Glossary
- Acid soils
- soil with a pH <7 in a soil–water suspension; acid soils can occur as a consequence of both natural processes and management actions
- Adaptive management
- management approach using planning, action, monitoring and evaluation to provide a continuing source of knowledge about management actions and their effect
- Algal bloom
- a proliferation of microscopic algae in waterways, occurring when excessive amounts nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen enter waterways
- Aquatic macroinvertebrates
- aquatic animals that do not have a backbone but are large enough to be seen without magnification
- Aquifer
- porous underground rock layer that can store water (groundwater) and from which groundwater can be extracted
- AUSRIVAS (Australian River Assessment System)
- a rapid prediction system used to assess the biological health of Australian rivers from 1997 through to 2000
- Baseline
- the starting point from which to assess future measurements
- Best practice
- the most effective way to conduct an activity
- Biodiversity
- the variety of life – includes plants, animals and microorganisms, their genes and ecosystems
- Bush
- the forests, woodlands and grasslands that originally covered the ACT; includes soils, waterways and biodiversity
- Canberra Plan (March 2004)
- plan for the future of the ACT; includes spatial, social and economic aspects
- Carbon economy
- a way of gauging the amount of greenhouse gases produced by a community: a low carbon economy means that fewer gases are produced
- Carbon sequestration
- retaining and storing carbon in the landscape rather than allowing it to escape into the atmosphere (e.g. by retaining it in vegetation or the soil)
- Carbon trading
- a possible way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating a market for both the emissions and emissions reductions, through trading permits to emit greenhouse gases
- Carp
- large freshwater fish native to central Asia and considered a significant pest in Australian waters due to its invasive and destructive characteristics
- Catchment
- area of land that drains all rain falling on it to a single point; may be just one creek or river, or a larger catchment will consist of a number of subcatchments
- Chlorophyll ‘a’
- the green pigment found in plants; used as an indicator of abundance and biomass of phytoplankton in waterways and to measure water quality; levels vary with run-off, light and temperature
- Climate change
- change in long-term weather patterns probably caused by the increase in greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere; in the ACT is likely to manifest as increasing temperatures and frequency of heatwaves, decreased number of cold days and frosts, and altered rainfall patterns
- Community (1)
- a natural aggregate of different species living in the same environment that do not generally interact with species in other communities
- Community (2)
- the people who are part of the landscapes and who, even while they are the main source of pressure on other assets, also have capacity to reduce and repair damage
- Conservation
- protection, maintenance, management, sustainable use, restoration and enhancement of the natural environment
- Conservation reserves
- areas of land and water that have covenants placed on them to protect some or all aspects of their natural state
- Decade of Landcare Program
- Australian Government initiative (initially proposed by the National Farmers’ Federation and Australian Conservation Foundation and launched in 1989) to increase adoption of sustainable land management practices through self help and local community groups
- Ecological community
- all the interacting organisms living in a particular habitat
- Ecological footprint
- measure of resource use sustainability and pollution expressed as the total amount of land needed to support a community’s lifestyle (expressed in hectares per person/jurisdiction)
- Ecosystem
- system of organisms (including people) interacting with each other, the environment in which they live, and the physical, chemical and biological processes inherent in that interaction and the environment
- Ecosystem health
- desired ecosystem conditions; perception of health will vary depending on goals (e.g. production versus biodiversity)
- Edge pressures
- pressures that occur along the boundaries of developed areas – can include incursions of weeds, fire, damage from pets and vehicles
- Endangered
- a specific term adopted under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (ACT) and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) for declaring that a species, population or ecological community is likely to become extinct or in immediate danger of extinction
- Environmental flows
- water released from dams to mimic the natural flow of a river; volumes generally consist of a base flow, smaller and larger floods, and special purpose flows; quality has comparable temperature and chemical characteristics to a natural flow
- Erosion
- loss of soil and other material from the landscape through natural or artificial processes
- Fragmentation
- division of remaining ‘bush’ into smaller areas often to the extent that they are not viable
- Geology
- structure and composition of the Earth
- Grasslands
- native vegetation dominated by grasses and herbs, and with less than 2% crown cover density; naturally include a huge variety of species; in natural grassland tree establishment is constrained by environmental factors such as temperature; derived grasslands occur when tree cover is removed; grasslands of the ACT and region have been cleared and replaced with exotic species or subject to intense grazing and weed invasion
- Greenfield developments
- new urban development on land that is either bush or farmland
- Greenhouse gas
- gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide) that potentially increase the temperature of the atmosphere (and Earth) by preventing loss of excess heat to space; greenhouse gases are emitted from some land uses and clearing, the energy sector, agricultural activities and forestry
- Greenhouse gas (or carbon) offsets
- a way to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions by paying others to undertake emission reduction programs
- Greywater
- waste water from washing machine, shower, bath or basin Gross pollutant traps traps placed across or in waterways to catchlarger rubbish particles (e.g. trash racks and concrete-lined pits into which water and rubbish flow)
- Herbicides
- chemicals used to kill plants
- Hydrocarbon
- oil-based product (e.g. oil, petrol, diesel) that forms a part of the pollutant load in rivers and streams
- Hydrological connectivity
- movement of water, plants and animals, and other material up or down a river, or across the floodplain; reservoirs and dams disrupt the natural flow
- Hydrologic regime
- water movement in a given area – includes rainfall, surface and groundwater flows, evaporation and transpiration
- Integration
- looking at the whole rather than the component parts
- Intergenerational benefits
- benefits that endure for succeeding generations of people
- Key threatening process
- a process that threatens or may threaten the survival, abundance or evolutionary development of a native species or ecological community
- Land tenure
- terms under which land is held (e.g. freehold, leasehold)
- Land
- the substrate on which communities (natural and built) are supported
- Landscape function
- ability of a landscape to use and conserve water and nutrients
- Leasehold
- land tenure where land is occupied under a lease agreement with a state or territory government – all land in the ACT is leasehold
- Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and implementation (MERI)
- a logical way of approaching assessment of natural resources using program logic
- Murray–Darling Basin
- one of Australia’s largest catchments; important for its biodiversity, rural production and water
- Murrumbidgee catchment
- land and waterways draining into the Murrumbidgee River (occupies 84 000 square kilometres)
- NAIDOC week
- a celebration of history culture and achievements of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- National Capital Plan (1990)
- sets out land-use policies for special areas in the ACT, including open spaces such as Lake Burley Griffin and river corridors, and the hills, ridges and bushland; also provides an overall planning framework
- National Reserve System
- a network of protected areas across Australia that conserves examples of natural landscapes, and native plants and animals for future generations; includes national parks, Indigenous lands, reserves run by not-for-profit conservation organisations, and ecosystems protected by landowners on private properties
- Natural Heritage Trust (terminated in 2008)
- Australian Government organisation set up to help restore and conserve Australia’s environment and natural resources; provided funding for environmental activities at community, regional, state/territory and national levels
- Natural resources management
- management of land, water and biodiversity
- Naturalised (plants and animals)
- plants and animals not naturally found in an area but now accepted as part of the natural environment
- Non-renewable energy
- energy (gas/electricity) that comes from nonrenewable sources such as oil, gas or coal rather than renewable sources such as the sun or wind
- Permeability of soil
- ability of soil to allow moisture to enter
- Pesticides
- chemicals used to kill animals (usually invertebrates) and plants
- pH
- measure of acidity and alkalinity using a scale of 1 to 14 (7 is neutral; <7 indicates acidity; >7 indicates alkalinity); soil pH occurs typically between 3.5 and 8.5
- Point source pollution
- pollution that originates from a single defined point (e.g. a building site) rather than from a larger area (e.g. run-off from roads)
- Pollutants
- material that would not normally be found in a particular place – in waterways pollutants can be gross, fine or nutrient
- Pressures
- in state of environment reporting, causes of decline arising from human activity
- Program logic
- systematic, visual way to present a planned program with its underlying assumptions and theoretical framework
- Recharge
- rainfall that drains through the soil, beyond the roots of plants into the groundwater; recharge areas where water can enter and move downward to the groundwater are usually permeable in the upper slopes and are often on shallow soils
- Resilience
- ability to maintain a healthy state under adverse conditions, or to recover from these conditions
- Revegetation
- planting of native plants in areas that have been cleared or highly modified
- Riparian zone
- area between land and water along waterways; plants growing in the riparian zone provide a range of ecosystem services including filtering pollutants, stabilising stream banks and providing animal habitat
- Run-off
- rainfall not immediately absorbed by the soil and thus able to flow across the surface to waterways; also water flowing into waterways after evaporation and transpiration have occurred; includes water that soaks into the earth and is available as groundwater. Surface run-off does not include groundwater
- Salinisation
- process that causes soluble salts to accumulate in the soil due to a change in the water balance; may be natural or anthropogenic; salinity caused by people generally occurs
when rising watertables mobilise salt in the soil - Sediment
- small particles mainly of sand, silt, rock and plant material that have been transported by water and deposited or settled out of suspension
- Sedimentary rocks
- rock formed by compaction of sediments
- SMART (targets)
- natural resource planning targets developed to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound to maximise success rates
- Soil fertility
- ability of a soil to supply the nutrients essential to plant growth
- Soil organic matter
- organic content of the soil; does not include undecayed plant and animal residues
- Species
- group of organisms that are biologically capable of breeding and producing fertile offspring
- Territory Plan
- provides the policy framework for administrative planning, and directs management of land-use change and development so that it is consistent with strategic directions set by the government and community of the ACT
- Threatening processes
- limiting factors that threaten, or may threaten, the survival, abundance or evolutionary development of a native species or ecological community
- Triple bottom line
- a way of measuring or reporting success using social, economic and environmental indicators
- Urban footprint
- area of land that the urban infrastructure occupies (distinct from the ecological footprint)
- Utility easements
- area to be kept free of obstructions on either side of above or below ground infrastructure (e.g. power lines, waste water pipes)
- Vulnerable
- a specific term adopted under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (ACT) and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) for declaration of species, population or ecological community that is likely to become endangered
- Water-sensitive urban design
- development of urban areas so that changes imposed on the natural water cycle are minimised
- Waterway
- any flowing or dry stream, river or watercourse (includes artificial canals and channels)
- Weathering
- decomposition of rocks that eventually results in formation of soil
- Weeds
- plants that require some action to reduce their economic, environmental or social impact; many are invasive; can be native or non-native
- Weed of national significance
- weeds identified because of their invasiveness, socioeconomic and environmental impact, and their potential to spread
- Woodlands
- scattered trees with 10 – 30 % projective foliage cover (crown density of 20 – 50%); open woodland has less than 10% projective foliage
- Y Plan
- plan for general layout of freeway-linked town centres based on the shape of the letter ‘Y’ – Tuggeranong is located at its base, Belconnen and Gungahlin are at the ends of its arms
