Glossary
Barrier effect The combined effects of physical barriers, infrastructure avoidance,
traffic mortality and habitat loss which together reduce the railway permeability.
Carcass The corpse of a dead animal (or its remains) that is used in monitoring studies
to evaluate mortality rates caused by trains (and other vehicles) collisions.
Carcass persistence time The time each animal carcass remains on the railway (or
road) before it disappears, either due to scavengers or to decomposing.
Connectivity The degree to which the landscape facilitates or impedes movement
of wildlife among resource patches. From a species’ point of view, it is the
ability of individuals to disperse through the matrix (e.g., unsuitable habitat).
dB A decibel (dB) is a unit of sound pressure. It is defined as 20 log 10 (P/P ref ),
where P ref is a value of reference, typically, 20 micropascals in the air.
dB(A) A-weighted decibels. The A-weighting systems attempts to correct to the
way the human ear perceives loundness.
Habitat fragmentation The division of contiguous tracts of suitable habitat into
progressively smaller patches.
Introduction The deliberate or accidental release of an organism(s) into the
wild by human agency.
Mortality hotspot Segments of railways (or roads) with higher concentration or
increased probability of wildlife mortality.
Native or indigenous A species that occurs naturally in an area, i.e. whose dispersal has occurred independently of human-mediated transportation. In general,
a species thought to have occurred in an area since before the Neolithic is
considered to be native.
Naturalised A non-native species that, following introduction, has
formed self-sustaining populations in the wild.
‘Non-native’ or ‘alien’ A species that occurs outside its native geographical range
as a result of human-mediated transportation.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7
319
Barrier effect The combined effects of physical barriers, infrastructure avoidance,
traffic mortality and habitat loss which together reduce the railway permeability.
Carcass The corpse of a dead animal (or its remains) that is used in monitoring studies
to evaluate mortality rates caused by trains (and other vehicles) collisions.
Carcass persistence time The time each animal carcass remains on the railway (or
road) before it disappears, either due to scavengers or to decomposing.
Connectivity The degree to which the landscape facilitates or impedes movement
of wildlife among resource patches. From a species’ point of view, it is the
ability of individuals to disperse through the matrix (e.g., unsuitable habitat).
dB A decibel (dB) is a unit of sound pressure. It is defined as 20 log 10 (P/P ref ),
where P ref is a value of reference, typically, 20 micropascals in the air.
dB(A) A-weighted decibels. The A-weighting systems attempts to correct to the
way the human ear perceives loundness.
Habitat fragmentation The division of contiguous tracts of suitable habitat into
progressively smaller patches.
Introduction The deliberate or accidental release of an organism(s) into the
wild by human agency.
Mortality hotspot Segments of railways (or roads) with higher concentration or
increased probability of wildlife mortality.
Native or indigenous A species that occurs naturally in an area, i.e. whose dispersal has occurred independently of human-mediated transportation. In general,
a species thought to have occurred in an area since before the Neolithic is
considered to be native.
Naturalised A non-native species that, following introduction, has
formed self-sustaining populations in the wild.
‘Non-native’ or ‘alien’ A species that occurs outside its native geographical range
as a result of human-mediated transportation.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7
319