262
Glossary of terms
of evolutionary pathways that connect a given set of
taxa.
Phytosociology: A sub - discipline of plant community ecology that seeks to describe and understand
plant species co - occurrences at the level of local
communities.
Phoenix extinction: A species that is extinct in
the wild, but for which genetic material is available
in the form of stored material or a closely related
conspecifi c or congeneric variety/breed/hybrid,
allowing the possibility of a future reintroduction of
the species or a functionally equivalent form.
Population bottleneck: A severe, but perhaps
fl eeting, reduction in population number that is
often associated with reduced genetic diversity and
heterozygosity, and reduced adaptability of that
population.
Population viability analysis: A sophisticated
family of models that use demographic and environmental information to provide an estimate of the
probability of a population surviving over a given
time period (often 1,000 years).
Protected area: An area of land or sea designated
in order to conserve or protect attributes of nature
valued by society, groups or individuals. Many have
been created largely for their biodiversity value and/
or are now managed to maintain or enhance their
biodiversity value, often alongside other management goals and considerations.
Protected area networks: A number of protected areas within a given geographical area that
have been chosen to fulfi l a shared conservation goal
(e.g. minimizing future biodiversity loss). The constituent protected areas may, or may not, be ecologically connected, although this is often assumed.
Examples include the European Natura 2000
network. See Conservation area networks .
Range restricted species: Species that occupy a
very limited geographical range due to specialized
habitat preferences.
Reciprocally monophyletic: A term used in phylogenetics to describe the point at which, for a given
gene, alleles within closely - related taxa or clades are
monophyletic with respect to each other.
Red List: A list of species that are considered to be
threatened with extinction. The best known example
is the IUCN Red List, which provides information on
the taxonomic, conservation status and distribution
of taxa that are facing a high risk of global
extinction.
Redundancy: This term can have varied meanings,
one of which is the strategy of choosing multiple
protected areas that contain the same species (or
other attribute) of conservation interest in order to
decrease the long - term probability of its extinction,
i.e. to provide a certain level of resilience within a
protected area network.
Representation principle: The idea that conservation schemes should seek to conserve systems of
sites that are representative of a set of community
types, major ecosystem types, biogeographical
zones, species, etc.
Restoration ecology: An attempt to ‘ move a
damaged system to an ecological state that is within
some acceptable limits relative to a less disturbed
system ’ (Falk et al. , 2006 ).
Rewilding: Refers to ‘ action on the landscape level
with a goal of reducing human control and allowing
ecological and evolutionary processes to reassert
themselves ’ (Klyza, 2001 ).
Sink population: A breeding group that does not
produce enough offspring to maintain itself over
several generations without immigrants from other
populations.
Sink habitat: A habitat in which local mortality
exceeds local reproductive success for a given species.
Source population: A breeding group that produces enough offspring to be self - sustaining, and
that often produces excess offspring that augment
the population of other areas nearby.
Source habitat: A habitat in which local reproductive success exceeds local mortality for a given species.
Species distribution models: Species distribution models relate fi eld observations of the presence/
absence of a species to environmental predictor variables, based on statistically or theoretically derived
response surfaces, for prediction and inference. The
predictor variables are often climatic but can include
other environmental variables.
Species relaxation: The decline of species number
towards an eventual, hypothetical and lower equilibrium, due to the dominance of extinction over immigration after fragmentation.
Synanthropic species: Also known as urban
exploiters, theses are species that are able to thrive
in the novel conditions created as a landscape is
urbanized.
Systematic conservation planning: A discipline aiming to maximize the effi ciency and effectiveness of protected area network design. The key
Glossary of terms
of evolutionary pathways that connect a given set of
taxa.
Phytosociology: A sub - discipline of plant community ecology that seeks to describe and understand
plant species co - occurrences at the level of local
communities.
Phoenix extinction: A species that is extinct in
the wild, but for which genetic material is available
in the form of stored material or a closely related
conspecifi c or congeneric variety/breed/hybrid,
allowing the possibility of a future reintroduction of
the species or a functionally equivalent form.
Population bottleneck: A severe, but perhaps
fl eeting, reduction in population number that is
often associated with reduced genetic diversity and
heterozygosity, and reduced adaptability of that
population.
Population viability analysis: A sophisticated
family of models that use demographic and environmental information to provide an estimate of the
probability of a population surviving over a given
time period (often 1,000 years).
Protected area: An area of land or sea designated
in order to conserve or protect attributes of nature
valued by society, groups or individuals. Many have
been created largely for their biodiversity value and/
or are now managed to maintain or enhance their
biodiversity value, often alongside other management goals and considerations.
Protected area networks: A number of protected areas within a given geographical area that
have been chosen to fulfi l a shared conservation goal
(e.g. minimizing future biodiversity loss). The constituent protected areas may, or may not, be ecologically connected, although this is often assumed.
Examples include the European Natura 2000
network. See Conservation area networks .
Range restricted species: Species that occupy a
very limited geographical range due to specialized
habitat preferences.
Reciprocally monophyletic: A term used in phylogenetics to describe the point at which, for a given
gene, alleles within closely - related taxa or clades are
monophyletic with respect to each other.
Red List: A list of species that are considered to be
threatened with extinction. The best known example
is the IUCN Red List, which provides information on
the taxonomic, conservation status and distribution
of taxa that are facing a high risk of global
extinction.
Redundancy: This term can have varied meanings,
one of which is the strategy of choosing multiple
protected areas that contain the same species (or
other attribute) of conservation interest in order to
decrease the long - term probability of its extinction,
i.e. to provide a certain level of resilience within a
protected area network.
Representation principle: The idea that conservation schemes should seek to conserve systems of
sites that are representative of a set of community
types, major ecosystem types, biogeographical
zones, species, etc.
Restoration ecology: An attempt to ‘ move a
damaged system to an ecological state that is within
some acceptable limits relative to a less disturbed
system ’ (Falk et al. , 2006 ).
Rewilding: Refers to ‘ action on the landscape level
with a goal of reducing human control and allowing
ecological and evolutionary processes to reassert
themselves ’ (Klyza, 2001 ).
Sink population: A breeding group that does not
produce enough offspring to maintain itself over
several generations without immigrants from other
populations.
Sink habitat: A habitat in which local mortality
exceeds local reproductive success for a given species.
Source population: A breeding group that produces enough offspring to be self - sustaining, and
that often produces excess offspring that augment
the population of other areas nearby.
Source habitat: A habitat in which local reproductive success exceeds local mortality for a given species.
Species distribution models: Species distribution models relate fi eld observations of the presence/
absence of a species to environmental predictor variables, based on statistically or theoretically derived
response surfaces, for prediction and inference. The
predictor variables are often climatic but can include
other environmental variables.
Species relaxation: The decline of species number
towards an eventual, hypothetical and lower equilibrium, due to the dominance of extinction over immigration after fragmentation.
Synanthropic species: Also known as urban
exploiters, theses are species that are able to thrive
in the novel conditions created as a landscape is
urbanized.
Systematic conservation planning: A discipline aiming to maximize the effi ciency and effectiveness of protected area network design. The key