Glossary accessible—Pertaining to physical access to areas and biological control—Use of organisms or viruses to activities for people of different abilities, especially control invasive plants or other pests. those with physical impairments. biological diversity, also biodiversity—Variety of life adaptive resource management—Rigorous application and its processes, including the variety of living of management, research, and monitoring to gain organisms, the genetic differences among them, and information and experience necessary to assess and the communities and ecosystems in which they occur modify management activities; a process that uses (The Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, 052 FW 1.12B). feedback from research, monitoring, and evaluation of The National Wildlife Refuge System’s focus is on management actions to support or modify objectives indigenous species, biotic communities, and ecological and strategies at all planning levels; a process in processes. which policy decisions are carried out within a framework of scientifi cally driven experiments to biotic—Pertaining to life or living organisms; caused, test predictions and assumptions inherent in a produced by, or comprising living organisms. management plan. Analysis of results helps managers CAFO—Concentrated animal-feeding operation. determine whether current management should continue as is or whether it should be modifi ed to canopy—Layer of foliage, generally the uppermost achieve desired conditions. layer, in a vegetative stand; midlevel or understory vegetation in multilayered stands; canopy closure Administration Act—National Wildlife Refuge System (also canopy cover) is an estimate of the amount of Administration Act of 1966. overhead vegetative cover. alternative —Reasonable way to solve an identifi ed catabolized (catabolism)—Breakdown of more complex problem or satisfy the stated need (40 CFR 1500.2); substances into simpler ones, with the release of one of several different means of accomplishing refuge energy. and district purposes and goals and contributing to the Refuge System mission (The Fish and Wildlife CCP—See comprehensive conservation plan. Service Manual, 602 FW 1.5). CFR—See Code of Federal Regulations. amphibian—Class of cold-blooded vertebrates including frogs, toads, or salamanders. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)—Codifi cation of the general and permanent rules published in the “Federal annual—Plant that fl owers and dies within 1 year of Register” by the executive departments and agencies germination. of the federal government. Each volume of the CFR is updated once each calendar year. ATV—All-terrain vehicle. COMLG acre-foot— —Conservation Order for Mid-continent Amount of water it takes to cover a level Light Geese. acre of land (43,560 square feet) to a depth of 1 foot; about 43,560 cubic feet of water or 325,851 gallons. compatibility determination—See compatible use. avian—Relating to or characteristic of birds. compatible use—Wildlife-dependent recreational use or any other use of a refuge or district that, in the baseline—Set of critical observations, data, or sound professional judgment of the director of the information used for comparison or a control. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will not materially basin—Referring to the landform that acts as a water interfere with or detract from the fulfi llment of the catchment; here used generically to refer to the hydric mission of the Refuge System or the purposes of the footprint that pools water. refuge or district (The Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, 603 FW 3.6). A compatibility determination the basin—See Rainwater Basin. supports the selection of compatible uses and identifi ed stipulations or limits necessary to ensure compatibility. bioenergetics—Study of energy transformation in living systems. comprehensive conservation plan (CCP)—Document that describes the desired future conditions of the 82 CCP, Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District, NE refuge or district and provides long-range guidance emergent—Plant rooted in shallow water and having and management direction for the refuge or wetland most of the vegetative growth above water such as district manager to accomplish the purposes of the cattail and hardstem bulrush. refuge or district, contribute to the mission of the Refuge System, and to meet other relevant mandates endangered species, federal—Plant or animal species (The Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, 602 FW 1.5). listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, that is in danger of extinction throughout concern—See issue. all or a signifi cant portion of its range. cool-season grasses—Grasses that begin growth endangered species, state—Plant or animal species earlier in the season and often become dormant in the in danger of becoming extinct or extirpated in a summer. These grasses will germinate at lower particular state within the near future if factors temperatures. contributing to its decline continue. Populations of these species are at critically low levels or their habitats coteau—Hilly upland including the divide between have been degraded or depleted to a signifi cant two valleys; a divide; the side of a valley. degree. cover, also cover type, canopy cover—Present endogenous—Stored reserves of lipids, proteins, and vegetation of an area. other nutrients; energy generated from mobilizing critical habitat—Area essential to the survival of a these reserves. species; includes all air, land, and water that a species environmental assessment (EA)—Concise public requires to carry out its normal living patterns, as well document, prepared in compliance with the National as other living things used by the species for food, Environmental Policy Act, that briefl y discusses the shelter, or other necessary activities. purpose and need for an action and alternatives to cultural resources—Remains of sites, structures, or such action, and provides suffi cient evidence and objects used by people in the past. analysis of impacts to determine whether to prepare an environmental impact statement or fi nding of no CWCS—Comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy. signifi cant impact (40 CFR 1508.9). cyanobacteria—Blue-green algae; widely distributed epizootic—Pertaining to a disease that affects large group of predominantly photosynthetic prokaryotic numbers of animals throughout a large area and organisms of the subkingdom Cyanophyta, resembling spreads with great speed. phototrophic bacteria, occurring singly or in colonies in diverse habitats: some species can fi x atmospheric erosion—Wearing away of the land surface by various nitrogen. natural processes such as wind and moving water in the form of rivers, streams, rain, and melting snow. dense nesting cover—Composition of grasses and forbs that allows for a dense stand of vegetation that protects eutrophication—Overenrichment of a waterbody nesting birds from the view of predators, usually with nutrients, resulting in the excessive growth of consisting of one to two species of wheatgrass, alfalfa, organisms and the depletion of oxygen. and sweetclover. evaporation—Physical process by which a liquid or the district—See wetland management district. solid is transformed to a gas. drawdown—Act of manipulating water levels in an exogenous—Pertaining to a nutrient that is not stored impoundment to allow for the natural drying-out cycle and is readily available. of a wetland. exotic—Nonnative species of plants or animals often DUD—Duck use-day; number of days that an area can brought into an area by human activity. support a duck’s energetics’ needs. extinction—Complete disappearance of a species from EA—See environmental assessment. the earth; no longer existing. ecosystem—Dynamic and interrelating complex of extirpation—Extinction of a population; complete plant and animal communities and their associated eradication of a species within a specifi ed area. nonliving environment; a biological community, fauna—All the vertebrate and invertebrate animals together with its environment, functioning as a unit. of an area. For administrative purposes, the Service has designated 53 ecosystems covering the United States federal trust species—Species where the federal and its possessions. These ecosystems generally government has primary jurisdiction including correspond with watershed boundaries and their sizes federally endangered or threatened species, migratory and ecological complexity vary. birds, anadromous fi sh, and certain marine mammals. Glossary 83 FGDC—Federal Geographic Data Committee. hemi-marsh—Wetland with a 50–50 interspersion of open-water and emergent vegetation. fl ood—Unusual accumulation of water above the ground caused by heavy rain, melting snow, or rapid hydric soil—Soil that is saturated, fl ooded, or pooled runoff; a temporary condition of partial or complete long enough during the growing season to develop inundation of lands that normally do not pool water conditions that do not require oxygen and that favor throughout the entire year. the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation; hydric soils suggest the presence of wetlands. fl oodplain—Low-lying, nearly level area along a river or stream that is periodically subject to being fl ooded hydrophyte—Plant that is adapted to grow in water; by water from any source. a wetland plant species. fl ora—Plants, specifi cally plants within a particular hydrophytic vegetation—Visible plants growing in set of boundaries that may be geographical, temporal, water or on a substrate and periodically defi cient in or biological. oxygen as a result of excessive