Biodiversity
Biodiversity refers to the number and types of species that exist in the world.
Biodiversity Hotspots
An habitat with a high number of different species threatened with up to 70% destruction and degradation.
Bioindicators
Species that can be used as a measure of some aspects of an ecosystem's health.
Blue Carbon Sinks
Coastal ecosystems such as seagrass, mangroves, and saltmarshes transfer and store carbon in their sediments and plant parts at rates far greater than those of land forests.
Camouflage
To hide by disguising.
Climate Change
A significant change in climate over long-lasting periods (decades to millions of years). The climate change we are currently experiencing is caused, to a large extent, by human-made (anthropogenic) or natural alterations of the natural world.
Conservation
The protection, restoration, and preservation of the natural environment, its inhabitants and its resources
Coral Reefs
An environmental setting constructed by reef-building activities of coral and associated organisms beneath the surface of sea water
Denning
The habitat or retreat of a lion or similar wild animal; lair. a small or secluded room in a home, often used for carrying on a hobby. a squalid or wretched room or retreat. (source: dictionary.com)
Ecosystem
The combination of living and non-living things and their interactions that make up an environment. Living things include plants, bacteria, and animals, while non-living elements include minerals, water, and sunlight.
Ecosystem Services
Benefits humans gain from a natural and healthy ecosystem: 1) provisions such as food and water 2) regulation such as pollination, air purification or carbon sequestration 3) support such as soil formation and nutrient cycling and 4) culture such as ecotourism or the use of nature in religious, spiritual, and therapeutic activities.
Endemic Species
A native species that is only found in a particular area. The Arabian Toad is a species that is endemic to the Arabian Peninsula, for example.
Environmental Impact/Environmental Disturbances
Impact that occurs to the environment as a result of a project (i.e. construction).
Extinction
The process in which groups of organisms die out.
Fauna
All life present in a particular region, habitat or time.
Flagship Species
A symbolic species of a habitat. The Greater Flamingo is a flagship species of the UAE. Flagship species may or may not be keystone species and may or may not be good indicators of biological process.
Flora
All plants present in a particular region, habitat or time.
Greenhouse Gases (GHG)
Gases trapped in the atmosphere which produce heat which are generated by fossil fuel burning, industrial processes, agricultural activity, and the clearing of forests. Examples include water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and ozone (O3).
Habitat
The natural environment a species lives in with living elements such as food provisions and a presence of predators or a lack thereof as well as non-living elements such as soil and temperature.
Habitat Loss
The deterioration of a natural habitat to a point where it can no longer sustain nor provide the resources to support species as it once could. An example of this is the clear-cutting of forests.
Habitat Degradation
A decline in the quality of natural habitat through pollution, extreme weather, and invasive species, reducing the survival of species population.
Habitat Fragmentation
A habitat which splits into smaller, isolated patches due to natural causes or human activity. Examples include volcanic activities, urbanization, and roads crisscrossing a forest environment.
Indicator Species
A species' presence, absence or abundance measure of the quality of the environment it lives in. A decrease means its community or ecosystem is threatened and an increase/stability indicates it is doing well with/tolerating the current conditions.
Indigenous Species
Indigenous species, or native species, refers to species present in an ecosystem as a result of natural processes, without human interruption.
Intertidal Zone/Littoral Zone
The foreshore and seashore exposed to air at low tide and water at high tide
Invasive Species
Foreign (non-indigenous) species introduced accidentally or purposefully to a new environment. These introduced species can have a negative impact on ecosystems because they dominate or compete with native plants. An example of an alien invasive species in the UAE is the crow which preys on bird eggs and can transmit diseases.
IUCN Red List
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) established the Red List of Threatened Species in 1964, an inventory for the conservation status and extinction risk of all biological species. It provides information on the current status, population trends (whether stable, increasing or decreasing), and the threats to the species to raise awareness on threatened biodiversity, influence decision making, and guide action plans to tackle the threats to biodiversity and biodiversity loss as a whole.
Keystone Species
The presence of a particular species crucial to an ecosystem - an absence of it would affect the existence of the ecosystem
Mangroves
Salt-tolerant trees that grow in the shallow tidal waters of some coastal areas. The naturally-occurring species of mangrove (Avicennia marina) found in Abu Dhabi, locally called ‘Qurm’, is a grey or white mangrove.
Marine Debris
Marine debris or marine litter has long been a problem and threat to marine life. Marine mammals, seabirds, and fish die each year from being entangled in or eating marine debris.
Marshes
Soft, wet, low-lying land with grassy vegetation, covered with water.
Migrating
The act of moving from one place to another.
Migratory Species
A significant proportion of a population predictably cross one or more national jurisdictional boundaries. For example, flamingos in the UAE migrate to central Asia in the winter months to escape the desert heat.
Mitigation
Actions which minimize impact on natural ecosystems.
Mudflat
Flat unvegetated wetlands subject to periodic flooding and minor wave action.
Natural Resources
Elements that occur in nature which can be used or consumed by humans.
Nocturnal
The condition of being active or occurring during the night OR The active behavior of an animal or plant during the night (and then inactive during the day).
Overharvesting
Refers to harvesting a renewable or natural resource to the point of diminishing returns or at a rate that is unsustainable, given their natural rates of mortality and capacities for reproduction.
Pollution
The change in the environment caused by natural or artificial input of harmful contaminants into the environment, and may cause instability, disruption or harmful effects to the ecosystem.
Predator
An organism that lives by eating other organisms.
Protected Areas
A recognized geographical space managed through legal means to aid rehabilitation and the protection of habitats and species.
Relocation
To remove a habitat type or individuals of a species from one place to another location.
Renewable Energy
Energy that comes from natural resources which are replenished over a short timeframe such as sunlight, wind, water streams, waves and tides, geothermal heat, and biomass.
Reptile
Any of a class (Reptilia) of cold-blooded, air-breathing, usually egg-laying vertebrates that include the alligators and crocodiles, lizards, snakes and turtles, which is characterized by having lungs, a bony skeleton, scales or horny plates on the body and a heart with a single ventricle and two atria.
Reserves
Fossil fuel and minerals available for extraction.
Sabkha
A flat coastal plain with a salt crust, common in Arabia.
Saltmarsh
Intertidal areas populated by vegetation and shrubs.
Sandy Coastline
Sediment beaches which consist of carbonate sand.
Scrub Area
Area with low trees of inferior quality.
Seagrass
Subtidal areas characterized by greater than 10% cover of rooted vascular seagrass species.
Species
A basic unit of biological classification. Species can be loosely defined as a group of individual organisms similar in appearance, anatomy, physiology, and genetics.
Swamp
Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground filled with water; marshy ground away from the seashore.
Terrestrial
Relating to Earth or land; on or in.
Threatened species
Species vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. In the context of Abu Dhabi, EAD determines and communicates to the IUCN Red List the status of the species.
Threats
An activity or process that has caused, is causing or may cause the destruction, degradation and/or impairment of biodiversity and natural processes.
Vegetation
All plants and trees collectively, typically those in a specific region.
Wadi
A stony valley that is dry. When it rains, it is prone to flash floods.
Webbed
Toes that are united by a membrane/web.
Wetland
A wetland is a place where the land is covered by water, either salt, fresh or somewhere in between. Marshes and ponds, the edge of a lake or ocean, the delta at the mouth of a river, low-lying areas that frequently flood are all wetlands.