wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

168 GLOSSARY OF CONCEPTS AND TERMSHumic ameliorantHumificationHumusHydrauliccharacteristicsHydraulicconductivityHydrochemistryHydrogeneticmire typesHydrologyHydrolysatesHydrolysisHydroscopicHysteresis effectIdentity functionImmersion mireIndustrialcut-away peatlandsInstrumental valuesIntegratedcatchmentmanagementIntergenerationaljusticeIntermediatecuttingsIntrinsic moralvalueSoil improver based on humus.The process by which organic matter decomposes to form humusor peat.Partially decomposed organic matter; the organic component ofsoil.Factors affecting water movement and storage.Coefficient of proportionality describing the rate at which watercan move through an aquifer or other permeable medium.The study of the chemistry of water.Types of mires which are defined by their peat formation strategyas dependent on water dynamics.The study of water movement.Products of hydrolysis.Decomposition of a chemical compound by reaction with water,such as the dissociation of a dissolved salt or the catalyticconversion of starch to glucose.Having the ability to absorb water readily from the atmosphere.Being dependent on the history or on direction, e.g. that theway back is different from the way to, or that the answer dependson whether a question – with the same factual content – isformulated negatively or positively.The values related to the ability to identify one’s position in theworld. They are limited to self-conscious beings who are able tothink abstractly.Hydrogenetic mire type in which peat is produced by plantsimmersed in open water (e.g. many Phragmites stands). Manyimmersion mires can be referred to in more familiar terms as“emergent marsh” or “reed swamp”. 1Cut-away peatlands after the extraction of peat on an industrialscale.Values which represent clear means to an end. Such values areequal to functions.The management of rivers or basins and the surroundingcatchment as a whole.Balance between the wellbeing of both present-day and futuregenerations.Silvicultural cuttings (thinning cuttings) in the stage of tree standdevelopment between young stand treatment/cleaning andregeneration cutting (regeneration felling). A simple synonym forintermediate cutting is thinning cutting.The value that an entity has as such, independent of everythingelse, i.e. independent of external valuers.