Ecosystem

• A system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment is called an ecosystem.
• Species diversity: the total number of species in an area; also, the proportional distribution of species in a given area.
• Functional diversity: the number of functional roles represented in an ecosystem

Ecological footprint

• A measure of how much biologically productive land and water an individual, population, or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates using, prevailing technology and resource management practices.
• Today humanity uses the equivalent of 1.5 planets to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste.

Ecological deficit:

• The difference between the bio-capacity and ecological footprint of a region or country.
• An ecological deficit occurs when the footprint of a population exceeds the biocapacity of the area available to the population.

Ecological reserve

• An ecological reserve exists when the bio-capacity of a region exceeds its population’s footprint.
• Biodiversity buffer/ecosystem buffer: the amount of bio-capacity set aside to maintain representative ecosystem types and viable populations of species (related to the resilience of the ecosystem)