IPBES core glossary

See 'Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)'.

The fixation of carbon at the oceans' surface by photosynthesizing organisms and subsequent sinking of a sizable fraction (15-20%) of total productivity creates a strong vertical transport that dominates the distribution of carbon, nutrients, and oxygen in the ocean, known as the ‘biological pump’.

Biological resources include genetic resources, organisms or parts thereof, populations, or any other biotic component of ecosystems with actual or potential use or value for humanity.

In fisheries organizations, biological sustainable levels are usually defined according to MSY, which is the Maximum Sustainable Yield (or catch) that can be continuously taken from a stock under existing environmental conditions without affecting its reproductive potential. Two key levels are considered: to assess the sustainability of fishing on a given stock: FMSY which is the fishing mortality that is consistent with achieving MSY and BMSY that is the biomass that results from fishing at FMSY for a long time.

The mass of non-fossilized and biodegradable organic material in a given area or volume.

Biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production. Includes solid biomass such as wood, plant and animal products, gases and liquids derived from biomass, industrial waste and municipal waste.

see Biomass (ecology).

The mass of non-fossilized and biodegradable organic material originating from plants, animals and micro-organisms in a given area or volume.

Global-scale zones, generally defined by the type of plant life that they support in response to average rainfall and temperature patterns. For example, tundra, coral reefs or savannahs.

Biomes are global-scale zones, generally defined by the type of plant life that they support in response to average rainfall and temperature patterns. For example, tundra, coral reefs or savannas.

An assemblage of interacting biological and physical processes.

Measures of the importance of components of nature (living being or non-living element), of the processes that are derived from the interactions among these components, or of particular properties of those components and processes.

The process of searching for and subsequently developing new drugs based on biological resources.

The use of microorganisms to clean up polluted soil and water.

Strategy, efforts and planning to protect human, animal and environmental health against biological threats.

for the purpose of this assessment, a strategic and integrated approach that encompasses the policy and regulatory frameworks (including instruments and activities) for identifying, analysing and managing risks, including invasive alien species, to human, animal and plant life and health, and associated risks to the economy and the environment

The sum of all the ecosystems of the world. It is both the collection of organisms living on the Earth and the space that they occupy on part of the Earth's crust (the lithosphere), in the oceans (the hydrosphere) and in the atmosphere. The biosphere is all the planet's ecosystems.

All living organisms of an area; the flora and fauna considered as a unit.

Modern biotechnology means the application of: In vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles, or Fusion of cells beyond the taxonomic family, that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers and that are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection.

A method for mitigating land degradation using mechanical (structures) and biological elements.

Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.

The deliberate, private use of biological agents to harm and frighten the people of a state or society, is related to the military use of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons.

any interaction where the action of one species has a beneficial effect on another. This includes mutualistic interactions where both the facilitated and facilitator benefit (+/+), those which are commensal (+/0) when the effects of the facilitated on the facilitator are neutral as well as those which are antagonistic (+/?) when the facilitated negatively impact the facilitator. Note that this concept partially overlaps with that of mutualism, ecological engineering and niche construction

See homogenization.

also referred to as the ‘anthropogenic blender’ (Olden, 2006), the loss of biotic uniqueness, where local community assemblages are becoming more similar to each other on average, and this biotic homogenization

the ability of species in a community to limit the recruitment or invasion of other species (Catford et al., 2009; Levine et al., 2004). It is central to our understanding of how communities at risk of invasion assemble after disturbances, but it has yet to translate into guiding principles for the restoration of invasion-resistant communities

Black carbon is a carbonaceous aerosol. It is produced both naturally and by human activities as a result of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. Primary sources include emissions from diesel engines, cook stoves, wood burning and forest fires. Black carbon particles strongly absorb sunlight and give soot its black color. Thus, black carbon has emerged as a major contributor to global climate change, possibly second only to CO2 as the main driver of change.

The carbon stored in marine and coastal ecosystems.

An entirely rainfed wetland area that typically accumulates peat.

A global effort to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s degraded and deforested lands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. It is overseen by the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature as its Secretariat.

Systems driven by basic or lower- order processes.

A mode of control of trophic interactions by resources, in which organisms on each trophic level are food limited, as opposed to a top-down control (by predators), in which organisms at the top of food chains are food limited, and at successive lower levels, they are alternately predator, then food limited.

Objects and/or processes plastic enough to adapt to local needs and to the constraints of the several parties employing them, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity across sites. Their meanings may differ in different social contexts, but their structure is common enough and recognizable across contexts.

Inland water with a high salt concentration.

Water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. Technically, brackish water contains between 0.5 and 30 grams of salt per litre—more often expressed as 0.5 to 30 parts per thousand (‰), which is a specific gravity of between 1.005 and 1.010. Thus, brackish covers a range of salinity regimes and is not considered a precisely defined condition.

refers to change across multiple spheres, with emerging consensus that transformation requires co-evolutionary change across different spheres of society, including personal, economic, political, institutional and technological ones.