance in the response of the climate, biological, or human systems
to factors that alter their rate of change, including continuation of change in the system after the cause of
that change has been removed. (Taken from Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2006).
Guidance for Promoting Synerg y Among activities Addressing Biological Diversity, Desertification, Land Degradation
and Climate Change. Montreal, Technical Series no. 25.)
Invasive alien species – an alien species whose introduction and/or spread threaten biological diversity.
(Taken from Developing an EU Framework for Invasive Alien Species – Discussion paper.)
Invasive alien species – a naturalised alien species which is an agent of change, and threatens human
health, economy and/or native biological diversity. (Taken from Biological Invasions in Europe: Drivers,
Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses by Philip E. Hulme, from Issues in Environmental Science and
Technology, No. 25.)
Landscape permeability is the capacity for dispersal of biodiversity across the entire landscape, including
the identification of potential barriers to movement. It is based on the premise that within a heterogeneous
landscape species movement between areas of suitable habitat will be constrained by their varying ability
to disperse across other habitats via a multitude of routes (c.f. habitat connectivity). Improving the
capacity for species to disperse across marginal or unsuitable habitats enhances landscape permeability.
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Appendix A