ecocide

ecocide (countable and uncountable, plural ecocides)

From eco- + -cide. First used in 1969 by the American plant biologist Arthur Galston to refer to the willful destruction of the environment with Agent Orange.

Two common terms used to characterize injuries to the environment include “geocide” and “ecocide,” terms particularly applicable to rain forest damage because it is irreparable.

[1997, Virginia Journal of International Law, volume 38, page 377:

It has also been suggested that environmental crimes might include the proposed crime of ‘ecocide’ or ‘geocide’, with proponents of this view attempting to draw parallels between destructive acts towards the environment and those against the qualifying groups for genocide. […] [M]any who advocate for the creation of either ecocide or geocide principally argue that the best place to try such crimes is through an apparatus created in a separate and environment-oriented treaty.

2013, Alexandra R. Harrington, “The Crime of Aggression and Threats to the Future”, in Sébastien Jodoin, Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, editors, Sustainable Development, International Criminal Justice, and Treaty Implementation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 161–162:

The funeral is the culmination of Extinction Rebellion’s actions at London fashion week. They also staged a die-in outside one of the show venues on Friday and a swarm outside Victoria Beckham’s show on Sunday, with protesters holding placards reading “fashion = ecocide” and “the ugly truth about fashion”.

2019 September 17, Lauren Cochrane, “Extinction Rebellion stage funeral at London fashion week finale”, in The Guardian:

The complete destruction of an ecosystem due to human activities, such as due to exploitation of resources, nuclear warfare, or the dumping of harmful chemicals.


anthropization

(ecology) The transformation or adaptation of the environment to meet the needs of humans, or by human activity.


detritivorous

en-adj

detritivorous (comparative more detritivorous, superlative most detritivorous)

more detritivorous (comparative)
most detritivorous (superlative)

/ˌdɛtɹəˈtɪvəɹəs/

(ecology) That feeds on detritus; saprophagous


detritivore

/dɛˈtɹaɪtɪvɔː/

/dəˈtɹaɪtəvɔɹ/

From German Detritivore, from Latin dētrītus (“the act of rubbing away”) (from dēterō (“to rub away, to rub off, to wear out”), from dē- (“away; down”) + terō (“to rub; to wear away, to wear out”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, to rub by twisting; to twist, to turn”)) + Latin vorāre (from vorō (“to devour, to eat greedily; to swallow up”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour”)). Analyzable as detritus + -i- + -vore.

der

Termites are herbivores and detritivores variously involved in the comminution and decomposition of vegetable matter, through most of the warm temperate and tropical zones.

1978, J. P. La Fage, W. L. Nutting, “Nutrient Dynamics of Termites”, in M. V. Brian, editor, Production Ecology of Ants and Termites (International Biological Programme; 13), Cambridge, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 165:

If one has sound data for microbial biomass dynamics in decaying litter, along with identities of the decomposer fungi, then one can make useful projections and hypotheses regarding nutrient flow, environmental controls on decay rates, and potential detritivore production founded upon basic knowledge of the properties of fungal species and their interactions with other microbes and animals[…].

1992, Steven Y. Newell, “Estimating Fungal Biomass and Productivity in Decomposing Litter”, in George C. Carroll, Donald T. Wicklow, editors, The Fungal Community: Its Organization and Role in the Ecosystem (Mycology; 9), 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Marcel Dekker, →ISBN, page 521:

Fish are represented at several trophic levels in aquatic systems, from detritivore and herbivore to carnivore.

1992, S. J. Ormerod, “Effects on Aquatic Ecosystems”, in M[iroslav] Radojević, R[oy] M. Harrison, editors, Atmospheric Acidity: Sources, Consequences and Abatement (Environmental Management Series), Barking, Essex: Elsevier Science, →ISBN, page 382:

Others are detritivores (i.e. they feed off organic detritus), such as some pteropods.

2014, Louis Legendre, “Pelagic Marine Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Cycles”, in André Monaco, Patrick Prouzet, editors, Ecosystem Sustainability and Global Change (Seas and Oceans), London: ISTE Ltd.; Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 46:

, detritus feeder (“saprophage”)

(ecology) An organism that feeds on detritus; a detrivore, a saprophage.


allelochemical

(biochemistry, ecology) Having allelopathic effects.


regrowing

(agriculture, ecology) The self-cultivation of vegetables by city dwellers, using flower pots and windowsills, growing them from roots, cuttings, and scraps, for recycling and sustainable living.


disperser

Nesting data from dispersers and nondispersers came from the same set of colonies and were thus directly comparable.

1996, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Coloniality in the Cliff Swallow:

Ants are integral components of terrestrial ecosystems, owing to their manifold interactions with other organisms. They serve as seed dispersers for plants (myrmecochory), mutualists with sap-sucking insects (trophobionts), and hosts for a wide range of associate organisms (myrmecophiles) and act as both predator and prey.

2022 September 19, Schultheiss et al., “The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, page 1, column 1:

(ecology) An organism that disperses something, such as seeds, in the environment.


antifeedant

(ecology) That inhibits normal feeding behaviour.


resuspension

en-noun

resuspension (countable and uncountable, plural resuspensions)

/ˌɹiːsəˈspɛnʃən/

After seven centrifugings and resuspensions, the chloride is reduced to less than 5 mgm. per cent.

1938, American Journal of Physiology, volume 122, page 227:

As a Government Office for Science report says: "Non-exhaust particulate matter emissions (e.g. tyre wear, brake wear and road dust resuspension) account for approximately 50%-60% of the vehicle emissions that contribute to poor air quality."

2020 September 9, Anthony Lambert, “Winning passengers back: Getting the public on board...”, in Rail, page 43:

(ecology, chemistry, physics) The renewed suspension of a precipitated sediment, such as stirring up settled mud at the bottom of a body of water.


hypoxic

en-adj

hypoxic (comparative more hypoxic, superlative most hypoxic)

more hypoxic (comparative)
most hypoxic (superlative)

Dead zones are hypoxic areas in the world's oceans and large lakes.

(ecology, especially bodies of water) Exhibiting hypoxia.


anthropophyte

From anthropo- (“human”) + -phyte (“plant”).

(ecology) A plant introduced into a new habitat by humans


apophyte

From apo- (“away from; lacking”) + -phyte (“plant”).

confix

(ecology, botany) Any native plant growing in disturbed land, such as in an abandoned field


ecophagy

The consuming of ecosystems by nanotechnology that has gone awry.


coevolution

en-noun

coevolution (usually uncountable, plural coevolutions)

These species breed in a variety of both terrestrial and marine snails, although there is no obvious pattern of coevolution.

2005, “Revision of New World Species of Shore Fly Genus Discomyza Meigen (Diptera: Ephydridae)”, in Annals of the Entomological Society of America^(http://dx.doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746(2005)098%5B0431:RONWSO%5D2.0.CO;2), volume 98, number 4, page 431:

(ecology, evolutionary theory) The evolution of organisms of two or more species in which each adapts to changes in the other.


scrubland

scrubland (countable and uncountable, plural scrublands)

The scrubland I'd be crossing looked desolate, but at least it wasn't a desert.

New lakes had appeared as if by magic in the arid scrublands. Instead of hunting for puddles in the sandstone, she could lead her 100 animals to drink their fill.

2006 November 20, Judy Pasternak, “Oases in Navajo Desert Contained 'A Witch's Brew'”, in Los Angeles Times:

It was then a further 21 years until the construction of Bramley Ordnance Depot (which became Central Ammunition Depot from 1946) began on an area of scrubland just south of the village.

2025 January 12, Chris Hegg, “The secret railway in the woods”, in RAIL, number 948, page 34:

A plant community characterized by scrub vegetation, consisting of low shrubs, mixed with grasses, herbs, and geophytes.


heathland

heathland (countable and uncountable, plural heathlands)

From heath + land. Compare Saterland Frisian Heedelound (“heathland”).

cog

A tract of scrubland habitats characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, found on mainly infertile acidic soils. Similar to moorland but with warmer and drier climate.


biomonitoring

en-noun

biomonitoring (countable and uncountable, plural biomonitorings)

(ecology) The monitoring of the organisms that live in a particular environment in order to assess the continuing quality of the ecosystem


chemodynamics

(ecology) The study of the dynamic changes that take place in the environment as a result of reaction between natural and man-made compounds, especially by pollutants


resuspend

en-verb

resuspend (third-person singular simple present resuspends, present participle resuspending, simple past and past participle resuspended)

resuspends (present singular third-person)
resuspending (participle present)
resuspended (participle past)
resuspended (past)

(ecology, chemistry, physics) To undergo (or cause to undergo) resuspension.


land degradation

(ecology) The decline in the overall quality of soil, water or vegetation condition commonly caused by human activities.

土地退化

decline in the overall quality of soil, water or vegeatation


ectomycorrhiza

en-noun

ectomycorrhiza (plural ectomycorrhizae or ectomycorrhizas)

ectomycorrhizae (plural)
ectomycorrhizas (plural)

(ecology) A form of mycorrhiza consisting of a sheath of fungus around the root tips of the symbiotic plant.


brushy

en-adj

brushy (comparative brushier, superlative brushiest)

brushier (comparative)
brushiest (superlative)

It [a dormouse] dipped its brushy tail (somewhat resembling that of a fox) into the dish, and carried the milk in this manner to the mouth.

1825 November 9, John Murray, “Art X.—1. On the Unequal Distribution of Caloric in Voltaic Action. 2. On the Temperature of the Skin of the Dormouse. 3. On the Temperature of the Egg of the Hen, in relation to its Physiology. By John Murray, F.S.A. F.L.S. & M.W.S. Communicated by the Author.”, in The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal [...] October 1. 1825 to April 1. 1826, volume XIV, number XXVII, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable & Co. Edinburgh; and Hurst, Robinson & Co. London, published January 1826, →OCLC, page 61:

The northern variety living in the forests of New South Wales and Queensland have smaller ears, shorter feet and a longer, brushier tail than those in the Victorian woods to the south.

2002 December 10, David Derbyshire, “New possum species found in Australia”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 2016-02-29:

Having a similar texture to a fox’s tail; brushlike, bushy.

рошав

Having a similar texture to a fox's tail

Throughout much of northern Alaska, tundra is becoming brushier and giving way to forest. As tundra diminishes, animals that depend on it for food or nesting habitat—caribou and many birds—are likely to lose out.

2004 summer, Bill Sherwonit, “Alaskan meltdown: On the frontlines of climate change”, in National Parks, Washington, D.C.: National Parks and Conservation Association, →ISSN, page 27:

Of the countryside: having thick vegetation, taller than grass but shorter than trees; having abundant brush; shrubby.


mesophyllic

mesophyllic (comparative more mesophyllic, superlative most mesophyllic)

more mesophyllic (comparative)
most mesophyllic (superlative)


serotinal

/sɪˈɹɒtɪnəl/

/ˌsɛɹəˈtaɪnəl/

/səˈɹɑtɪnəl/

/ˌsɛɹəˈtaɪnəl/

From serotine + -al (suffix forming adjectives).

affix

The psoraleas, prairie clovers and blazing stars would probably occur to all us among the most the most abundant of the secondary species in the vernal, estival and serotinal aspects of the prairies respectively.

1898 June 15, Roscoe Pound, Frederic E[dward] Clements, “A Method of Determining the Abundance of Secondary Species”, in Conway MacMillan, editor, Minnesota Botanical Studies: Reports of the Survey and Bulletin of the Department (Botanical Series; IV), volume II, Minneapolis, Minn.: Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, →OCLC, page 19:

Whenever societies are well developed, they regularly manifest a fairly definite seasonal sequence, producing what have long been known as aspects[…]. As phenomena of the growing season, these were first distinguished as early spring or prevernal, vernal proper, estival, and serotinal or autumnal, but there may also be a hiemal aspect, especially for animals, in correspondence with an actual and not merely a calendar winter as in California.

1936, Frederic E[dward] Clements, “Nature and Structure of the Climax”, in A[rthur] G[eorge] Tansley, editor, Journal of Ecology, volume XXIV, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press [for the British Ecological Society], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 276:

My knuckles and my bony wrists / show early signs of drying out; / […] / The night condenses into me, allays / the bonds of my serotinal blight. / Count Dracula and I share in this flight: / we seek moist shadows underneath the quays, / in marrow-darkness bid our bodies twist.

1983, Philip K. Jason, “Body Language”, in Near the Fire: Poems, Takoma Park, Md.: Dryad Press, →ISBN, stanza 2, page 67:

In these population dynamic trends obvious differences exist between the aestival and serotinal aspects.

1986, Acta Entomologica Bohemoslovaca, volume 83, Prague: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 114:

Botanists use the word serotinous to describe late-blossoming, and serotinal refers to the late-summer season of the year, especially used in descriptions of life-histories of freshwater organisms[…].

[1995, Robert J. Whelan, “Survival of Individual Organisms”, in The Ecology of Fire (Cambridge Studies in Ecology), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 96:

Cutting across the wide range of seasonal systems in different countries, ecologists have their own more-or-less universal system, at least in temperate regions, for describing animal behaviour. There are six of these ecological seasons, […] Late summer, serotinal, is from mid-February to mid-March, still in my summer but breaking into Vivaldi autumn. […] [I]t doesn't gel with me as a way of tracking the seasonal changes here in Australia.

2014, Timothy J. Entwisle, “Sprummer, the Cranky One”, in Sprinter and Sprummer: Australia’s Changing Seasons, Collingwood, Melbourne, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, page 77:

can we let all of this short life's / vestigial metaphors fade away. Prepare ourselves / the taking for granted of most everything – start our disservice to memory / and bid adieu to the old melancholy of the serotinal dusk.

2014, Juan-Paolo Perre, “Águas de Março: Elis Regina & Tom Jobim”, in A Confederacy of Joy: Poems (The Legacy Poetry Prize Series), Los Angeles, Calif.; London: Siena Press, →ISBN, part V, page 97:

With the warm, serotinal weather continuing in September, the deserted beaches become a poignantly vacant stage for summer's last drama, its decline.

2019, Christopher Dewdney, “Apollo’s Chariot: The Seasons”, in 18 Miles: The Epic Drama of the Atmosphere and Its Weather, London: Bloomsbury Sigma, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 186:

(often ecology) Occurring in or pertaining to late summer.

myöhäiskesäinen

pertaining to or occurring in late summer


bioenvironmental

en-adj

bioenvironmental (comparative more bioenvironmental, superlative most bioenvironmental)

more bioenvironmental (comparative)
most bioenvironmental (superlative)

Of or pertaining to the interactions between the environment and living organisms


panmixia

From New Latin panmixia, from Ancient Greek παν- (pan-, “every, all”) + μίξις (míxis, “mixing, mingling”) + Latin -ia.

(ecology) A situation in which an individual is just as likely to mate with a randomly chosen individual as any other in the population.


phytoremediation

(biochemistry) bioremediation by the use of plants


phytosociology

(ecology) The study of the ecology, classification and distribution of plant communities

phytosociologie

the study of the ecology, classification and distribution of plant communities


ergasiophyte

Ancient Greek ἐργᾰσίᾱ (ergăsíā, “work, production”) + -phyte (“plant”)

uder

(ecology) Any plant deliberately introduced to a region for cultivation.


entophyte

From ento- (“inside”) + -phyte (“plant”).

(ecology) Any plant or fungus growing as a parasite within another organism


entomophyte

From entomo- (“insect”) + -phyte (“plant”).

(ecology) Any plant growing as a parasite within an insect or its larva


emophyte

(ecology) Any plant that grows completely submerged.


chomophyte

Ancient Greek χῶμα (khôma, “heaped earth”) + -phyte (“plant”)

(botany) Any plant that grows in rock fissures or crevices.


calciphyte

From calci- (“calcium”) + -phyte (“plant”).


benthophyte

From bentho- (“related to the benthos (flora and fauna of the deep)”) + -phyte (“plant”).

confix

(ecology) Any plant that grows on the bed of a river or other body of water


antophyte

From anto- (“flower”) + -phyte (“plant”).


anecophyte

From an- (“not”) + eco- (“environment”) + -phyte (“plant”).

(ecology) Any plant found only in human-created habitats


kairomone

Blend of Ancient Greek καιρός (kairós, “advantage; profit”, noun) + English pheromone, coined in the 1970 article “Allomones and Kairomones: Transspecific Chemical Messengers” by the American geneticist William Lacy Brown, Jr. (1913–1991), the German-American ecologist and entomologist Thomas Eisner (1929–2011), and the American ecologist Robert Harding Whittaker (1920–1980) which was published in BioScience: see the quotation.

lbor

Among these substances, we propose to designate two major functional groupings by the terms allomone and kairomone, chosen as intentional parallels to the term pheromone.

[1970 January, William L[acy] Brown, Jr., Thomas Eisner, Robert H[arding] Whittaker, “Allomones and Kairomones: Transspecific Chemical Messengers”, in BioScience, volume 20, number 1, Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Biological Sciences, →DOI, →ISSN, page 21:

Host‐finding by the parasitic wasp Orgilus lepidus, a braconid parasite, is mediated by two kairomones present in the frass of the host insect, the potato tuberworm.

1973 December, L. B. Hendry, P. D. Greany, R. J. Gill, “Kairomone Mediated Host‐finding Behavior in the Parasitic Wasp Orgilus lepidus”, in Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, volume 16, number 4, Amsterdam: Nederlandse Entomologische Vereniging [Netherlands Entomological Society], →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, abstract, page 471:

Mutillids apparently use odour signals (kairomones) while actively running in suitable locations for finding such hosts, and must spend much time searching, with little prospect of finding numerous hosts.

2000 August, D. J. Brothers, G[unther] Tschuch, F. Burger, “Associations of Mutillid Wasps (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) with Eusocial Insects”, in Insectes Sociaux, volume 47, Heidelberg: Birkhäuser Verlag for the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 201–211:

(biochemistry, ecology) Any substance produced by an individual of one species (often an insect) that benefits the recipient which is of a different species but is harmful to the producer.

kairomona

any substance produced by an individual of one species that benefits the recipient which is of a different species but is harmful to the producer


ecotype

From eco- + type, coined by Swedish botanist Göte Turesson in 1922 and modeled on the earlier ecospecies.

coinage

These four Japanese introductions probably were of the Japonica ecotype.

1995, C. Wayne Smith, Crop Production: Evolution, History, and Technology, page 234:

She collected rhizomes of two ecotypes, a northern ecotype originally from Yellowstone County, Montana, and a southern ecotype from an agricultural field near Hollister, California.

1997, Steven R. Radosevich, Jodie S. Holt, Claudio Ghersa, Weed Ecology: Implications for Management, page 78:

The more interesting question is, What is the difference between an endemic and an ecotype?

1997, Mark R. Macnair, “The evolution of plants in metal-contaminated environments”, in Rudolf Bijlsma, Volker Loeschcke, editors, Environmental Stress, Adaptation, and Evolution, page 19:

(ecology) A phenotype that is adapted to a specific environment.


threatened species

en-noun

threatened species (plural threatened species)

(ecology) Any species of organism that is vulnerable to extinction in the near future


trophic cascade

trophic cascade (plural trophic cascades)

(ecology) The secondary disruptions that go cascading through a system from which a keystone species has been removed.


keystone species

keystone species (plural keystone species)

Megafauna are called ʻkeystone speciesʼ because when they become extinct the entire arch of the ecosystem can collapse.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 227:

(ecology) A species that exerts a large, stabilizing influence throughout an ecological community, despite its relatively small numerical abundance.


rhizobacterium

This study aimed to find out the effect of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR; Azospirillum brasilense and Azotobacter vinelandii) either alone or in combination with different doses of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers on growth, seed yield, and oil quality of Brassica carinata (L.) cv. Peela Raya.

2013 October 4, Asia Nosheen, Asghari Bano, Faizan Ullah, “Bioinoculants: A sustainable approach to maximize the yield of Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata L.) under low input of chemical fertilizers”, in Toxicology and Industrial Health, →DOI, →PMID, Abstract:

(ecology) Any bacterium that has a symbiotic relationship with legumes via its rhizomes


commensalism

commensalism (countable and uncountable, plural commensalisms)

(ecology) A sharing of the same environment by two organisms where one species benefits and the other is unaffected. An example is barnacles on whales.


ecesis

From Ancient Greek οἴκισις (oíkisis, “colonization”).

uder

(ecology) The process of successful establishment of a plant or animal species in a habitat that was barren previously/ or was left barren due to some catastrophe.


monomictic

From Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “alone, single”) + μίξις (míxis, “mixing, mingling”). By surface analysis, mono- + -mictic.

(limnology, of a lake) Having layers of water that intermix only once per year.


aposymbiotic

en-adj

aposymbiotic (comparative more aposymbiotic, superlative most aposymbiotic)

more aposymbiotic (comparative)
most aposymbiotic (superlative)

(ecology) Of or pertaining to aposymbiosis


aposymbiosis

en-noun

aposymbiosis (countable and uncountable, plural aposymbioses)

(ecology) A form of symbiosis in which two species live independently of each other, but their life cycles affect one another.


chemosymbiosis

chemosymbiosis (countable and uncountable, plural chemosymbioses)

(ecology) A form of symbiosis in which a bacterium provides chemically-derived energy and nutrients, often via the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide, to a higher organism


ectosymbiont

(ecology) A partner in a symbiotic relationship that remains on the surface of its host or occupies a body cavity


ectosymbiosis

(ecology) A form of symbiosis in which a partner (the ectosymbiont) remains on the surface of its host


endobiont

(ecology) Any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism


endomycorrhiza

endomycorrhiza (plural endomycorrhizas or endomycorrhizae)

endomycorrhizas (plural)
endomycorrhizae (plural)

(ecology) A form of mycorrhiza in which the hyphae of the fungus penetrate the root cells.


epibiont

(ecology) Any organism that lives on the surface of another living organism


macroecology

(ecology) The study of spatially large ecosystems


paleoecology

paleoecology (countable and uncountable, plural paleoecologies)

The ecology of the ancient past and of extinct organisms


coral bleaching

coral bleaching (usually uncountable, plural coral bleachings)

(ecology) The loss of colour in a coral reef due to the loss of symbiotic algae as a result of stress.


wild type

(biology, ecology) The typical form of an organism, strain, gene or characteristic as it occurs in nature.

(biology, Mendelian) The phenotype of the dominant allele (heterozygous genotype or homozygous dominant genotype).


multitrophic

en-adj

multitrophic (comparative more multitrophic, superlative most multitrophic)

more multitrophic (comparative)
most multitrophic (superlative)

(ecology) Involving species of different trophic levels of the same food chain


outcompete

en-verb

outcompete (third-person singular simple present outcompetes, present participle outcompeting, simple past and past participle outcompeted)

outcompetes (present singular third-person)
outcompeting (participle present)
outcompeted (participle past)
outcompeted (past)

It shows the peahens that the peacock is strong. And it shows other males that this peacock can outstrut, outfly, outcourt, and generally outcompete them.

2014, Bill Nye, Corey S. Powell, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation:

While individual Neanderthals were perhaps as inquisitive, imaginative and creative as individual Sapiens, superior networking enabled Sapiens to swiftly outcompete Neanderthals.

2020 November 7, Yuval Noah Harari, “At Home With Our Ancient Cousins, the Neanderthals”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Grey squirrels are an invasive species in the UK, introduced from North America in the 1870s. They pose a problem for wildlife including endangered red squirrels, which they outcompete.

2022 July 11, Helena Horton, “Oral contraceptives could help reduce grey squirrel numbers, research finds”, in The Guardian:

To be more successful than a competitor; especially to thrive in the presence of an organism that is competing for resources.

udkonkurrere

be much more successful than a competitor


biogeophysical

the biogeophysical effects of land use

(ecology) Of or pertaining to the composite of biological, geological, and physical processes operating in an area


dimictic

From Ancient Greek δίς (dís, “twice”) + μίξις (míxis, “mixing, mingling”). By surface analysis, di- + -mictic.

(limnology, of a lake) Having two thermal overturns per year.


softwater

a softwater lake

(limnology) Having water with few electrolytes


herptile

From herpetology (and similar words), by blending with reptile.

Of all the vertebrates, the herptiles (reptiles and amphibians), mammals and birds predominate in terrestrial grassland ecosystems.

1980, L. D. Harris, G. B. Bowman, “Vertebrate predator subsystem, chapter 6”, in Alicja I. Breymeyer, George M. Van Dyne, editors, Grasslands, systems analysis, and man, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 592:

Because of the higher primary and secondary productivity in treatment wetlands compared to natural wetlands, herptile populations and all other higher consumer groups are frequently abundant.

1996, Robert H. Kadlec, Robert Lee Knight, Treatment Wetlands: Theory and Implementation, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 169:

Forty vertebrates [=forty vertebrate species] of concern, including 13 mammals, 17 birds, and 10 herptiles, were selected for analysis (Table 19-3).

2008, Mary M. Rowland, Michael J. Wisdom, “Habitat Networks for Terrestrial Wildlife: Concepts and Case Studies, chapter 19”, in Joshua J. Millspaugh, Frank R. Thompson, III, editors, Models for Planning Wildlife Conservation in Large Landscapes, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 516:

(zoology, chiefly ecology) A reptile or amphibian.


agrosystem

An agrosystem consists of plant roots, the soil microflora, the soil fauna and the abiotic geochemical soil matrix.

1994, G.J. Bethlenfalvay, H. Schuepp, “Arbuscular mycorrhizas and agrosystem stability”, in Gianninazzi & Schuepp, editors, Impact of Arbuscular Mycorrhizas on Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Ecosystems, →ISBN, page 117:


ectomycorrhizal

An exogenous supply of glucose has been shown to support ectomycorrhizal infection in a range of species.

1997, Christine H Foyer, W Paul Quick, A Molecular Approach to Primary Metabolism in Higher Plants:

(ecology) Of or pertaining to ectomycorrhizae.


pseudoreplication

en-noun

pseudoreplication (countable and uncountable, plural pseudoreplications)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pseudoreplication.wav

There are two kinds of pseudoreplication: / temporal pseudoreplication, involving repeated measurements from the same individual, and / spatial pseudoreplicaiton, involving several measurements taken from the same vicinity.

2005, Michael J. Crawley, Statistics: an introduction using R, page 13:

(statistics, especially in, biology, ecology) The exaggeration of the statistical significance of a set of measurements resulting from treating the data as independent observations when they are in fact interdependent.


microsite

Near-synonyms: microhabitat, microenvironment

This species was found only in the microsite at the foot of the bluff.

(ecology) A small area with distinctive ecological characteristics.


stenophagous

Wood warblers are generally rather stenophagous, as the biologists say.

1988 November 25, Jerry Sullivan, “Field & Street”, in Chicago Reader:

(ecology) Feeding on a limited variety of food.


euryphagous

en-adj

euryphagous (comparative more euryphagous, superlative most euryphagous)

more euryphagous (comparative)
most euryphagous (superlative)

Yellow-rumped warblers are euryphagous.

(ecology) Feeding on a large variety of food.


ecotone

Combination of eco- (“ecology”) + -tone, from the Greek τόνος (tónos, “tension”).

A transition area between two adjacent ecological communities (ecosystems).


bioclimosequence

(ecology) A bioclimatic sequence of ecosystems


periphyton

en-noun

periphyton (countable and uncountable, plural periphytons)

Indeed, the tight coupling of As(V) reduction/As(III) oxidation has been seen in periphyton samples and salt-saturated anoxic sediments from Searles Lake.

2009 January 30, R. S. Oremland et al., Science:

(ecology) A mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems.


agroecology

agroecology (countable and uncountable, plural agroecologies)


cryoregime

(ecology) A permanently cold environment


eutrophicate

en-verb

eutrophicate (third-person singular simple present eutrophicates, present participle eutrophicating, simple past and past participle eutrophicated)

eutrophicates (present singular third-person)
eutrophicating (participle present)
eutrophicated (participle past)
eutrophicated (past)

From eutrophic + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

(ecology, intransitive) To become eutrophic.

(ecology, transitive) To cause to become eutrophic.


sylvatic

From Latin sylvāticus. See sylvan. Doublet of savage.

Because arthropod-borne viruses, or arboviruses, can be spread by competent mosquito vectors across great distances, they pose substantial risk to other regions in which the disease is currently nonendemic. Zoonotic arboviruses circulate in sylvatic and peridomestic cycles involving wild animals and nearby humans. Often these arboviruses remain undetected by health care systems. Kenya has had multiple arbovirus outbreaks in the past 2 decades resulting in economic and public health distress, including yellow fever, chikungunya fever, and Rift Valley fever.

2011 Desiree LaBeaud et al: Arbovirus Prevalence in Mosquitoes, Kenya. Journal: Emerging Infectious Diseases - Volume 17, Issues 1-6 - Page 233

(ecology) Of or pertaining to woods or woodland organisms; sylvan


thicketization

(ecology) An increase in the numbers of woody plants in a savanna or similar environment.


renaturalization

From this point of view, this research discusses the integration of damaged riverine systems into socio-economic and ecological systems in urban areas through renaturalization processes with a focus on providing mutual benefits for both nature and mankind and supporting sustainability and integrity of each system.

2017, Meltem Delibas, Azime Tezer, “'Stream Daylighting' as an approach for the renaturalization of riverine systems in urban areas: Istanbul-Ayamama Stream case”, in Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology, volume 17, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN:

(ecology) The act of restoring the natural environment in an area.

renaturation

(ecology) the act of restoring the natural environment in an area


supraorganism

(biology, ecology) A system of multiple organisms that may be considered a single organism, such as an insect colony, or an organism with endosymbionts.


metatranscriptomics

(genetics, ecology) A branch of transcriptomics that studies, and correlates, the transcriptomes of a group of interacting organisms or species


metapopulation

(ecology) A group of interacting populations of the same species.

metapopulatie

a group of interacting populations of the same species


detrivore

(ecology) Any organism that feeds on detritus; a detritivore, a saprophyte.


annidation

From Latin ad (“to”) and nidus (“nest”).
Coined by German biologist and university teacher Wilhelm Ludwig in 1950 as "a fifth evolutionary factor".

coin

Flax grew more rapidly and matured earlier than linseed and this difference in timing of growth led to annidation.

(ecology) The adaptation of the various genotypes to different ecological niches, such as where a mutant form of a species is maintained in a population because it can flourish in a way that the parent organisms cannot.


stenotopic

en-adj

stenotopic (comparative more stenotopic, superlative most stenotopic)

more stenotopic (comparative)
most stenotopic (superlative)

(ecology) Able to tolerate or adapt to only a small range of environmental conditions


soil pollution

Hookworm disease is closely associated with the soil. It may fairly be considered an infection the result of soil pollution.

1913, Milton Joseph Rosenau, Preventive medicine and hygiene, D. Appleton and Company, published 1914, page 688:

The major kinds of soil pollution are:
Acidification,
Salinisation and sodification,
Agrochemical pollution
Contamination by metalliferous water

2006, S. V. S. Rana, Environmental pollution: health and toxicology, Alpha Science International, Ltd., p. 89

The pollution of soil, for example by sewage or toxic chemicals.


green water

(ecology) Water, mostly from rain, that replenishes the water lost by evaporation or respiration from forests.


pleuston

From Ancient Greek πλεῦσις (pleûsis, “sailing”), from πλέω (pléō).

der

They^([Cnidarians]) are also the dominant organisms of the marine pleuston, providing food or substrate for a variety of other invertebrates living at the air-water interface[…].

1974, G. O. Mackie, “VIII: Location, Flotation and Dispersal”, in Leonard Muscatine, Howard M. Lenhoff, editors, Coelenterate Biology: Reviews and New Perspectives, Academic Press, page 313:

These animals form the pleuston. Zaitsev (1971) differentiates between the neuston and the pleuston, while admitting that the distinction may be somewhat blurred. Both populations are associated with the surface film. That part of a pleuston animal which projects above the water surface can withstand prolonged desiccation and exposure to direct sunlight.

1983, John E. G. Raymont, James Dennis Burton, Keith R. Dyer, Plankton and Productivity in the Oceans: Zooplankton, Pergamon Press, page 9:

(ecology) The organisms that live floating at the surface of water.


litterfall

en-noun

litterfall (usually uncountable, plural litterfalls)

Litterfall is provided for as long as the mature forest exists.

2008, Masami Miyaki, Koichi Kaji, “Shift to Litterfall as Year-Round Forage for Sika Deer after a Population Crash”, in Sika Deer, page 186:

(ecology, usually uncountable) Plant material that falls to the ground, such as leaves from trees.

The remaining forest types had similar mean litterfalls ranging from 3333 to 6484 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹

1986, K.A. Vogt et al., “Production, turnover, and nutrient dynamics of above- and belowground detritus of world forests”, in Advances in Ecological Research, volume 15, page 315:

(ecology, countable) The total mass of plant material falling to the ground per unit area, or the mass collected at a specific site.

Streufallmasse

mass of fallen plant material per unit area


bionanosystem

(biology, ecology) A biological nanosystem


heterotopia

heterotopia (countable and uncountable, plural heterotopias)

/ˌhɛt(ə)ɹəˈtəʊpiə/

/ˌhɛtəɹəˈtoʊpiə/

(ecology) The occurrence of an organism in a number of different habitats


equitability

equitability (usually uncountable, plural equitabilities)

ĕ'kwĭtəbĭʹlĭtĭ

/ˌɛkwɪtəˈbɪlɪtɪ/

(ecology) The extent of the representation by equal numbers of individuals of the different species of a given community.


density dependence

density dependence (plural density dependences)

(ecology) Regulation of population growth by mechanisms controlled by the size of the population; especially the curtailment of growth by crowding, predators and competition


arboricolous

en-adj

arboricolous (comparative more arboricolous, superlative most arboricolous)

more arboricolous (comparative)
most arboricolous (superlative)

(ecology) That grows on, or lives in, trees.


avicolous

avicolous (comparative more avicolous, superlative most avicolous)

more avicolous (comparative)
most avicolous (superlative)


coprophilic

coprophilic (comparative more coprophilic, superlative most coprophilic)

more coprophilic (comparative)
most coprophilic (superlative)

(chiefly ecology) Enjoying contact with excrement.


biomonitor

(biology, ecology) Any organism that provides quantitative information on the quality of its environment.


geoecology

(geography, ecology) The interdisciplinary study of geography and ecology


zooparasite

Any organism that is parasitic to an animal


intertidal zone

en-noun

intertidal zone (plural intertidal zones)

(oceanography) The part of a shore between high water and low water, especially the beach exposed at maximum ebb spring tides.


endobenthic

(ecology) That lives within the sediment on the seafloor


socioecology

(sociology, ecology) The use of techniques of sociology in the field of ecology.


panmixis

From New Latin panmixis, from Ancient Greek παν- (pan-, “every, all”) + μίξις (míxis, “mixing, mingling”).


biodiversification

(ecology) The process of establishing and developing biodiversity


metatranscriptome

From meta- + transcriptome or metatranscript + -ome.

(genetics, ecology) The transcriptome of a group of interacting organisms or species


microdiversity

microdiversity (countable and uncountable, plural microdiversities)

(ecology) The diversity of phylogenetically closely related but physiologically distinct populations of bacteria


revegetate

en-verb

revegetate (third-person singular simple present revegetates, present participle revegetating, simple past and past participle revegetated)

revegetates (present singular third-person)
revegetating (participle present)
revegetated (participle past)
revegetated (past)

(transitive, chiefly ecology) To produce new vegetation on (a barren ground or area); to colonize (barren ground).


parabiosis

en-noun

parabiosis (countable and uncountable, plural parabioses)

(ecology, ethology) A form of symbiosis, typically among ants, in which different species share common nest galleries but maintain distinct broods and do not practice mutualism other than incidentally.


zoochory

/ˈzəʊəˌkɔːɹi/

/ˈzuːəˌkɔːɹi/

The dispersal of seeds, spores, or fruit by animals.


anthropochory

anthropochorie

the dispersal of seeds, spores, or fruit by humans.

(ecology) The (typically inadvertent) dispersal of seeds, spores, or other reproductive botanical material, or of reproductively capable animals, by humans as a routine means of reproductive dispersal of that species.

Stephenson stressed the importance of anthropochory in earthworm dispersal. Human introductions, either intentional or unconscious, play a key role in earthworm invasions, as is well demonstrated by the presence of European Lumbricidae in North America, Asia, New Zealand

2006, Juhani Terhivuo, Anssi Saura, "Dispersal and clonal diversity of North-European parthenogenetic earthworms", in Paul F. Hendrix, Biological Invasions Belowground: Earthworms as Invasive Species (2008), Springer, isbn: 978-1-4020-5429-7, page 15

(ecology) The (typically inadvertent and sporadic) dispersal by humans, of seeds, spores, or other reproductive botanical material, or of reproductively capable animals, into a region where they do not natively occur, resulting in adventitious anthropochorous establishment of an alien population if successful.


autochory

(ecology) Self-dispersal of seeds, the physical and often explosive discharge of seeds from the fruit.


epizoochory

(ecology) Seed dispersal via transportation on the outside of vertebrate animals (mostly mammals).

эпизоохория

seed dispersal via transportation on the outside of vertebrate animals


ornithochory

(biology, ecology) The dispersal of seeds by birds


mesopsammic

en-adj

mesopsammic (comparative more mesopsammic, superlative most mesopsammic)

more mesopsammic (comparative)
most mesopsammic (superlative)

Therefore, the researches carried out by Prof. Vezio Cottarelli (Viterbo) in the mesopsammic marine environment of Mindoro Island and by Dr Mauro Daccordi (Verona) in the phreatic fresh water of Palawan Island, are quite interesting in this regard.

1994, Tropical Zoology - Volume 7, page 356:

As is the case with mesopsammic representatives of other major taxa, interstitial nemertines constitute a unique biological grouping recognizable by specializations that are characteristic of mesopsammon (see Swedmark, 1964, for review of the nature of interstitial organisms).

2012, Per Sundberg, R. Gibson, G. Berg, Recent Advances in Nemertean Biology, →ISBN:

Although about 45% of all adenophoran nematodes are interstitial, there are few morphological features that occur regularly in mesopsammic species and can be considered typical for a mesopsammic life, although their function is not always clear (Lorenzen 1986): A strongly bent tail with adhesive glands (nematodes normally lie on their side when moving), additional adhesive organs (e.g. in Epsilonematidae), a flexible, tapering "neck" region, extremely long setae (Thrichotheristus), aberrant position of amphids (Epsilonematidae), flattened body (rare, e.g. Neochromadora angelica).

2013, Olav Giere, Meiobenthology: The Microscopic Fauna in Aquatic Sediments, →ISBN:

(rare, ecology) Of or pertaining to the interstitial spaces of marine sand.


biological control

en-noun

biological control (countable and uncountable, plural biological controls)

Control of pests using natural predators, parasites, pathogens, or other organisms that harm the pest species.


consocies

The consocies grows to an average maximum height of 15 feet, the canopy formed being well knit, but allowing entrance to a large percentage of the light.

1927, Forestry Pamphlets. Africa, volume 3, page 171:

These weeds grow in abundance and thrive with notable vigor in these locust stands, but are almost or entirely absent in the consocies of scrub pine, tulip poplar, and in the mixed hardwood forest tending toward the climax type.

1944, Experiment Station Record, volume 90, United States. Office of Experiment Stations, page 482:


environmental protection

The practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments.


euryphage

From eury- + -phage, from Ancient Greek εὐρύς (eurús, “wide”) + φαγεῖν (phageîn, “to eat”).

(ecology) Any animal that eats a large variety of food.


extremotolerant

en-adj

extremotolerant (comparative more extremotolerant, superlative most extremotolerant)

more extremotolerant (comparative)
most extremotolerant (superlative)

(ecology) Capable of tolerating extreme environmental conditions.


nudation

en-noun

nudation (countable and uncountable, plural nudations)

From Latin nudatio, from nudare (“to make naked”), from nudus (“naked”). See nude.

(now chiefly ecology) The act of stripping, or making bare or naked.


superdominant

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-superdominant.wav

A strategy for survival is needed to replace man's present role as an unrestricted superdominant of the biosphere, for this role is a strategy for self-defeat.

1975, William R. Burch, Beyond Growth: Essays on Alternative Futures, page 76:

The earthworm Eisenia nordenskioldi is also a typical superdominant of tundra cenoses.

1997, F. E. Wielgolaski, Polar and Alpine Tundra - Volume 3, →ISBN, page 405:

Asca bicornis (27.8%) was no longer a superdominant, and three species of the family Laelapidae (Hypoaspis claviger, H. nolli and Hypoaspis aculeifer) jointly constituted 31.3% of total

2008, Annales Zoologici - Volume 58, Issues 1-2, page 270:

(ecology) A species that is present in disproportionately large numbers within an ecosystem.


plagioclimax

(ecology) An altered or reduced climax of a plant ecosystem caused by human activity.


meiobenthos

(ecology) A group of marine or freshwater benthic organisms that are intermediate in terms of size between macrobenthos and microbenthos, and which can pass through a 1 mm sieve, but are retained by a 45 μm sieve.


epibenthos

(ecology) benthic organisms that live on top of the sediment


introduced species

introduced species (plural introduced species)

(ecology) A species living outside its native distributional range which has arrived there by human activity, directly or indirectly, deliberately or accidentally.

vieraslaji

species outside its native range due to human activity


genetic diversity

(ecology) genetic variation that manifests within a species.


critical load

(ecology) The maximum load that a given system can sustain before it fails.


ecosocialism

ecosocialism (usually uncountable, plural ecosocialisms)

Mrs. Lienemann, the French Housing Minister, sees socialist and ecological forces proposing what she calls “a new culture”—perhaps named “Ecosocialism”—that might, she believes, work for innovations like a 32-hour workweek, more democracy at the workplace, and “a greater stress on quality than quantity in everyday life.”

[1992 November 1, Roger Cohen, quoting Marie-Noelle Lienemann, “Ideology Wanes for Europe, Leaving Politicians Adrift”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Whenever he launched an ideological crusade, he did so zealously — even if, as in the case of ecosocialism, its very definition and the collateral demand for an appealing alternative to capitalism were not self-evident.

2018 May 4, Sam Roberts, “Dr. Joel Kovel, a Founder of Ecosocialism, Is Dead at 81”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(politics) An ideology merging aspects of Marxism, socialism, green politics, environmentalism, etc. that opposes capitalism.


pollutician

Too many owners of factory chimneys have already capitulated to the negative attitude of the polluticians and have converted to smokeless fuels.

1971, Electroplating and Metal Finishing, volume 24:

(sometimes derogatory) A politician who supports policies and initiatives designed to reduce environmental pollution.


emergy investment ratio

emergy investment ratio (plural emergy investment ratios)

(ecology) The ratio of purchased emergy to the local free environmental emergy.


dead zone

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Planet Earth Research this year discovered that humans have created at least 50 ‘dead zones’ (zones where there is no oxygen) in the sea through pollution, and have extinguished other species at 1,000 times the natural rate in evolution.

It is only really in the past decade that science has begun to tell us that the man-made changes now occurring in the oceans – from acidification to overfishing to the growth of dead zones – represent some of the greatest threats to life on Earth.

2012, Charles Clover, ‘Up To Our Necks’, Literary Review, number 399:

By the time the Mississippi enters the gulf, its current has been transformed into a conduit for chemical nutrients, and this enriched current stimulates massive blooms of phytoplanktons. Consequently, it forms a dead zone the size of Massachusetts (7,900 square miles or 20,461 square kilometers) every summer, which has existed since the 1970s and supports almost no life beyond phytoplankton and bacteria.

2014, Chris Maser, Interactions of Land, Ocean and Humans: A Global Perspective, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 118:

(ecology) An area of the ocean where oxygen levels are too low to support life, especially as a result of pollution.


tragedy of the commons

tragedy of the commons (plural tragedies of the commons)

Coined by American ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1968.

coinage

One theory, known as the tragedy of the commons, holds that people will exploit and abuse something in which they have no ownership stake.

1995 May 7, Timothy Egan, “Let the Owner Beware”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-07-04:

Overfishing is the classic tragedy of the commons. Since no single nation "owns" the high seas, they exploit it without restraint and without thought to sustainability.

2010 November 18, “Troubles as deep as the oceans lie ahead”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2012-07-04:

The economist Elinor Ostrom, who is on our list this year, has written about the tragedy of the commons, which is the idea that self-interest can undermine the common good.

2012 April 18, Richard Stengel, “Editor's Letter: A World of Possibilities”, in Time, archived from the original on 2013-02-04:

(ecology, economics, politics, social criticism) A situation in which unmanaged use of a shared resource (such as the atmosphere or an ocean) by a number of participants results in the unintended ruin or total consumption of that resource.


PHA

Coordinate term: PHC

potentially hazardous asteroid
potentially hazardous asteroid#English

(astronomy, ecology, geology) Initialism of potentially hazardous asteroid.


big six

(ecology) The six elements most used by life: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.


megadiverse

/ˌmɛɡədaɪˈvɜːs/

/ˌmɛɡədaɪˈvɝs/

From mega- (prefix meaning ‘very large, great’) + diverse, possibly modelled after biodiverse.

prefix

High rates of conversion [of natural habitats to agriculture] have clear implications for biodiversity loss. Of special concern are rates of conversion in the so-called megadiverse states: areas identified as being of high species endemism.

1994, David Pearce, Dominic Moran, “Saving Biodiversity: An Overview of the Causal Factors”, in The Economic Value of Biodiversity, London: Earthscan Publications, published 1997, →ISBN, page 19:

Mexico is one of the 12 megadiverse countries. While 1.3% of the land in the world, it hosts about 12% of the known terrestrial biota with very high endemicity.

2003, “Nature and Biodiversity Management”, in OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Mexico, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, →ISBN, box 5.2 (A Megadiverse Country), page 105:

[…] Australia is the only developed nation, with the exception of Mexico, among the dozen or so regions which have been recognized as ‘megadiverse’, that is, having extensive total biodiversity.

2004, Natalie P. Stoianoff, Tom Fox, “Managing Access to Australia’s Biological Resources – Issues in Developing a National Approach”, in Natalie P. Stoianoff, editor, Accessing Biological Resources: Complying with the Convention on Biological Diversity (International Environmental Law and Policy Series), The Hague, London: Kluwer Law International, →ISBN, page 93:

Pioneering global cross-mappings of the distributions of biodiversity and linguistic diversity (taken as a proxy for cultural diversity as a whole) provided independent support for this conclusion, revealing significant geographic overlaps between the two diversities, especially in the tropics, and a strong coincidence between biologically and linguistically megadiverse countries[…].

2007, Luisa Maffi, “Biocultural Diversity and Sustainability”, in Jules Pretty et al., editors, The SAGE Handbook of Environment and Society, London, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 268, column 2:

In megadiverse regions such as the Andes-Amazon, managing these matters and developing wise programs for conserving natural resources is a huge undertaking, requiring the efforts of an array of individuals with widely diverse expertise.

2010, Fernando Cornejo, John Janovec, “Introduction”, in Seeds of Amazonian Plants (Princeton Field Guides), Princeton, N.J., Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page xv, column 1:

This method is applied to the case of New Caledonia, a megadiverse island with all locations equally rich in microendemic species and where phylogenetic diversity is especially helpful to determine conservation priorities among sites.

2016, Roseli Pellens, Philippe Grandcolas, “Phylogenetics and Conservation Biology: Drawing a Path into the Diversity of Life”, in Roseli Pellens, Philippe Grandcolas, editors, Biodiversity Conservation and Phylogenetic Systematics: Preserving Our Evolutionary Heritage in an Extinction Crisis (Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation; 14), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 9:

South Africa, covering only 0.8% of the earth's terrestrial area, is one of the planet's 18 "megadiverse countries", defined by Conservation International as nations that harbour the majority of Earth's species and high numbers of endemic species.

2020, Brian W. van Wilgen, John Measey, David M[ark] Richardson, John R. Wilson, Tsungai A. Zengeya, “Biological Invasions in South Africa: An Overview”, in Brian W. van Wilgen et al., editors, Biological Invasions in South Africa (Invading Nature – Springer Series in Invasion Ecology; 14), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, section 1.1.1 (A Rich and Varied Biodiversity), page 4:

Countries from the global south, including Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – mega-diverse countries home to the world’s three largest rainforests – wanted governments to agree to the creation of a new biodiversity fund as part of the Montreal pact to pay for new conservation targets.

2022 December 19, Patrick Greenfield, Phoebe Weston, “Cop15: historic deal struck to halt biodiversity loss by 2030”, in The Guardian:

(chiefly ecology) Exhibiting great diversity, especially great biodiversity.

megadiversos

exhibiting great diversity, especially great biodiversity


GEF

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s negotiator appeared to block the final deal presented by China, telling the plenary that he could not support the agreement in its current form because it did not create a new fund for biodiversity, separate to the existing UN fund, the global environment facility (GEF).

Global Environment Facility
w:Global Environment Facility

(ecology) Initialism of Global Environment Facility.


paleoendemic

(ecology) That has been endemic in a region for a very long time (but is now more restricted)


mesoherbivore

(ecology) Any medium-sized herbivore (approximately between 50 and 500 kilograms in weight)


macroherbivore

(ecology) Any large herbivore (over approximately 500 kilograms in weight)


piosphere

(ecology) The zone of influence of grazing on a region's vegetation and soil.


waterpoint

Animals in good condition and not subjected to physical stress (such as having to transhume or walk far between pastures and waterpoints) usually suffer considerably less than animals on a poor nutritional level and having to expend much physical energy.

1990, M. M. H. Sewell, D. W. Brocklesby, Handbook on Animal Diseases in the Tropics, page 46:

(ecology) A place (such as a watering hole) where water is available to local wildlife.


intraguild

Within a trophic guild; especially (ecology) describing such a form of competitive predation.


environmental audit

en-noun

environmental audit (plural environmental audits)

(business, ecology) A set of evaluations conducted to measure the compliance of a legal entity with the environmental legislation and provide its management with recommendations on improving the environmental indicators.


macrosympatric

(ecology, of species) Occurring together in large overlapping areas


micropollutant

“The long-term effect of air pollution by acid-formers like sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, heavy metals and organic micropollutants means the poisoning of the ecosphere and the hydrosphere,” Professor Ulrich said.

1983 June 29, Dudley Clendinen, quoting Bernhard Ulrich, “Concern On Acid Rain Extending To Public Health”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

On the other hand, intermittent loading of an adsorbable micropollutant can result in significant short-term removal, because the accumulated biomass in the reactor can take up the micropollutant until equilibrium is reached.

2013, Jiri Hrubec, Water Pollution: Drinking Water and Drinking Water Treatment, Springer, →ISBN, page 43:

(ecology) Any pollutant that has a toxic effect at very small concentrations.


mesology

mesology (countable and uncountable, plural mesologies)

From meso- + -logy; a compound with components derived from Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos, “meso-, middle”) + -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study”). The term arose in various European languages c. 1850, but did not exist in Ancient Greek.

uder

Apart from genetics the mesology bears a great influence on the physical body.

The study of the mutual interrelationships between organisms and their environment; branch of biology; former term for ecology.


PEA

en-noun

PEA (countable and uncountable, plural PEAs)

(ecology) Initialism of preliminary ecological appraisal.


epibenthic

(ecology) That lives on the surface of sediments at the bottom of the sea


profundal

However, if some of the bottom area has fine-grained sediments and is free of all conspicuous plants and algae, this area is often considered the profundal zone.

C. staphylinus is common and abundant in northern Europe and the USA, and is found in permanent shallow ponds, rivers and the littoral zone of lakes. It occurs also in deep alpine lakes, but not in the profundal zone.

1997, A. D. Ansell, R. N. Gibson, Margaret Barnes, Oceanography And Marine Biology, volume 35, page 279:

The profundal zone consists largely of two feeding guilds, benthivores and carnivores (predators), at least in oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes.

2004, Gerald L. Mackie, Gerry L. Mackie, Applied Aquatic Ecosystem Concepts, page 510:

(aquatic ecology) Relating to the deep zone of an inland body of water where very little sunlight penetrates; located between the limnetic and the benthic zones.


profundal

The ratio of Oligochaeta/Chironomidae was similar to those in profundals of oligotrophic lakes.

1982 October 16, Jukka Särkkä, “On the ecology of littoral Oligochaeta of an oligotrophic Finnish lake”, in Ecography, →DOI:

The role of chironomids was, in general, important in the profundal of the reservoirs.

1992 June 16, Esa Koskenniemi, “The role of chironomids (Diptera) in the profundal macrozoobenthos in Finnish reservoirs”, in Netherland Journal of Aquatic Ecology, →DOI:

Tubifex (Peloscolex) nomurai, which was recorded from profundal bottoms deeper than 400 m in Lake Tazawa, is the only species identified solely from the profundal of oliogotrophic caldera lakes.

2001 November 16, Akifumi Ohtaka, “Oligochaetes in Lake Towada, Japan, an oligotrophic caldera”, in Hydrobiologia, →DOI:

(aquatic ecology) Short for profundal zone.


biostat

(ecology) A container in which organisms are kept in a controlled environment


antipredation

antipredation strategies of marine worms


epibiota

(ecology) The organisms that live on the surface of another one


sympatrically

en-adv

sympatrically (comparative more sympatrically, superlative most sympatrically)

more sympatrically (comparative)
most sympatrically (superlative)

(ecology) in the same or overlapping geographical areas


landcover

en-noun

landcover (countable and uncountable, plural landcovers)

(geology, ecology) Any natural or man-made material that covers the land surface of the Earth.


bioprovince

(ecology) A biozone that is a subdivision of a bioregion.


paleohabitat

(ecology, archaeology) An extinct habitat that can only be reconstructed from fossils


bionomics

The study of an organism and its relation to its environment; ecology.


surface layer

(ecology) The layer of surface water that forms a boundary between sea and air


paratenic

From Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰτείνω (părăteínō, “to stretch out along, beside or near; to continue life, live”) + -ic, from πᾰρᾰ- (pără-, “beside, by”) + τείνω (teínō, “to stretch, pull tight”).

af

(ecology, of a host) Not needed for the development of the parasite, but nevertheless serving to maintain the parasite's life cycle.


subnivium

From sub- (“under”) + Latin nix (“snow”) + -ium.

Voles and shrews thriving in networks of tunnels in the subnivium would experience a loss of their snowy refuge and face greater metabolic demands to cope with more-frequent and harsher exposure to the elements.

2019, Colin Rees, Nature's Calendar, Johns Hopkins University Press, page 231:

Scientists have long studied the subnivium, a stratum of life that exists within and below the snowpack. The subnivium enjoys a microclimate created by heat and moisture escaping the ground.

2021, Porter Fox, The Last Winter, Hachette Book Group, unnumbered page:

Without a snow cover, the duration of frozen soil will increase, causing winter cooling for subnivium-dependent organisms (Zhu et al., 2019).

2022, Jeffrey L. Walck, Siti N. Hidayati, “10: Plant regeneration from seeds in a the temperate deciduous forest zone under a changing climate”, in Carol C. Baskin, Jerry M. Baskin, editors, Plant Regeneration from Seeds, Elsevier (Academic Press), page 131:

(ecology) The seasonal microenvironment beneath the snow.


logistic growth

(ecology) A pattern of growth that can be represented by a logistic function.


thermal credit

(ecology) A unit that offsets the thermal impact of one ton of carbon dioxide, accounting the net thermal impact generated by human activity on the Earth's climate.


edaphoclimatic

en-adj

edaphoclimatic (comparative more edaphoclimatic, superlative most edaphoclimatic)

more edaphoclimatic (comparative)
most edaphoclimatic (superlative)

(ecology) Relating to edaphology and climate


aquafauna

en-noun

aquafauna (plural aquafaunae or aquafaunas or aquafaunæ)

aquafaunae (plural)
aquafaunas (plural)
aquafaunæ (plural)

From aqua- (“water”) + fauna (“animals”).

(ecology) aquatic animals considered as a group


saprobic

en-adj

saprobic (not generally comparable, comparative more saprobic, superlative most saprobic)

more saprobic (comparative)
most saprobic (superlative)

1969, Wilhelm Rohde, Crystallization of Eutrophication Concepts in Northern Europe, National Academy of Sciences (U.S.), Eutrophication: Causes, Consequences, Correctives, Symposium Proceedings, page 60,
Each of the polysaprobic, mesosaprobic, and oligosaprobic zones is now divided into one α- and one β-level, of which the former is more saprobic than the latter.

The s-score relates to the saprobic zone of which the species are characteristic; a score of between 1 and 4 is assigned to each species, depending upon whether it is typically found in oligosaprobic, α-mesosaprobic, β-mesosaprobic or polysaprobic zones, respectively.

1996, P. D. Abel, Water Pollution Biology, 2nd edition, page 87:

(ecology) That contains dead or decaying organic material (and therefore also saprobes).


climax community

en-noun

climax community (plural climax communities)

(ecology) A community (group of interdependent organisms interacting with one another) which, through the process of ecological succession (the development of vegetation in an area over time), has reached a steady state.


autoecism

1972, B. K. Bakshi, Relative Blister Rust Resistance of Native and Introduced White Pines in Asia, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, US Forest Service, University of Idaho, Biology of Rust Resistance in Forest Trees: Proceedings of a NATO-IUFRO Advanced Study Institute, page 254,
This may possibly be explained by autoecism (pine-to-pine spread) in the aecial stage of the rust, but autoecism has not been conclusively proved (Spaulding, 1922).

Other measures[…]are deficient because of the large geographic distribution of the pathogens, their wide host ranges, their high spore dispersal capabilities, and the autoecism of some rusts.

2005, Salvatore Moricca, Alessandro Ragazzi, Gemma Assante, “Biocontrol of Rust Fungi by Cladosporium tenuissimum”, in Ming Hao Pei, Alistair R. McCracken, editors, Rust Diseases of Willow and Poplar, page 215:

(ecology, of a parasite or dependent organism) The fact of completing an entire life cycle on a single host species.


bayhead

A hammock or a "bayhead" (a cypress swamp) offers the next most favorable conditions, but a soil of nearly pure muck or vegetable detritus, of a fine floury texture, does not resist drouth as well as does the sandy flatwoods soil.

(ecology) A swamp habitat dominated by bay laurels.


demogenetics

(genetics, ecology) The genetics of populations of organisms


demogenetic

(genetics, ecology) Relating to demogenetics


plurispecific

(ecology) Composed of (similar) organisms of many different species


phylloplane

On the island of Barro Colorado, with an area of 23 square kilometres, at least 43 species of the genus Poecilominettia co-exist, all of which are known to feed upon the same material, namely phylloplane fungi.

1989, Elcy C. Broadhead, “The species of Poecilominettia, Homoeominettia and Floriminettia (Diptera, Lauxaniidae) in Panama”, in Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology, volume 58, number 2, pages 185–226:

(ecology) The surface of a leaf, considered as a habitat


biovolume

The separate biovolumes of herbivores, predators, parasites, and detritivores did not vary consistently with grass treatment (Table 2 ).

2015 July 10, “Grassland Arthropods Are Controlled by Direct and Indirect Interactions with Cattle but Are Largely Unaffected by Plant Provenance”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) A surrogate for biomass, used in ecological studies of invertebrates (normally quoted in cubic millimetres).


codistributed

(ecology) distributed along with another (species etc)


cryophile

(ecology) an organism that thrives at low temperatures


ecofascism

(derogatory) Aggressive environmental activism.


ecosection

(ecology) A part of an ecoregion that shows only minor physiographic, macroclimatic or oceanographic variations


economicology

(ecology, economics) The study of the interrelationship between economics and ecology


evolutionary trap

evolutionary trap (plural evolutionary traps)

(ecology) The situation of a rapid ecological change triggering decisions about choice of habitat that are detrimental for an individual; an ecological trap.

ecological trap

situation of ecological change triggering bad choices about habitat


biopedturbation

From bio- + Ancient Greek πέδον (pédon, “soil”) + Latin turbātiō (“disturbance; confusion”).

der

The implications of the biopedturbation caused by sooty shearwater burrowing to the extent measured in this study may be profound for some ecosystem processes […]

2006, Walter G. Whitford, Fenton R. Kay, “Biopedturbation by an island ecosystem engineer: Burrowing volumes and litter deposition by sooty shearwaters”, in New Zealand Journal of Zoology, volume 33, number 4:

(geology, ecology) The mixing or disturbance of soil by living organisms, as opposed to disturbance of other media such as sediment or leaf litter.


anthropochorous

/ænθɹɒpəˈkɔːɹəs/

From anthropo- (“man, human”) + Ancient Greek χωρίζω (khōrízō, “separate, spread”).

pre

(ecology, of fauna, or flora) that have populations transported as aliens to geographical areas by the direct or indirect, typically inadvertent, action of humans.

From their initial habitats, many anthropochorous insects have been transported by humans around the globe and several are now cosmopolitan in distribution.

2003, Kevin J. Edwards, Ian Ralston, Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC - AD 1000:

(ecology, of fauna, or flora) that have populations effectively relying on human transport or action, typically inadvertent, for their propagation.


anthropochore

(ecology) A species that depends on anthropochory as a routine means of reproductive dispersal.

Although most anthropochores undoubtedly have been transported by man from the Old World to the New, there is evidence that at least some now known from Europe first became known from the United States and were carried east.

(ecology) A population of a species in a region where it does not natively occur, established by anthropochorous events in the past.


aposematically

Some bees are aposematically coloured.


monodominant

(ecology) dominated by organisms of a single species


monodominance

(ecology) The condition of being monodominant


astroecology

The study of the interactions of biota with space environments.


plastisphere

From plastic + -sphere, analogous to biosphere. Coined by American biologist Linda Amaral-Zettler.

coin

Welcome to the plastisphere

2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

(The Plastisphere is one of the many industrial-natural ecosystems that characterize the Anthropocene.) Cleaning ocean plastics, even if it were technologically possible on a scale that would make a difference, would disrupt and destroy the life we would be trying to save in the first place.

2014, Marina Zurkow, The Petroleum Manga, punctum books, →DOI, →ISBN, page 24:

Freshwater and marine habitats share a number of features, but there are also differences between them that may affect the development and activities of plastisphere consortia.

2017, Martin Wagner, Scott Lambert, Freshwater Microplastics: Emerging Environmental Contaminants?, Springer, →ISBN, page 183:

(ecology) The ecosystem on the surface of a piece of plastic (especially in a marine environment).


heteromyopia

From hetero- + myopia, as the animals involved are metaphorically short-sighted in their view of other species.

(ecology) The situation in which interspecific competition occurs over shorter distances than intraspecific competition.


synurbic

en-adj

synurbic (comparative more synurbic, superlative most synurbic)

more synurbic (comparative)
most synurbic (superlative)

(ecology) That lives (predominantly) within an urban ecosystem; adapted to urban life.


barophobic

barophobic (comparative more barophobic, superlative most barophobic)

more barophobic (comparative)
most barophobic (superlative)

Non-marine bacteria: Freshwater and parasitic bacteria are barophobic.

2001, Edited by Rabin Sen Gupta, The Indian Ocean: A Perspective, Volume 2, →ISBN, page 500:

(ecology) Not adapted to survive at high pressures.


pyrodiversity

Despite ambiguities in reconstructing presuppression fire behavior, there is wide agreement that a century of fire-suppression management has resulted in a large increase of dead and living fuel, increasing the probability of surface fires becoming crown fires of greater areal extent and intensity. That is, "pyrodiversity" has declined from a once wide spectrum over space, time, and intensity. The likely consequence is that biodiversity has declined as well (Martin and Sapsis 1992).

2000, Michael G. Barbour, Richard A. Minnich, “Californian Upland Forests and Woodlands”, in North American Terrestrial Vegetation, pages 180–181:

Some scientists suggest that pyrodiversity (the diversity in frequency, scale, season, and type of fire) leads to great biodiversity of plant species and vegetation types.

2005, Kat Anderson, Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources, page 18:

Consequently, as we see later in this book, Native Californians experimented with pyrodiversity practices in an attempt to diversify plant and animal resources and to minimize the risks of serious food shortages through storage, trade, and mass harvests when resources were plentiful.

2009, Kent G. Lightfoot, California Indians and Their Environment: An Introduction, page 70:

(ecology) A variation in the kinds of fire, whether produced by natural conditions or controlled burning, in an environment or ecosystem.


ergasiophygophyte

Ancient Greek ἐργᾰσίᾱ (ergăsíā, “work, production”) + φῠγή (phŭgḗ, “flight”) + -phyte (“plant”)

uder

12 taxa were numbered among ergasiophygophytes

2003, Ludwik Frey, Problems of grass biology, page 196:

(ecology, rare) Any formerly cultivated plant that has escaped into the wild.


holosaprophyte

From German Holosaprophyt, equivalent to holo- (“whole”) + sapro- (“putric, rotten”) + -phyte (“plant”).

confix

(ecology) An organism which is purely a saprophyte.


microinsularity

(ecology) The condition of being microinsular


microinsular

(ecology) Relating to, or found on, a very small island.


ecad

(ecology) An organism whose form has been affected by its environment.


hydroclimate

(ecology) The climate of an aquatic habitat


deep ecology

Shallow ecology is anthropocentric, or human-centered. It views humans as above our outside of nature, as the source of all value, and ascribes only instrumental, or “use,” value to nature. Deep ecology does not separate humans—or anything else—from the natural environment.

1996, Fritjof Capra, The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 7:

In the early 1970s, after three decades teaching philosophy at the University of Oslo, Mr. Naess (pronounced Ness), an enthusiastic mountain climber and an admirer of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” threw himself into environmental work and developed a theory that he called deep ecology.

[2009 January 15, William Grimes, “Arne Naess, Norwegian Philosopher, Dies at 96”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the 1980s, some eco-philosophers interpreted the influential German philosopher Martin Heidegger as a forerunner of the deep ecology movement, because he condemned techno-industrial modernity's assault on nature and called instead on humans to “let things be” (Zimmermann 1983; Foltz 1995).

2016, Joni Adamson, William A. Gleason, David Pellow, editors, Keywords for Environmental Studies, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 65:

An ecological and environmental philosophy that advocates the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs.


rewilder

In this way, the reintroduction of the black rat, as well as being justice for the rats and excellent for biodiversity, would, according to the thinking rewilder, symbolise a mystical reconnection with what is most verminous in ourselves.

2009 January 4, Catherine Bennett, “Catherine Bennett: After beavers and wolves, why not bring back the black rat?”, in The Observer:

His services are increasingly in demand from a new generation of rewilders, including wealthy landowners wanting to bring back beavers, as well as harvest mice, wildcats and white storks.

2020 October 13, Patrick Barkham, “How maverick rewilders are trying to turn back the tide of extinction”, in The Guardian, retrieved 2020-11-09:

(ecology) A person who advocates the reintroduction of animals into the wild as a means of conservation.


macrohabitat

3) Stages of radiation: All else being equal, the following sequence of the diversification events is expected: (i) divergence with respect to macrohabitat; (ii) evolution of microhabitat choice and divergence with respect to microhabitat; (iii) divergence with respect to traits that simultaneously control the degree of local adaptation and nonrandom mating; and (iv) divergence with respect to other traits controlling survival and reproduction.

2009 February 6, Sergey Gavrilets, Jonathan B. Losos, “Adaptive Radiation: Contrasting Theory with Data”, in Science, volume 323, number 5915, →DOI, pages 732–737:

(ecology) A relatively large habitat, that contains multiple environments and multiple types of organism


microbiotope

A shorter unarmed rostrum along with reduced spines reduces impact of strong turbulent water fluxes, which are common in the microbiotopes where the shrimps thrive [51 ].

2015 July 11, “Phylogeny and New Classification of Hydrothermal Vent and Seep Shrimps of the Family Alvinocarididae (Decapoda)”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:


brownify

en-verb

brownify (third-person singular simple present brownifies, present participle brownifying, simple past and past participle brownified)

brownifies (present singular third-person)
brownifying (participle present)
brownified (participle past)
brownified (past)

(in particular, ecology, of a lake or stream) To become brown due to increased levels of humic material.


encruster

Some rock encrusters can occupy large areas and impart new morphological, biological, and geological characteristics upon the environment they settled. Probably the most widespread encrusters along karst coastlines are coralline red algae […]

2013, Michael J. Lace, John E. Mylroie, Coastal Karst Landforms, page 42:

(ecology) Any organism that encrusts part of its environment.


defaunated

Yet, initially defaunated empty tests and live barnacles developed markedly different macrobenthic assemblages, suggesting a strong indirect effect of the predation.

2015 July 18, “Bored to Death: Community-Wide Effect of Predation on a Foundation Species in a Low-Disturbance Arctic Subtidal System”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) From which animals have been removed.


ecoinformatics

Although there are difficult challenges associated with building these integrated datasets, these same challenges provide substantial opportunities, especially for early-career ecologists, for interdisciplinary training in ecoinformatics and database management, and classical ecology; thus pushing the ecological boundary to answer important macrosystems ecology questions.

2015 July 1, Patricia A. Soranno et al., “Building a multi-scaled geospatial temporal ecology database from disparate data sources: fostering open science and data reuse”, in GigaScience, volume 4, →DOI:

(ecology, computing) The use of computing and information science in ecology


paraclimax

(ecology) A relatively stable community of foreign plants established after the destruction, by humans, of a native habitat.


defaunation

en-noun

defaunation (countable and uncountable, plural defaunations)

Coordinate term: deforestation

For this reason, the symbolic dimensions of defaunation can be of direct relevance to any initiative aiming for sustainable wildlife management and biodiversity conservation in areas inhabited by hunter-gatherers (Franzen 2005; Lu 2001).

2016, Victoria Reyes-García, Aili Pyhälä, Hunter-gatherers in a Changing World, Springer, →ISBN, page 79:

(ecology) The loss of animals from a habitat


anthropobiome

The filled boxes signify representation of the particular anthropobiome in each ecoregion.

2015 August 1, “Modelling Hotspots for Invasive Alien Plants in India”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) An anthropogenic biome (human-generated vegetation type)


litterbag

(ecology) A bag for the collection of litterfall.


mesothermal

The regional climate is humid mesothermal, with a hot summer and well distributed rainfall throughout the year (Cfa in Köppen-Geiser’s classification [32 ]).

2015 August 27, “Markedly Divergent Tree Assemblage Responses to Tropical Forest Loss and Fragmentation across a Strong Seasonality Gradient”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:


extraguild

Actually, competition may cause a shift in niche partitioning of plant resources (i.e., flower vs. leaf), which consequently affects the extraguild prey consumption.

2015 September 26, “Plant Resources as a Factor Altering Emergent Multi-Predator Effects”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:


tritrophic

/tɹʌɪˈtɹəʊ.fɪk/

/tɹʌɪˈtɹɒf.ɪk/

From tri- (“three”) + -trophic (“relating to feeding and nutrition”), from Ancient Greek τροφικός (trophikós, “nursing, tending”), from τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment, food”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”).

af

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">-ic</i>

The spatial overlap between bean species and bruchine hosts, together with the great morphological similarity among the Horismenus species, has made the study of the ecology and population genetics of this tritrophic system difficult.

2015 September 10, “Uncovering Cryptic Parasitoid Diversity in Horismenus (Chalcidoidea, Eulophidae)”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) Describing a parasite that feeds on another parasite that feeds on a third parasite.


hypercolonization

Here, we show that inactivation of dsdA does not lead to hypercolonization.

2015 September 15, “dsdA Does Not Affect Colonization of the Murine Urinary Tract by Escherichia coli CFT073”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) excessive colonization (by an organism)


riparian buffer

en-noun

riparian buffer (plural riparian buffers)

/ɹʌɪˈpɛːɹɪən ˈbʌfə(ɹ)/

(ecology) An area of vegetation around a body of water that gives benefits to the ecosystem in the body of water. It can provide shade, a food source, and a buffer against pollution from outside sources.


mesocratic

Turner and West ( 1968 ) suggest that the phases of an interglacial period (cryocratic, protocratic, mesocratic, telocratic ) be considered as cenozones.

1975, Valentin Abramovich Krasilov, Paleoecology of Terrestrial Plants, page 229:

Hence, regional soil degenerations and podsolization was probably an important factor contributing to the retrogressive change in the forest composition at the end of the mesocratic phase..

1987, Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, page 10:

The fully developed mesocratic woodland had a somewhat different character..

2012, M. Ingrouille, Historical Ecology of the British Flora, page 76:

(ecology) The second stage of interglacial forest development (Early-Temperate), characterized by a transitional mix of light-demanding and shade-tolerant species.


depensation

To do so, the Allee effect intensity (i.e., the number of spawners that effectively participate in reproduction) is modelled as a function of the river basin watershed area wa j through the parameters η and θ (Table 1 ) with depensation intensity positively correlated to parameter η and negatively correlated to parameter θ.

2015 October 2, “The Combined Use of Correlative and Mechanistic Species Distribution Models Benefits Low Conservation Status Species”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) A decrease in the breeding population and thus of offspring


endobenthos

(ecology) benthic organisms that live buried or burrowing in the sediment, often in the oxygenated top layer


phytoclimatic

(ecology) Of or relating to the relationship between climate and the distribution of plants.


big five

(ecology) The five major extinction events since the beginning of life on Earth.


phylodiversity

phylodiversity (countable and uncountable, plural phylodiversities)

From this rarefied dataset, alpha diversity was estimated in two ways using QIIME v1.8: observed species and phylodiversity.

2015 October 21, “Flea-Associated Bacterial Communities across an Environmental Transect in a Plague-Endemic Region of Uganda”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) The diversity of phyla in a habitat etc


ecosystem engineer

ecosystem engineer (plural ecosystem engineers)

(ecology) Any organism that creates, significantly modifies, maintains or destroys a habitat.

biobouwer

organism that significantly impacts its habitat


thermoecology

(ecology) The branch of ecology that focuses on the effects of the temperature change.


perilithon

In addition, it has been shown that perilithon abundance is negatively correlated with substrate clogging in the Durance particularly in the middle part of the river which is characterized by highly regulated flows (see Fig 5).

2015 November 12, “When Anthropogenic River Disturbance Decreases Hybridisation between Non-Native and Endemic Cyprinids and Drives an Ecomorphological Displacement towards Juvenile State in Both Species”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) A form of periphyton found on submerged rocks


ecospace

(ecology, neologism) The ecological space that an organism occupies as part of its habitat.


euryoecious

From Ancient Greek εὐρύς (eurús, “wide”) + Ancient Greek οἰκέω (oikéō, “to dwell”). By surface analysis, eury- + -oecious.

[…] be stenoecious for that factor, while those with a large amplitude are designated euryoecious. […] Euryoecious species, by contrast, do not reflect the character of their habitat in regard to the variable for which they have a broad range.

1971, Martin Alexander, Microbial Ecology, page 135:

Both clades appear to harbor widespread euryoecious species.

2015 November 19, “Global Habitat Suitability and Ecological Niche Separation in the Phylum Placozoa”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) Able to live in variable habitats or conditions.


hygrocolous

The hygrocolous communities around the lake are dominated by Deyeuxia angustifolia, Deyeuxia langsdorffii, Carex appendiculata and Carex rhynchophysa.

2016 January 6, “Vegetation and Climate Change during the Last Deglaciation in the Great Khingan Mountain, Northeastern China”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:


araneocenosis

This species is among the one of the flagship species for conservation activities and nature protection efforts aimed on araneocenosis in the condition of the Central Europe.

2016 February 5, “Impact of Canopy Openness on Spider Communities: Implications for Conservation Management of Formerly Coppiced Oak Forests”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(ecology) All the spiders that live in a particular habitat


euryvalent

In our study locations, habitat structures in the changeover from open stands to dense stands included spider species expanding from both extremes but likely maintaining a suitable environment only for common and euryvalent species, while the presence of conservationally important species rose by a significant 65% with higher canopy openness.

(ecology, of an organism) That adapts well to changing environmental conditions


infrapopulation

If these data are assumed to represent random samples of flukes from the three host species, the Lorenz curves indicate that approximately 10% of flukes in any infrapopulation contribute about 30–35% of all eggs shed by a particular host.

2015 June 10, MELISSA A. BECK, CAMERON P. GOATER, DOUGLAS D. COLWELL, “Comparative recruitment, morphology and reproduction of a generalist trematode, Dicrocoelium dendriticum, in three species of host”, in Parasitology, volume 142, →DOI:


holobiont

The variables we considered include solar irradiance and turbidity, which are relevant to the symbiont photosynthesis and yearly minimum temperature, representing potential limiting factors for the holobiont.

2015 August 13, Christiane Schmidt et al., “Recent Invasion of the Symbiont-Bearing Foraminifera Pararotalia into the Eastern Mediterranean Facilitated by the Ongoing Warming Trend”, in PLoS ONE, volume 10, →DOI:

Some say we should be seen as a holobiont, a term that reflects the intimate, co-dependent relationship humans have with microbes.

2018, Nicola Davis, The Guardian, 256 March:

Holobionts are the lichens of this world, the more-than-the-sums of parts.

2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 103:

(ecology) A host organism plus its associated microorganisms


eumetric

We examined the potential increases in yields if the sizes at first capture ( L c ) were set optimally for the estimated fishing mortality rates (i.e., eumetric fishing).

2015 August 12, Marc O. Nadon et al., “Length-Based Assessment of Coral Reef Fish Populations in the Main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands”, in PLoS ONE, volume 10, →DOI:

(ecology) That produces a stable population size


sink function

(ecology) An environment’s ability to absorb and render pollution harmless.


subcosmopolitan

Rosaceae is the 19th largest family and there are about hundred genera which are distributed from cosmopolitan to subcosmopolitan and diversified to northern hemisphere [ 2 ].

2015 August 19, Hafiz Majid Rasheed et al., “Chemical Composition and Vasorelaxant and Antispasmodic Effects of Essential Oil from Rosa indica L. Petals”, in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, volume 2015, →DOI:

(biology, ecology, of a taxon) Not completely cosmopolitan


PHO

potentially hazardous object
potentially hazardous object#English

(astronomy, ecology, geology) Abbreviation of potentially hazardous object.


piezosphere

(ecology) The deep-sea environment inhabited by piezophiles


synurbization

(ecology) The adaptation of an organism to live predominantly in an urban ecosystem


r/K selection theory

(ecology) A theory regarding the selection of combinations of traits in an organism that represent a trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring.


nektobenthos

The organisms that swim at the bottom of a lake or sea; the nektonic benthos.


population biology

(biology, ecology) The study of populations of organisms, especially the growth and regulation of population sizes and genetics, and the effects of interactions between species.


nondisperser

Nesting data from dispersers and nondispersers came from the same set of colonies and were thus directly comparable.

1996, Charles R. Brown, Mary Bomberger Brown, Coloniality in the Cliff Swallow:

(ecology) An organism that is not a disperser.


wildlife corridor

wildlife corridor (plural wildlife corridors)

For example, a single landowner may be required to conserve a wildlife corridor as mitigation for developing the site.

2006, Jodi A. Hilty, William Z. Lidicker Jr., Adina Merenlender, Corridor Ecology: The Science and Practice of Linking Landscapes for Biodiversity Conservation, →ISBN, page 209:

This type of wildlife corridor will be key to maintaining population stability and longevity for species such as bear, moose and caribou, especially as the 6-mile-wide Sterling Highway development corridor becomes fully realized, and should the planned Cooper Landing bypass become reality.

2009, U.S. Fish, Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge: Revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, page D-22:

Gaps in the wildlife corridor may be barriers to the movement of some species but inconsequential for other species.

2012, James Gleeson, Deborah Gleeson, Reducing the Impacts of Development on Wildlife, →ISBN, page 90:

(ecology) A strip of vegetation that differs from its surrounding environment and which connects otherwise separate habitat areas.


psammon

From psammo- + -on, to be analogous to plankton.

Rotifers also are present in the psammon, the sandy habitat along the wet reaches of shorelines.

2014, James H. Thorp, D. Christopher Rogers, Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates: Ecology and General Biology:

(ecology) The community of organisms living in the sandy, moist habitat along a shoreline.


red forest

* (ecology): Due to the colouration found in forest that has been killed.

(ecology) A forest that has died, leaving foilage that reddens and trees that redden

(ecology) A forest contaminated with nuclear fallout.

mountain pine beetle
mountain pine beetle#English

(ecology) A forest killed by an infestation of mountain pine beetle


pre-mine

(ecology) Before the opening of a mine in a region.


defaunate

en-verb

defaunate (third-person singular simple present defaunates, present participle defaunating, simple past and past participle defaunated)

defaunates (present singular third-person)
defaunating (participle present)
defaunated (participle past)
defaunated (past)

From de- + fauna + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

af

(ecology, transitive) To remove the animals from.


subendemic

In a few cases, this procedure had the effect that taxa changed their designation from endemic to subendemic because they have since been found in North African countries, such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, or in parts of western Asia.

2013, Carsten Hobohm, Endemism in Vascular Plants, page 126:


bioinventory

(ecology) An inventory of the plants and animals in a location


eukaryvory

On the pattern of herbivory, carnivory, etc.

(ecology, rare) Feeding on eukaryotes (by other eukaryotes).


limnoterrestrial

(biology, ecology) Experiencing periods of immersion and of desiccation; inhabiting such an environment


phytodiversity

en-noun

phytodiversity (countable and uncountable, plural phytodiversities)

(ecology) The diversity of plant species in an area


kleptopredation

(biology, ecology) A feeding strategy where a predator hunts other predators who have recently fed on prey, thus eating both the prey animal and the prey's own undigested prey/food. The predator chooses prey who have fed recently, and ignores those who have not fed recently.


ecophene

(genetics, ecology) The range of phenotypes produced by a genotype in a particular habitat


genecology

genecology (usually uncountable, plural genecologies)

(genetics, ecology) A branch of ecology dealing with genetic variation in different environments


immunoecology

(immunology, ecology) The study of interactions between immunology and ecology


immunoecological

(immunology, ecology) Relating to immunoecology


homeochaos

(ecology) dynamic stability in the presence of multiple different organisms


savannoid

(ecology) Any kind of plant that grows in a savanna.


hyperdynamism

(ecology) Excessive movement between the parts of a fragmented habitat


neoendemism

neoendemism (countable and uncountable, plural neoendemisms)


phytosphere

(ecology) The interior and exterior of plants regarded as an ecosystem


mixedwood

mixedwood (countable and uncountable, plural mixedwoods)

(ecology, attributive) Having a diverse assortment of trees.


chronoecology

(ecology) The study of the effects of time on ecosystems, especially the effects of periodicity


Earth Overshoot Day

en-proper noun

Earth Overshoot Day (plural Earth Overshoot Days)

(ecology) The calculated illustrative calendar date on which humanity's resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth's capacity to regenerate those resources that year.


metaecosystem

(ecology) An ecosystem of metacommunities


paleosynecology

(ecology) A subdivision of paleoecology studying the fossil communities


ecogenomics

(ecology, genetics) The application of genomics to ecology


suprapopulation

(ecology) All the individuals of a species at all stages in their life cycle (in all hosts) in an ecosystem


hydroenvironmental

From hydro- + environmental or hydroenvironment + -al.

Relating to a hydroenvironment, a marine environment.


ecogeomorphic

(ecology, geography) Relating to ecogeomorphology


ecogeomorphology

(ecology, geography) The study of the relationships between ecology and geomorphology


sociation

en-noun

sociation (countable and uncountable, plural sociations)

But as I chose to classify sociations, or rather associations in topographical terms, it was obviously necessary to separate the C. Bigelowii myri from the dry-ground sociations in which it is a dominant species.

1975, Steindór Steindórsson frá Hlöðum, Studies on the mire-vegetation of Iceland, page 99:

Therefore a comparative analysis and a classification of bog plant communities must be undertaken on the basis of sociations.

2013, Peter D. Moore, European Mires, →ISBN, page 124:

(ecology) The stable interactions and influences among the species within a coenose.


eurybiomic

(ecology) Inhabiting several different biomes


stenobiomic

(ecology) Inhabiting very few different biomes


stenoecious

(ecology, of an organism) That can live in only a restrictive range of habitats


macroecologist

(ecology) An ecologist whose speciality is macroecology


macrocommunity

(ecology) A relatively large-scale community


taphocoenosis

(ecology) An assemblage of dead organisms


microbialization

microbialization (countable and uncountable, plural microbializations)

(ecology) The modification of an environment by invasion of microbes


subxerophytic

(ecology) Normally very dry (xerophytic) but with occasional wet periods


chemoecological

(chemistry, ecology) Relating to chemoecology


chemoecology

(chemistry, ecology) The chemical aspects of ecology


ecometagenetics

(ecology, genetics) A combination of ecology and metagenetics


ectocommensalism

(ecology) commensalism in which one organism is outside of the other


hemiboreal

(ecology) Describing a climate midway between a temperate and a boreal one


megahabitat

(ecology) A very large habitat, typically in the deep sea


serviceshed

Some servicesheds overlap: the servicesheds of Farm 1 and Farm 2 fall entirely within Farm 3's serviceshed because Farm 3 takes water from further downstream.

2016, Harold Mooney, Ecosystems of California, page 270:

(ecology) The geographical region that supplies ecosystem services to a beneficiary.


K-selection

(ecology) A theory involving natural selection based on quality.


r-selection

(ecology) A theory involving natural selection based on quantity.


predreissenid

(ecology) Prior to the presence of dreissenids in an environment


postdreissenid

(ecology) Following the introduction of dreissenids in an environment


subecoregion

(ecology) A distinct part of an ecoregion


chemosymbiont

(ecology) An organism involved in chemosymbiosis


ecoimmunology

(ecology, immunology) The ecological application of immunology


ecoimmunological

(ecology, immunology) Relating to ecoimmunology


steppification

(ecology) The process of becoming a steppe.


ecostratigraphy

(ecology, geology) The application of stratigraphy to identify fossil ecosystems


edaphoecological

From Ancient Greek ἔδαφος (édaphos) + ecological.

(ecology) Relating to soils and the ecosystems within them


eurybiontic

Coordinate term: stenobiontic

(ecology) Able to tolerate a wide range of environments.


pathocenosis

(pathology, ecology) The study of disease in societies


aeroecology

(ecology) The ecology of airborne organisms.


ecomorphospace

(biology, ecology) An ecological morphospace


plant community

plant community (plural plant communities)

(botany, ecology) a group of plants of different species which coexist in a habitat under certain conditions, and that may be mutually dependent on each other.


visuoecological

(ecology) Relating to the ecology of visual landscapes


ecodeme

(ecology) A population of organisms that occupy a particular ecological niche


morphodeme

(ecology) A population of organisms that have a shared morphology