wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

164 GLOSSARY OF CONCEPTS AND TERMSCatotelmChaosClastic materialClearcut stripsClimateCo-generationCognition functionCoirCommonageCompostConductivityConservationConservation valueContainer cropsContingencyCorporategovernanceCosmogenicisotopesCosmosCost-benefitanalysisCryo-therapeuticCut-away peatlandDecompositionDeep ecologyPermanently water-saturated peat layer of relatively low hydraulicconductivity with a low rate of decay.A property of some non-linear dynamic systems which exhibitsensitive dependence on initial conditions. Extremely smalldifferences in initial states lead to strongly different later states.Such systems may still be completely deterministic in that anyfuture state of the system depends only on the initial conditionsand the equations describing the change of the system with time.It may, however, require arbitrarily high precision to actuallycalculate a future state to within some finite precision.Material made up of fragments of pre-existing rock, like sand or clay.Strips within a forest which have been cleared of all trees.The average pattern of weather in a place.Combined generation of heat and power. Also referred to as CHP.Value related to the pursuit of knowledge.The fibre of coconut husks.The right of taking profit in land in common with others, withoutowning the land. The most usual forms of commonage were theright to pasture cattle, the right to extract peat, the right to fish awater, and the right to take wood.A mixture of decaying organic matter used to improve soilstructure and provide nutrients.Conduction between opposite faces of a cube of material.The keeping entire, the keeping unchanged, preservation. Used inthe sense of a deliberate or political decision to preserve.All aggregate values pursued by conservation.Crops grown in sealed containers.A possible event or occurrence or result.The system by which commercial companies and institutions aredirected and controlled.Isotopes produced by cosmic radiation.The ordered universe.A comparison of the estimated costs of an action with the estimatedbenefits it is likely or intended to produce.Use of cold for therapeutic treatment of injuries (for example, ice packs).What is left of a peatland after all the peat which can beeconomically removed has been extracted.A complex process consisting of loss of organic matter(= mineralisation), loss of physical structure and change inchemical state.A moral position ascribing intrinsic value to all entities.