niche (ecological) |
A species’ position within an ecosystem. This definition includes both the abiotic and biotic conditions necessary for the species to be able to persist (e.g. temperature range, food sources) and its ecological role, function or job (Polechová & Storch.
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Global assessment (1st work programme) |
niche (ecological) |
A species’ position within an ecosystem. This definition includes both the abiotic and biotic conditions necessary for the species to be able to persist (e.g. temperature range, food sources) and its ecological role, function or “job.
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Sustainable use assessment |
niche model |
Also known as species distribution models, niche models predict the spatial distribution of a species as a function of environmental variables. They are often used to project the future distributions of species in response to climate change.
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Global assessment (1st work programme) |
night light development index |
A spatially explicit and globally available empirical measurement of human development derived solely from night-time satellite imagery and population density.
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Land degradation and restoration assessment |
nitrogen deposition |
The nitrogen transferred from the atmosphere to the Earth’s surface by the processes of wet deposition and dry deposition.
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Sustainable use assessment |
nitrogen deposition |
Describes the input of reactive nitrogen from the atmosphere to the biosphere both as gases, dry deposition and in precipitation as wet deposition.
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Americas assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nitrogen-fixing species |
Plants, such as legumes, living in symbiosis with micro-organisms in their roots that can perform biological nitrogen fixation, i.e. convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3). Plants can then assimilate NH3 to produce biomolecules (Wagner, 2011).
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Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nitrogen-fixing species |
Plants, such as legumes, living in symbiosis with micro-organisms in their roots that can perform biological nitrogen fixation, i.e. convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3). Plants can then assimilate NH3 to produce biomolecules.
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Sustainable use assessment |
non-anthropocentric value |
See values.
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non-anthropocentric value |
A non- anthropocentric value is a value centered on something other than human beings. These values can be non-instrumental or instrumental to non-human ends.
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Asia-Pacific assessment, Africa assessment, Americas assessment |
non-anthropocentric value |
A non- anthropocentric value is a value centred on something other than human beings. These values can be non-instrumental or instrumental to non-human ends.
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Europe and Central Asia assessment, Land degradation and restoration assessment |
non-anthropocentric |
A non-anthropocentric value is a value centered on something other than human beings. These values can be non-instrumental (e.g. a value ascribed to the existence of specific species for their own sake) or instrumental to non-human ends (e.g. the instrumental value a habitat has for the existence of a specific species).
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Europe and Central Asia assessment, Asia-Pacific assessment |
non-anthropogenic |
A non-anthropocentric value is a value centred on something other than human beings. These values can be non- instrumental (e.g. a value ascribed to the existence of specific species for their own sake) or instrumental to non-human ends (e.g. the instrumental value a habitat has for the existence of a specific species).
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Land degradation and restoration assessment |
non-extractive practices |
Non-extractive practices are defined as practices based on the observation of wild species in a way that does not involve the harvest or removal of any part of the organism. The observation can imply some interaction with the wild species, such as the activities of wildlife and whale watching or no interaction with the wild species, such as remote photography.
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Sustainable use assessment |
non-indigenous species |
See invasive alien species.
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Asia-Pacific assessment, Sustainable use assessment, Land degradation and restoration assessment, Americas assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment |
non-instrumental value |
See values.
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non-instrumental value |
The value attributed to something as an end in itself, regardless of its utility for other ends.
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Scenarios and models assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Africa assessment, Americas assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment, Land degradation and restoration assessment, Asia-Pacific assessment |
non-lethal harvest |
Non-lethal harvest is defined as the temporary or permanent capture of live animals from their habitat without mortality, such as for the aquarium trade, pet trade or zoos, tag and release activities. Non-lethal harvest of animals also includes the parts or products of animals that do not lead to the mortality of the host, such as vicuna fiber, swift nests or wild honey.
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Sustainable use assessment |
non-linear |
Not arranged in a straight line, not sequential or straightforward.
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Asia-Pacific assessment |
non-monetary valuation |
The value attributable to an item or a service without relation to any acceptable cash price and for which a fixed or determinable amount of currency is absent (e.g. many ecosystem services, interpersonal good-will, health, etc.).
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Pollination assessment |
non-timber forest product |
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are useful substances, materials and/or commodities obtained from forests which do not require harvesting (logging) trees. They include game animals, fur-bearers, nuts, seeds, berries, mushrooms, oils, foliage, pollarding, medicinal plants, peat, mast, fuelwood, fish, spices and forage.
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Asia-Pacific assessment |
non-timber forest product |
Any biological resources found in forests other than timber, including fuel wood and small wood, nuts, seeds, oils, foliage, game animals, berries, medicinal plants, fish, spices, barks, and mushrooms, among others (Prasad, 1993).
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Global assessment (1st work programme) |
non-timber resource |
A multitude of natural products (excluding timber) selectively harvested from the terrestrial environment for subsistence and commercial purposes.
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Land degradation and restoration assessment |
normative scenarios |
see target- seeking scenarios.
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Scenarios and models assessment |
norms |
Norms are rules about what is accepted behaviour. They are supporting underlying values as defined by a society. They are therefore ‘ought to’ statements defining what one may or may not do. Examples are rules about care for nature and what is just treatment of others.
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Values assessment |
nox |
A generic term for the nitrogen oxides most relevant for air pollution (NO and NO2) (Omidvarborna et al., 2015).
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Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nutrient availability |
Nutrients that can be extracted by plant roots, generally from the soil (Silver, 1994).
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Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nutrient cycle |
A repeated pathway of a particular nutrient or element from the environment through one or more organisms and back to the environment. Examples include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the phosphorus cycle.
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Americas assessment |
nutrient cycling |
The processes by which elements are extracted from their mineral, aquatic, or atmospheric sources or recycled from their organic forms, converting them to the ionic form in which biotic uptake occurs and ultimately returning them to the atmosphere, water, or soil.
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Sustainable use assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme) |