Mpumalanga Biodiversity Conservation Plan Handbook - bgis-sanbi

GLOSSARY
This glossary is not a comprehensive list of all technical and scientific terms used in the handbook.
It focuses on those terms that may be interpreted differently by readers with varied backgrounds
ALIEN INVASIVE SPECIES
Any plant or animal species that has
been introduced into South Africa
and which has become naturalised,
i.e. capable of reproducing and
spreading without human assistance.
In the case of plants, such species
may establish in natural vegetation to
the point of replacing it and destroying
biodiversity and ecological functioning.
The worst invader plants are required
by law to be controlled on both
private and state land.
BIODIVERSITY
The variability among all types of living
organisms (animals, plants and
microbes) including those from terrestrial,
aquatic and marine ecosystems.
The term is shorthand for biological
diversity and includes diversity within
species, between species and of
ecosystems and other ecological
complexes, of which all organisms are
a part. It includes the full diversity of
all genes, species and ecological
communities and the ecological and
evolutionary processes that sustain
them.
BIODIVERSITY FEATURE
An element or unit of biodiversity, for
which it is possible to set a quantitative
target for active protection (or
conservation or sustainable use) for
example, a vegetation type, a rare
species, or the spatial component of
an ecological process.
BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT
The activity of analysing spatial data
layers (geographic, biological and
ecological) to identify options for
meeting conservation targets for a
range of biodiversity features.
Biodiversity assessment should
include the interpretation of the
results of such analyses for a wide
range of stakeholders.
and in different contexts.
BIODIVERSITY OFFSET
An area legally set aside or acquired
for conservation purposes, in
exchange for the permitted destruction
(by development) of a separate area
of biodiversity of recognized value. If
possible, the biodiversity value of the
offset should be at least greater than
that of the area destroyed and as similar
as possible to it.
BIODIVERSITY PLANNING
Planning at various spatial scales to
identify priority areas for biodiversity
conservation, taking into account
patterns of biodiversity (the principle
of representation) and the ecological
and evolutionary processes that
sustain them (the principle of persistence).
Biodiversity planning includes
biodiversity assessment and the
subsequent production of an implementation
strategy and action plan.
BIODIVERSITY TARGET
The quantity of a biodiversity feature,
based on the best scientific knowledge
available, that is an estimate of the
amount of the feature needed to
ensure its vitality and survival in the
long term. This applies to both
‘pattern’ features (e.g. species) and
‘process’ features (e.g. movement) at
various scales. Targets are expressed
as, for example, an area of land or a
number of breeding individuals of a
threatened species.
BIOME
A major ecological community of
organisms (species) usually characterised
by a dominant vegetation type
with which they are associated.
National scale ecological assessment
has led to the classification of eleven
biomes in southern Africa:- desert,
succulent Karoo, fynbos, Nama-
Karoo, grassland, savanna, Indian
Ocean coastal belt, Albany thicket,
forest, and the two island biomes of
sub-Antarctic tundra and polar desert.
BIOREGION
The Biodiversity Act defines a bioregion
as a region that ‘contains
whole or several nested ecosystems
and is characterised by its landforms,
vegetation cover, human culture and
history’. The Act further provides for
the publication of Bioregional Plans
for such areas. These Plans should be
spatially delimited to match the nearest
local or district municipal boundaries,
or to provincial boundaries.
BIOREGIONAL PLAN
A bioregional plan should be seen
primarily as a tool for guiding land
and resource-use planning and
decision- making by the full range of
sectors whose policies and decisions
impact on biodiversity, so that biodiversity
priorities and sustainable
management of natural resources are
taken into account in medium- to
long-term planning, and in day-today
decision-making in all of these
sectors.
BIOTA
A general collective term for all living
things in a specific region.
CONNECTIVITY
The ecological connectedness of the
pattern of habitats and distribution of
species within a particular area. High
connectivity facilitates the free
movement of individuals and species.
Habitats that are fragmented by
development, present obstacles to
biological movement and reduced
connectivity in proportion to the
intensity and type of development.
CONSERVATION AREA
A defined area where conservation of
important biodiversity is needed in
GLOSSARY
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GLOSSARY