A conservation overview of Australian non-marine lichens, bryophytes, algae and fungi
G.A.M. Scott, T.J. Entwisle, T.W. May & G.N. Stevens
Environment Australia, May 1997
ISBN 0 6422 1399 2
Appendix D – Glossary
- angiosperm
- flowering plant
- ANZECC
- Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council
- benthic
- living at the bottom of a water body, usually attached
- biodiversity
- the total range of species living in an area
- biota
- the totality of living things in an area
- cation-exchange
- absorption of calcium, magnesium, potassium etc., in exchange for hydrogen ions
- clone
- plants that are all derived from a single ancestor by vegetative multiplication, hence genetically identical
- crustose
- (of lichens) attached to the substrate by the entire lower surface
- cryptogams
- plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds; in this report the term is used for non-marine organisms and excludes pteridophytes; see Introduction
- desmids
- a group of single-celled planktonic green algae
- diatoms
- group of single-celled chrysophyte algae
- diploid
- the condition in which each different chromosome is duplicated in the nucleus of each cell (c.f. haploid)
- DNA
- desoxyribonucleic acid, the genetic material which transmits inheritance
- ecosystem
- all the organisms of an area, together with the environment they live in
- ecotone
- the transition zone between two ecological communities
- EIS
- Environmental Impact Statement
- endemic
- of species or other taxa, restricted to a particular country or area
- endophyte
- a plant that normally grows inside another plant (or animal)
- epicormic
- of shoots, sprouting from a mature stem, as in some eucalypts after fire
- epiphyll
- a plant that grows on the leaves of others; commonly lichens and bryophytes on leaves of vascular plants
- epiphyte
- a plant that grows on another, without being either parasitic or symbiotic
- eucaryote
- living organisms that have internal, membrane-bounded components in the cells, such as nuclei, chloroplasts (c.f. procaryote)
- eutrophication
- nutrient enrichment, usually with nitrogen and phosphate
- FFG
- Flora and Fauna Guarantee (Act)
- foliose
- of lichens, leaf-like, attached to substrate by rhizines or basal attachment only
- fruticose
- of lichens, upright or hanging, shrub-like growth form
- gametophyte
- haploid stage of a life cycle (c.f. sporophyte)
- germplasm
- the total material transmitting inheritance, in a species or a population
- graminoid
- grass-like plant
- haploid
- the condition in which each different chromosome is represented only once in the nucleus of each cell (c.f. diploid)
- ICO
- Interim Conservation Order
- lignin
- the characteristic hardening material of wood
- lithosere
- the succession of organisms sequentially colonising bare rock
- meromictic
- of lakes, in which the upper and lower water strata never mix
- mycelium
- the weft of filaments (hyphae) that constitute the plant body of most fungi
- mycobiota
- the flora of fungi
- mycophylla
- mutualism between an endophytic fungus and the aerial part of a plant; see section 5.1.3.
- mycorrhiza
- symbiotic association of fungi with the roots of vascular plants
- mycotoxins
- toxic substances present in fungi
- nematocidal
- killing nematodes
- non-vascular
- lacking vascular tissue (e.g. lichens, bryophytes, algae, fungi)
- phorophyte
- the tree or bush which supports an epiphyte
- photosynthetic
- able to manufacture carbohydrates using light energy
- phytochemical
- chemical, of plant origin
- phytoflagellates
- microscopic plants that swim in water by means of flagella
- phytoplankton
- microscopic, usually single-celled, plants that float on or in water
- poikilohydric
- able to survive desiccation without damage and to resume growth soon after re-wetting
- procaryote
- lacking internal organelles e.g. bacteria
- pure culture
- grown without any other contaminating organism
- rain tracks
- paths of rain down tree trunks, commonly colonised by cryptogams
- resurrection plants
- poikilohydric plants
- rhizine
- the strands that attach some lichens by the undersurface
- rhizoid
- the strands that attach bryophytes by the undersurface
- run-off
- the fraction of rainfall that is not absorbed by either plants or the ground
- saprophyte
- a plant using dead organic material as food
- saprotrophic
- as saprophytic but applied to fungi
- sclerophyll
- thick-leaved, as e.g. eucalypt trees
- sporophyte
- diploid stage of a life cycle (c.f. gametophyte)
- SSSI
- Site of Special Scientific Interest
- substrate
- the material on which a cryptogam is living and from which some (especially fungi) obtain nutrition
- symbiosis
- living together of two organisms in intimate union, either mutually beneficial or not more than weakly parasitic
- taxon
- any taxonomic category of whatever rank, species, genus, family etc.
- totipotency
- the ability to regenerate the entire plant from a fragment
- type
- the voucher specimen which determines the identity of e.g. a species
- U3A
- University of the Third Age
- vascular:
- (tissues) specialised for conducting fluids; also the plants that contain them
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