Glossary Terms

Nutrient Cycling

The capacity of a soil to receive nutrients in the form of by-products, to provide nutrients from intrinsic resources or to support the acquisition of nutrients from air or water, and to effectively carry over these nutrients into harvested crops.

Nestedness

This is a specific feature of LANDMARK deliverables from WP3 (i.e. the harmonization of proxy indicator systems among different spatial and temporal scales). One of the means to realize this is to collect indicators, and/or proxies, which have overlap for use at different spatial/temporal scales. For instance, land use as proxy should be useful for [...]

Natural capital

Refers to both the living (e.g. fish stocks, forests) and non-living (e.g. minerals, energy resources) aspects of nature which produce value to people, both directly and indirectly. It is this capital that underpins all other capital in our economy and society. Natural capital can often be confused with ecosystem services. However, whilst similar concepts, they [...]

Land use

The socio-economic purpose of the land. The main classes in the LUCAS land use nomenclature (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/other_documents/lucas/index.htm) are as follows: Classes Nomenclature U110 Agriculture  U120 Forestry  U130 Fishing  U140 Mining and quarrying  U150 Hunting  U210 Energy production  U220 Industry and manufacturing  U310 Transport, communication networks, storage and protective works  U320 Water and waste treatment  U330 Construction [...]

Land cover

The observed (bio)physical cover of the Earth's surface. The main classes in the LUCAS land cover nomenclature are as follows (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/other_documents/lucas/index.htm): Classes Nomenclature A00 Artificial land B00 Cropland C00 Woodland  D00 Shrubland  E00 Grassland  F00 Bareland  G00 Water  H00 Wetland

Indicator

An instrument (measurement, dataset, model, expert elicitation system) for quantifying an attribute, providing quantitative information of the system. For instance, the protocol for soil sampling and pH (KCL) measurement is an indicator for the 'soil pH', and the extraction, counting, identification of nematodes and calculation of the maturity index is an indicator for the 'nematode [...]

Functional Land Management

A conceptual framework for optimising the supply of soil-based ecosystem services, grouped together in five overarching soil functions, to the demands at a range of spatial scales, with a view to simultaneously meeting agronomic and environmental policy objectives (Schulte et al., 2014; O’Sullivan et al., 2015). More info: Soil functions concept  http://landmarkproject.eu/soil-functions-concept/ [PAPER] Schulte, R.P.O. et [...]

Edaphon

The community of soil organisms (microbes, fungi, nematodes, worms, insects, protozoa, etc.)

Ecosystem service

Benefits (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services) that people obtain from ecosystems, including attributes and processes through which natural and managed ecosystems can sustain ecosystem functions (http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html)

CO2 equivalent

A metric measure used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases on the basis of their global-warming potential (GWP), by converting amounts of other gases to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide with the same global warming potential. Carbon dioxide equivalents are commonly expressed as million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, abbreviated as Mt [...]