Further Information

Glossary

Alien species An alien species is a species introduced outside its normal distribution. Invasive alien species are alien species whose establishment and spread modify ecosystems, habitats, or species.
Biodiversity Biodiversity is a contraction of biological diversity. Biodiversity reflects the number, variety and variability of living organisms. It includes diversity within species (genetic diversity), between species (species diversity), and between ecosystems (ecosystem diversity).

Drivers (of ecosystem change) Any natural or human-induced factor that directly or indirectly causes a change in an ecosystem.
Ecosystem(s) An ecological unit made up of a complex system of interactions between living communities (plants, animal, fungi, and microorganisms) and the environment they live in. Ecosystems have no fixed boundaries; a single lake, a watershed, or an entire region could be considered an ecosystem.

Ecosystem services The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services such as nutrient cycling that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.

Habitat change Change in the local environmental conditions in which a particular organism lives. Habitat change can occur naturally through droughts, disease, fire, hurricanes, mudslides, volcanoes, earthquakes, slight increases or decreases in seasonal temperature or precipitation, etc. However, it is generally induced by human activities such as land use change and physical modification of rivers or water withdrawal from rivers.

Land cover The physical coverage of land, usually expressed in terms of vegetation cover or lack of it. The human use of a piece of land for a certain purpose (such as irrigated agriculture or recreation) influences land cover.

Key documents

Biodiversity Communication. In: European Commission (2006). Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 – and beyond. COM 216. Available from eur-lex.europa.eu

Ecological Footprint. In: WWF International (2005). Europe 2005: The Ecological Footprint. Available from www.footprintnetwork.org

Global Biodiversity Outlook. In: Convention on Biological Diversity (2006). Global Biodiversity Outlook 2. Available from www.biodiv.org/gbo2

Kiev Resolution. In: UN Economic Commission for Europe Committee on Environmental Policy (2003). Declaration by the Environment Ministers at the Fifth Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe”, Kiev, Ukraine, 21-23 May 2003. ECE/CEP/94/Rev.1. Available from www.unece.org/env/proceedings

Living Planet Index. In: WWF (2004). Living Planet Report. Available from www.panda.org/news_facts/publications/general/livingplanet/index.cfm

Message from Malahide. In: Duke, Guy (ed.) (2005). Biodiversity and the EU – Sustaining Life, Sustaining Livelihoods. Conference Report for the Malahide Stakeholder Conference. Available from ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/index_en.htm

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. In: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis. Available from www.millenniumassessment.org

Red List. In: IUCN (2006). Red List of Threatened Species. Available from www.iucnredlist.org

SOER 2005. In: EEA (2005). The European Environment – State and Outlook 2005. Available from eea.europa.eu/highlights/20051122115248