Definitions on Biodiversity starting with E

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Agriculture & Environment

Definitions

List of terms for Biodiversity

Producing enough food for a rapidly growing population, and taking care of our planet are two of the world's biggest challenges.

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E

Earth Summit

Popular description for the landmark 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development that took place in Rio de Janeiro. The UN conventions on biodiversity and climate change were signed at this Summit, and agreement was reached to negotiate a third convention to combat desertification.

Ecosystem

Contraction of the phrase 'ecological system'. It is an integrated unit comprising a community of species and the physical environment in which they live. The relationships among species in an ecosystem are complex and finely balanced. See also 'ecosystem models'.

Ecosystem boundaries

The transition zones that separate different types of ecosystems. Changes in temperature and precipitation can cause these boundaries to move. This allows some ecosystems to move into new areas, while others diminish in size as the climate becomes inhospitable to the species they contain.

Ecosystem models

There are currently three 'models' that try to explain the relationship between species and ecosystems. The 'redundancy' model says that if an ecosystem loses a species, others will step forward to do its job. The 'idiosyncratic' model says that it is impossible to predict how an ecosystem will react to species being lost. The 'complementarity' model says that ecosystems work better when large quantities of species are present.

Endangered

Refers to a species in danger of extinction. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) provides a classification of the imminence of this threat (near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered).