GLOSSARY OF TERMS 317
to cause harm or threaten the survival of native species.
karst: an area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground
streams, and caverns.
lentic: pertaining to standing water, as in lakes and ponds.
loess: soil material transported and deposited by wind and consisting of predominantly silt-sized
particles.
lotic: pertaining to flowing water, as in rivers and streams.
mast: the fruit of flowering trees used by wildlife for food.
mesic: describing sites with a moderate amount of moisture, which support plants that require a
moderate amount of moisture.
mesophyte: plant that grows under medium conditions of moisture.
mussel: an aquatic bivalve mollusk.
neotropical migratory birds: birds which migrate to the neotropics (South and Central America and the
Caribbean) during the winter, but breed and nest in North America.
pelagic: referring to species that spend the majority of their lives on or in the open ocean, beyond the
near-shore coastal zone (less than three miles offshore).
pine plantation: Stands that have been artificially regenerated by planting or direct seeding and with a
southern yellow pine.
point source pollution: contamination or impairment from a known specific point of origination, such
as sewer outfalls or pipes.
pyric: resulting from, induced by, or associated with burning.
rare: a classification reflecting a species' scarcity in a given area. Rare plants, animals and eventually
communities) are assigned rarity ranks according to The Nature Conservancy's global ranking system.
reforestation: Area of land previously classified as forest that is regenerated by seeding, planting trees,
or natural regeneration.
relict: an organism or species of an earlier time surviving in an environment that has undergone
considerable change.
riparian zone/riparian area: the area of land on either side of streams, channels, rivers, or other water
bodies. These areas are normally distinctly different from the surrounding lands because of unique soil
and vegetation characteristics (e.g., wetter soil than adjacent soil conditions where aquatic vegetative
communities thrive).
senescent: the process of becoming old.
species richness: the cumulative number of species.
substrate: bottom material in lakes, streams and rivers.
succession: the slow orderly progression of change in community composition during development of
vegetation in any area, from initial colonization to the attainment of the climax typical of a particular