GLOSSARY

aeration - exposure to chemical or mechanical action of air.
 
AHD - Australian Height Datum
 
amphipod - order of mainly laterally compressed crustaceans.
 
amplitude - height, extent.
 
anaerobic - non-aerobic, without oxygen.
 
annelid - segmented worms.
 
anthropogenic - originated by man.
 
arthropods - animals with jointed limbs.
 
articulate - jointed.
 
astronomic tides - tides influenced by the moon.
 
barometric - air-pressure, resulting from weather patterns.
 
benthic - living in the water or sediment at the bottom of an estuary, ocean or pool.
 
benthic phytoplankton - microscopic plants that live in the water on the surface of substrate.
 
benthic zooplankton - microscopic animals which occur in the waters on the bottom of the estuary, ocean of lake.
 
biodiversity - diversity in living organisms.
 
biological controls - plants, animals or viruses used to control pests.
 
biomass - amount of organic matter of a species, per unit of area or volume.
 
biota - living organisms.
 
bivalve mollusc - a class of invertebrate where the body in laterally compressed and enclosed between two oval shells.
 
CAD/CAM- Computer Aided Drafting/Modelling
 
CAMBA Treaties - Chinese Australian Migratory Bird Agreement
 
carbon fluxes - changes in carbon in a water body.
 
chaetognaths - marine arrow-worms.
 
chenopods - group of plants to which some saltmarsh plants belong.
 
conduit - pipe, channel or drain.
 
cubic convolution - a resampling process which uses a high order convolution process to determine image output values.
 
culm - stem of a plant.
 
DAT - Digital Audio Tape, used for storing computer data.
 
decumbent - lying along ground or surface of body.
 
detritus - any particulate accumulation of disintegrated animal, mineral or vegetable debris.
 
diatom mats - mats made up of microscopic algae with a cell wall composed of silica.
 
ditching - a form of mosquito control involving whereby water is removed from the marsh preventing the larvae developing into adults.
 
diurnal - of the day.
 
DN - Digital Number, for the 8 - bit data there will be 256 brightness levels representing reflectance of the pixel of the ground scene. It can be converted to radiance.

DOLA - Department of Land Administration, Western Australia.
 
dpi - Dots Per Inch (resolution) used to describe resolution of an image of picture.
 
ecology - study of the relations of animals and plants, to their surroundings.
 
ecosystems - a community of organisms interacting with one another, plus the environment in which they live and with which they interact.
 
ecotone - zone of intergration of two communities.
 
ecotourism - tourism based around natural resources.
 
ellipsoid - all plane sections through one axis are ellipses and all other plane sections are ellipses or circles.
 
ephemeral - short-lived, transitory.
 
epifaunal - animals which grow upon plants.
 
epiphyte - plant which grows upon another plant but is neither parasitic on it nor rooted in the ground.

ERDAS - Earth Resource Data Analysis System
 
ESRI - Environmental Systems Research Institute
 
eutrophic - waters which have very high level of nutrients.
 
exotics - plants and animals which orginate from countries other than Australia.
 
feral - plants and animals which are declared a pest.
 
fetch direction - direction of wind on water.
 
flux - inflow of tide.
 
gastropod mollusc - includes snails, slugs, sea hares.
 
Gb - Gigabyte
 
GCP Ground Control Point used in georeferencing aerial photographs
 
geomorphology - study of the physical features and processes of the earth’s surface and their relation to its geological structures.
 
georeferencing - pixels, or elements of an image initially only have a line a column number when digital image data is acquired. The process of allocating latitude or longitude (or eastings and northings) to point in the image is often called georeferencing.

halophytic - a plant which grows in salty soils.
 
harpacticoid copepods - very small crustacean.
 
herbarium - collection of preserved plant speciments for identification and reference purposes.
 
hypersaline - exceeding the salinity of seawater.
 
IBM-PC - International Business Machines - Personal computer.
 
IFOV - Instantaneous field of view of the sensor.

IMG - Image file format.
 
interspecies - between species.
 
interstitial - lies within the soil.
 
isopods - large, diverse order of crustacean, 5-15mm long, almost always dorsoventrally flattened and adapted for crawling.
 
JAMBA treaties - Japanese Australian Migratory Bird Agreement
 
larvicides - chemicals used to kill insect larvae (juveniles).
 
lignin - cellulose material found in plants.
 
macro invertebrates - animals without back bones that are relatively large (greater than 250 µm).
 
macro vertebrates - animals with back bones that are large.
 
macroalgae - large plants eg. seaweed, kelp.
 
macrobenthos - larger benthic animals.
 
macropods - kangaroos, walabies.
 
Mb - Megabyte
 
meio-sized - between 250 and 53 µm in size.
 
melange - mixture.
 
micro-sized - below 53 µm in size.
 
microbe - a microorganism.
 
microflora - small plants, bacteria and fungi.
 
mosaic - pictures/photos joined together.
 
nematodes - unsegmented worms.
 
NIR - Near Infra Red

Null data - data of no significance.

nutrient sink - reserve of nutrients.
 
Oligochaeta - a class of worms that have very well-developed segmentation.
 
orthophoto - a photograph, which has been corrected for distortions due to camera tilt or terrain variation. Geometrically orthophoto is the same as any topographical map.

ostracoda - very small crustaceans living in bivalve shells.
 
periphery - outer sourrounding region.
 
permaculture - perennial agriculture system, also an approach to designing environments which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems.

pH - related to hydrogen ion concentration, tests the alkalinity or acidity of water
 
photosynthesis - the process whereby light energy is converted into chemical energy in the prescence of chlorphyll.
 
phytoplankton - a collective term for free-floating, or weakly swimming aquatic plants eg. certain algae or diatoms.
 
pixel - picture element. It is a smallest resolvable image element. It has both, the spectral and the spatial aspects.
 
polychaete - form of annelid, mainly marine worms, includes bristleworms, tube-worms, fan-worms.
 
procumbent - growing along the ground.
 
protozoa - animals consisting of one cell only.
 
quadrats - sequence of vegetation chosen at random for study of composition of vegetation in a selected area.
 
RAMSAR - international treaty to protect birds, their feeding and breeding grounds.
 
Raster Files - image files composed of discrete pixels arranged in a grid.
 
rhizomes - underground stem, bearing buds in axils of reduced scale-like leaves.
 
RMS - Root Mean Square
 
rotifers - very small flat, unsegmented animal.
 
runnelling - small, spoon shaped channels designed to flush water in to and out of the saltmarsh; preventing mosquito larvae developing through to adults.
 
sedimentary - attached to substrate.
 
seed bank - a store of plant seeds.
 
spatial - between areas or points.
 
spatial accuracy - degree of accuracy associated with the correct location (geographical) attributes of data. It is referring the accuracy of the position of the point in space.

spatial resolution - the level of the spatial detail depicted in the image.
 
spectral reflectance - measured for a specified wavelength of the incident radiant flux.
 
spectral resolution - range of wavebands incorporated into a particular spectral channel / band of the sensor; sometimes number of channels / bands of the sensor
 
specular reflection - a surface is smaller in height variations than the wavelength of the incident energy; the surface acts as a smooth reflector and most of the incident energy is reflected in a forward direction.

staff - graduated rod for measuring distances.
 
stratification - media separated into layers.
 
structure planning procedures - a broad level planning framework which establish the principles for co-ordination and promotion of regional landuse planning and development, specifically for the guidance of state and local government and private sector. For example, the SW corridor structure plan. Structue plans designate housing densities, land uses, location of public open space and reserves, transportation systems and utility and location of all services (schools hospitals etc).
 
TAR - Tape Archive and Read (Unix command)
 
taxa - a classification system for plants and animals; refers to a group.
 
temperate - any area of the earth between the tropics and the Artic and Antartic Circles, having a clearly defined winter and summer.
 
terrestrial - relating to the earth or land.
 
theodolite - surveying-instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles by means of rotating a telescope.
 
TIFF - Tagged Information File Format (graphics file format)
 
topography - landforms
 
transect - line of belt vegetation selected to study changes in composition of vegetation across a particular area.
 
UTM - Universal trans Mercator, a mapping projection.
 
vascular - plant tissue consisting mainly of xylem and phloem which forms a continuous system throughout all parts of higher plants; it functions in conduction of water, mineral salts, and synthersized food materials and for mechanical support.
 
WST - Western Standard Time
 
zooplankton - very small animals which float or drift almost passively in water.
 
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