Glossary of Biodiversity Terminology F

The following terms are used by UNEP-WCMC and as such have been defined as UNEP-WCMC interprets them. Whilst we have attempted to include all current thinking on biodiversity terms, there will without a doubt be differences of opinion with respect to definitions.

A-E

F| G|H| I |J| K |L

M-R

S-Z

F	Fauna	Organisms of the animal kingdom.
	Feral	A domesticated species that has adapted to existence in the wild state but remains distinct from other wild species. Examples are the wild horses and burros of the West and the wild goats and pigs of Hawaii.
	Flora	Organisms of the plant kingdom
	Forest Resource Accounting (FRA)	Methodologies for forest resource accounting, aimed at encouraging improved forest information management systems for conservation and sustainable utilisation.
G	Gamete	The sperm or unfertilised egg of animals that transmit the parental genetic information to offspring. In plants, functionally equivalent structures are found in pollen and ovules.
	Gene	A chemical unit of hereditary information that can be passed from one generation to another.
	Gene bank	A facility established for the ex situ conservation of individuals (seeds), tissues, or reproductive cells of plants or animals.
	Genetic diversity	The variety of genes within a particular species, variety, or breed.
	Genetic drift	A cumulative process involving the chance loss of some genes and the disproportion ate replication of others over successive generations in a small population, so that the frequencies of genes in the population is altered. The process can lead to a population that differs genetically and in appearance from the original population.
	Genetic material	Any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity.
	Gene pool	The collection of genes in an interbreeding population.
	Genetic resources	Genetic material of actual or potential value.
	Genotype	The genetic constitution of an organism as distinguished from its physical appearance.
	Genus	A category of biological classification ranking between the family and the species, comprising structurally or phylogenetically related species or an isolated species exhibiting unusual differentiation.
	Germplasm	The genetic material, especially its specific molecular and chemical constitution, that compromises the inherited qualities of an organism.
	Grassroots (organisations or movements)	People or society at a local level, rather than at the centre of major political activity.
	Grow-out (growing-out)	The process of growing a plant for the purpose of producing fresh viable seed to evaluate its varietal characteristics.
H	Habitat	The environment in which an animal or plant lives, generally defined in terms of vegetation and physical features.
	Hotspot	An area on earth with an unusual concentration of species, many of which are often endemic to the area.
	Hybrid	An offspring of a cross between two genetically unlike individuals.
	Hybridisation	Crossing of individuals from genetically different strains, populations, or species.
I	Important Bird Area (IBA)	Sites of importance to birds, identified by Birdlife International and International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau. The sites are identified for four groups of birds: regularly occurring migratory species which concentrate at and are dependent on particular sites either when breeding, or migration, or during the winter; globally threatened species (ie species at risk of total extinction); species and sub-species threatened throughout all or parts of their range but not globally; species that have relatively small total world ranges with important populations in specific areas.
	In-situ	Maintenance or study of organisms within an organism's native environment.
	In-situ conservation	The conservation of biodiversity within the evolutionary dynamic ecosystems of the original habitat or natural environment.
	Inbreeding	Mating of close relatives resulting in increased genetic uniformity in the offspring.
	Indicator species	A species whose status provides information on the overall condition of the ecosystem and of other species in that ecosystem.
	Indigenous peoples	People whose ancestors inhabited a place or country when persons from another culture or ethnic background arrived on the scene and dominated them through conquest, settlement, or other means and who today live more in conformity with their own social, economic, and cultural customs and traditions than with those of the country of which they now form a part. (also: 'native peoples' or 'tribal peoples')
	Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)	Rights enabling an inventor to exclude imitators from the market for a certain period of time.
	Interspecies	Between different species
	Intrinsic value	The value of creatures and plants independent of human recognition and estimation of their worth.
	Introduced species	See 'Alien species'.
	Inventory	On-site collection of data on natural resources and their properties.
	In vitro	(Literally 'in glass'). The growing of cells, tissues, or organs in plastic vessels under sterile conditions on an artificially prepared medium.
	Island biogeography	The study of the relationship between island area and species number. This idea has also been applied to isolated areas of habitat in continental areas which are effectively islands for many species. The extent to which habitat fragmentation may lead to extinction of species can be predicted from the relationship between number of species and island area.
K	Keystone species	A species whose loss from an ecosystem would cause a greater than average change in other species populations or ecosystem processes.
L	Landrace	Primitive or antique variety usually associated with traditional agriculture. Often highly adapted to local conditions.
	Land Mapping Unit (LMU)	The smallest area of land that can be delineated on a map of a particular scale. Used in land evaluation as the basis of spatial variation.
	Land Quality (LQ)	A complex attribute of land, which acts in a manner distinct from the actions of other land qualities in its influence on the suitability of land for a specified kind of use.
	Land Use Requirements (LUR)	The requirements are related to growth and yield of crops and trees, animal husbandry, land management and conservation. The expression of the conditions for successful implementation are described for each LUT, eg growth requirements of certain tree species.
	Land Utilisation Type (LUT)	Described in terms of necessary inputs and expected results, based on a number of key attributes obtained from land use data; produce, capital input, labour input, farm size, land tenure, technical know how, level of mechanism etc. LUTs relate to the physical social and economic conditions of the area and according to the development of objectives; description of the key attributes, reflecting biological, socio-economic and technical aspects of the production environment and which are relevant to the productive capacity of a LMU.
	Living collections	A management system involving the use of off-site methods such as zoological parks, botanic gardens, arboretums, and captive breeding programs to protect and maintain biological diversity in plants, animals, and microorganisms