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<br /> Ecosystem: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes)in
<br /> conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment(air,water, and mineral soil),interacting
<br /> as a system. It is a system of environmental conditions,habitats,natural communities, and species that
<br /> interact(NCWRC 2015).
<br /> Ecosystem services: The benefits people obtain, directly or indirectly, from ecosystems. These include
<br /> provisioning services such as food,water,timber, and fiber; regulating services that affect climate,
<br /> floods, disease,wastes, and water quality; cultural services that provide recreational, aesthetic, and
<br /> spiritual benefits; and supporting services such as soil formation,photosynthesis,and nutrient cycling.
<br /> The human species,while buffered against environmental changes by culture and technology, is
<br /> fundamentally dependent on the flow of ecosystem services. (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005)
<br /> Edge effects: The negative influence of habitat or ecosystem edges on interior conditions of the habitat or
<br /> on associated species. Edge effects can include profound modification of biological and physical
<br /> conditions. (ELI 2003)
<br /> Habitat: The physical features(such as topography, geology, stream flow) and biological characteristics
<br /> (such as vegetation cover and other species)needed to provide food, shelter, and reproductive needs of
<br /> animal or plant species(ELI 2003).
<br /> Habitat edge: The edge of a habitat adjoining incompatible land. Habitat edge causes "edge effects"
<br /> whereby species are negatively impacted due to edge conditions, such as a higher number of predators.
<br /> The width of edge effects differs for different species. (NCWRC 2013)The portion of a habitat patch near
<br /> its perimeter where environmental conditions are more affected by the surrounding matrix as compared to
<br /> the patch core(Wade et al. 2015). A boundary between different natural communities, or between a patch
<br /> and matrix,along which movement of non-living materials, organisms, and information between the two
<br /> areas may occur(Hilty et al. 2006). Edges can naturally occur or can be the result of human activities, and
<br /> species responses may differ. (Hilty et al. 2019)
<br /> Habitat fragmentation: The breaking up of previously continuous habitat(or ecosystem) into spatially
<br /> separated and smaller parcels. Habitat fragmentation results from human land use associated with
<br /> forestry, agriculture, and settlement,but can also be caused by natural disturbances like wildfire,wind, or
<br /> flooding. Suburban and rural development commonly changes patterns of habitat fragmentation of natural
<br /> forests, grasslands,wetlands, and coastal areas as a result of adding fences,roads,houses, landscaping,
<br /> and other development activities. (ELI 2003)
<br /> Habitat loss: Reduction in total area of habitat(Wade et al. 2015).
<br /> Habitat patch: A relatively homogeneous type of habitat that is spatially separated from other similar
<br /> habitat and differs from its surroundings (ELI 2003). A discrete area of contiguous habitat, often above a
<br /> size threshold representing the habitat needs of an organism or species, or the functional needs of a
<br /> natural community.
<br /> Habitat-corridor network: A connected set of discrete habitat patches and corridors between them.
<br /> Home range: Area used by an animal in its normal daily activities.Not defended. (NCWRC 2015).
<br /> Indicator guild: A group of species that show similar patterns of response to specific types of
<br /> environmental change (Hall 2008).
<br /> Indicator species: A species that is closely associated with a particular habitat type, and whose presence
<br /> indicates quality habitat(NCWRC 2012).
<br /> Invasive species: Any species that does not occur naturally in North Carolina and poses serious threats to
<br /> native ecosystems, due to the species'propensity to spread rapidly and out-compete native species
<br /> (adapted from NCWRC 2013).
<br /> 2 Appendix B: Glossary
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