Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership

Abstraction

Deliberate removal of surface or groundwater for any use.

Abstraction license

License issued by the Environment Agency to allow the abstraction of surface or groundwater for any use.

Aerobic

A term used to describe the state of water – oxygen rich (noun) or requiring and using oxygen (adjective);
nitrifying bacteria are aerobic.

Alkalinity

Alkalinity is the ability of water to resist (buffer) changes in pH. Alkalinity (also known as Carbonate Hardness or KH) is the measure of carbonate and bicarbonate ion concentrations. Sources of product that can be added to the pond is ordinary baking soda, purchased at any grocer store and crushed oyster shells which can be purchased at farm supply stores, sold as chicken feed

Amenity

A positive element or elements that contribute to the overall character or enjoyment of an area. For example, open land, trees, historic buildings and the inter-relationship between them, or less tangible factors such as tranquility.

Amenity Greenspace

Open land, often landscaped, that makes a positive contribution to the appearance of an area or improves the quality of the lives of people living or working within the locality. It often provides opportunities for activities such as sports, and can serve other purposes such as reducing the noise from a busy road or providing shelter from prevailing winds.

Ammonia

Fish live and respire, giving off ammonia through the gills as they accept oxygen. Fresh water fish also urinate constantly, in order to eliminate the water forcing its way in through simple osmosis. Other wastes, like dead plants are subject to decay, adding their substantial volume of ammonia to the water solution. More importantly, excess food also rots and produces an enormous amount of ammonia

Anaerobic

A term used to describe the state of water – oxygen poor (noun) or requiring an oxygen-poor environment (adjective); many anaerobic bacteria found in ponds produce hydrogen sulfide and methane as byproducts which not only stink but can poison fish and invertebrates can struggle to live in such conditions

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs)

The primary purpose of the AONB designation is to conserve natural beauty; which by statute includes wildlife, physiographic features and cultural heritage as well as the more conventional concepts of landscape and scenery.

Autotrophic

This is used to describe a pond which is self-sustaining, do not require outside food sources (not including inorganics); for example, nitrifying bacteria (the good bacteria) are autotrophic as they only need ammonia or nitrite on which to feed depending on the species

Average Score per Taxon (ASPT)

Calculated by summing the BMWP scores for all taxa present at a site and dividing by the total number of BMWP taxa present.

Bio-accumulation

A food-chain process whereby persistent chemicals build up in predator body tissues, sometimes with lethal consequences. For example, pesticides and heavy metals accumulate in predatory fish, birds, mammals and even people.

Biodiversity

A term used to describe the diversity of all living things, including genetic, species within a given ecosystem

Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)

A strategy prepared for a local area aimed at conserving and enhancing biological diversity.

Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP)

The biological monitoring working party (score) is a procedure for measuring water quality using macroinvertebrates as biological indicators. The method is based on the principle that different aquatic invertebrates have different tolerances to pollutants.

Brownfield Land or Site

Refers to land that is or was occupied by a permanent structure, which has become vacant, underused or derelict and has the potential for redevelopment (previously developed land). Land that has not been developed in the past (e.g. parks, recreation grounds, allotments) is not classified as brownfield. Since brownfield sites have been used for a broad range of industrial process many have varying degrees of contamination

Buffer Zone

An area of land separating certain types of development from adjoining sensitive land uses.

Catchment

All the area draining into a river, lake or other body of water

Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies (CAMS)

Six-year plans detailing water resource management in an area.

Catchment Flood Management Plans (CFMP)

A planning tool through which the EA seek to work with other key decision-makers within a river catchment to identify and agree policies for sustainable flood risk management.

Constructed wetlands

Wetlands intentionally created from non-wetland sites for the sole purpose of wastewater or stormwater treatment (Hammer 1997).

Contaminated Land

Land that has been polluted or harmed in some way making it unfit for safe development and usage unless cleaned.

Country Parks

Country Parks are statutorily declared and managed by local authorities in England and Wales under the Countryside Act 1968.

Detritus

Accumulated debris at the bottom of an aquarium or pond; composed of decomposing plant leaves, other vegetation, dead animals,
wastes, leftover food, and other decomposing organic entities; once decomposed, this becomes mulm/sludge.

Diffuse pollution

An accumulation of discharges from a variety of disparate sources or from general land use within a catchment.

Diurnal

Used to describe creatures that are active in the daylight and asleep at night.

Ecotone

The margin between two habitats (e.g. land and water at the edge of wetlands) often a very bio-diverse area.

Emergent vegetation

Vegetation that is rooted in the substrate with leaves that emerges above the water for at least part of the year. Emergent vegetation is usually found in the shallower parts of waterbodies.

Environment Agency (EA)

A government body that aims to prevent or minimise the effects of pollution on the environment and issues permits to monitor and control activities that handle or produce waste. It also provides up-to-date information on waste management matters and deals with other matters such as water issues including flood protection advice.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Applicants for certain types of development, usually more significant schemes, are required to submit an “environmental statement” accompanying a planning application. This evaluates the likely environmental impacts of the development, together with an assessment of how the severity of the impacts could be reduced.

Environmental permit

It combines pollution prevention and control (PPC) permits and waste management licensing (WML) into a single system.

Environmental regulators

The Environment Agency is the main environmental regulator in England and Wales.

Eutrophication

Over-enrichment of nutrients in water, for instance by farm discharge or by sewage treatment plant effluents.

Evapotranspiration

The combination of water lost from a soil or water surface by evaporation and water lost from growing plants (transpiration).

Fry

Fish larvae or newborn fish

General Quality Assessment (GQA)

Indicator uses data (biology, chemistry, nutrients and aesthetics) collected by the Environment Agency to assess fresh water quality.

GIS: Geographic Information Systems

is any system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that are linked to location. In simple terms it is an electronic Ordnance Survey map where points or polygons can be added to represent species data or locations such as nature reserves. Throguh spreadsheet data, such as surveys can be added. GIS programes include MapInfo and ArcView.

Green Space

Open land valuable for wildlife, amenity, or recreation purposes, within or adjoining a built-up area. May include previously used or undeveloped land.

Greenfield Land or Site

Land (or a defined site) usually farmland, that has not previously been developed

Groundwater

Water held in aquifers and underground fissures, cracks and spaces.

Habitat Action Plan (HAP)

A target programme of management measures aimed at maintaining/restoring a specific habitat.

Impoundment

Any body of water created by a dam, or any structure that causes water to collect behind it.

Land drainage consent

The Environment Agency and the District Council must approve any proposal that affects a watercourse

Landforming

Altering the shape of the ground surface, e.g. from creation of ditches, excavating ponds to large scale reprofiling of a whole site.

Local Nature Reserves (LNRs)

Under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. LNRs may be declared by local authorities after consultation with the relevant statutory nature conservation agency.

Local Planning Authority

The statutory authority (usually the local council) whose duty it is to carry out the planning function for its area.

Local Wildlife Sites (LWS)

Local Wildlife Sites (LWS). Formerly known as Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) or County Wildlife Sites. They were re-branded under National Indicator 197 (now no longer in exsistance). They contain species that are important to the region and are viewed as a good example of that type of particular habitat. Local Wildlife Sites support both locally and nationally threatened wildlife. Local Wildlife Sites complement SSSIs and nature reserves by helping to maintain links between these sites. In recent years there has been a growing recognition of the importance of conserving such places, so that wildlife can survive in the wider countryside, outside of nature reserves.Local Wildlife Sites are protected within the local planning system. They are a ‘material consideration’ in the determination of planning applications, and this should ensure that there is a general presumption against development upon them. It should be stressed that notification does not confer any rights of access either for the general public or nature conservation organisations; it is simply recognition of a site’s nature conservation value.

Macro-invertebrate

Any invertebrate large enough to be seen by the naked eye.

Macrophyte

Any plant large enough to be seen by the naked eye.

Marginal vegetation

Vegetation that grows at the edges of waterbodies and waterways but is rooted in the substrate.

Mesohabitat

This term is used to describe different areas of a particular habitat based on their structure. For example with ponds there is reedbeds, floating leaved areas, submerged plants, rocky areas, muddy flats etc

Mesotrophic

Waters with moderate nutrient status and plant productivity. These lakes can have high plant species diversity.

Mulm

Accumulated sludge of deteriorated/decomposed organic material in the bottom of a pond such as decomposed leaves; may be called the “black gold” of pond keeping; good fertilizer for terrestrial plants.

National Vegetation

Phyto-sociological classification, which attempts to group all of the UK habitats into vegetation communities.

NPMN

National Pond Monitoring Network. The National Pond Monitoring Network aims to increase the amount of data collated on the UK’s ponds and to make it publicly available. It is currently run by Pond Conservation and can provide a series of standard methodologies for pond surveying.

Natura 2000

Natura 2000 is the name of the European Union-wide network of nature conservation sites (SPA and SAC) established under the EC Habitats and Birds Directives

Neotonic

When an amphibian permanently remains in its larval aquatic state with gills instead of changing into an adult with lungs that lives on
land; the amphibian lives and breeds in this state. Often called a neonate.

Oligotrophic

Waters that are relatively low in nutrients and cannot support high levels of plant productivity. These waters can have high plant species diversity and support rare plant species.

pH

Logarithmic (base 10) scale of hydrogen ion concentration from 1 (very acid) to 14 very alkaline.

Phase I Brownfield

Phase I site condition audits develop an initial bespoke conceptual model by applying source-pathway-receptor principles to indicate potential environmental and human health risk of a site. This involves a desk study research and evaluation through site walkover visits to identify the most appropriate designs for site investigation programmes to assess uncertainty on contaminative risk.

Phase II Brownfield

Phase II site investigations provide the physical means to interrogate site condition through intrusive soil sampling, trial pitting, hand auguring or permanently installed monitoring boreholes from which to retain soil and groundwater samples for laboratory analysis.

Physico-chemical

Study of physical and chemical properties of a site.

Planning Permission

Formal approval sought from a council, often granted with conditions, allowing a proposed development to proceed. Permission may be sought in principle through outline planning applications, or be sought in detail through full planning applications.

Planning Policy Guidance (PPG)

Issued by central government setting out its national land use policies for England on different areas of planning. PPG’s are being replaced by Planning Policy Statements (PPS).

Planning Policy Statements (PPS)

Replacements for PPG’s, they are prepared by the government after public consultation to explain statutory provisions and provide guidance to local authorities and others on planning policy and the operation of the planning system.

Point Source pollution

Any confined or discrete source of pollution, such as a pipe, leaking container etc.

Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC)

A system of regulations and permit regime designed to prevent or reduce pollution.

Previously Developed Land (PDL) or Brownfield land

Previously developed land is that which is or was occupied by a permanent structure (excluding agricultural or forestry buildings), and associated fixed-surface infrastructure.

PSYM

The ‘Predictive System of Multimetrics’. This is a standard method for surveying ponds. It provides an assessment of the ecological quality of a site compared to ponds nationally. It requires basic environmental information including pH and identification of the plant species and /or invertebrate families found at the site.

Public Open Space

Urban space, designated by a council, where public access may or may not be formally established, but which fulfils or can fulfil a recreational or non-recreational role (for example, amenity, ecological, educational, social or cultural usages).

Pupae

The immobile, incased transition state for insects between larvae and adult.

Ramsar sites

Ramsar sites are designated under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, agreed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. Originally intended to protect sites of importance especially as waterfowl habitat, the Convention has broadened its scope over the years to cover all aspects of wetland conservation.

Red List Species or Red Data Book Species (RDB)

A species whose range has declined rapidly over the last 25 years.  Red Data Book species are classified into different categories of perceived risk. Each Red Data Book usually deals with a specific group of animals or plants

River Basin Management Plan (RBMP)

River basin planning is a new strategic decision-making process introduced by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) which integrates the management of land and water within river basin districts (RBDs). The Directive requires the preparation of a River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) for each River Basin District in the European Union. It also specifies that interested parties must be encouraged to become actively involved in river basin planning and that the implementation process should be open and inclusive.

Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM)

Nationally important monuments usually archaeological remains, that enjoy greater protection against inappropriate development through the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

Shapefiles

These are also known as layers and are the files created through GIS when a new series of points or polygons is created.

Silt

Accumulated small inorganic particles composed of rock, dirt, and sand; generally harmless except that it may cloud water if not settled and may contain inorganic phosphates, nitrates, etc.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

The SSSI series has developed since 1949 as the national suite of sites providing statutory protection for the best examples of the UK’s flora, fauna, or geological or physiographical features.

Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)

SACs are designated under the EC Habitats Directive. SACs are areas which have been identified as best representing the range and variety within the European Union of habitats and (non-bird) species listed on Annexes I and II to the Directive.

Special Protection Areas (SPA)

SPAs are classified by the UK Government under the EC Birds Directive. SPAs are areas of the most important habitat for rare (listed on Annex I to the Directive) and migratory birds within the European Union.

SSSI: Sites of Special Scientific Importance

There are over 4,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in England, covering around 7% of the country’s land area. Over half of these sites, by area, are internationally important for their wildlife, and designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs) or Ramsar sites. Many SSSIs are also National Nature Reserves (NNRs) or Local Nature Reserves (LNRs).

SSSIs are the country’s very best wildlife and geological sites. They include some of our most spectacular and beautiful habitats – large wetlands teeming with waders and waterfowl, winding chalk rivers, gorse and heather-clad heathlands, flower-rich meadows, windswept shingle beaches and remote uplands moorland and peat bog.

SSSI’s give legal protection to the best sites for wildlife and geology in England. The first SSSIs were identified in 1949 when the then Nature Conservancy notified local authorities of SSSIs, so their conservation interest could be taken into account during the development planning process.

Natural England now has responsibility for identifying and protecting the SSSIs in England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). The designation of SSSIs includes a two stage process; notification and confirmation.

Stagnation

A pond stagnates when there is little or no water movement or replacement resulting in an overgrowth of anaerobic bacteria and algae; may result in the death of animals; stagnant ponds stink and may contain certain aquatic insect larvae such as mosquitoes and rat-tailed maggots.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

An environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes, including those in the field of planning and land use, which complies with the EU Directive 2001/42/EC.

Summer Rain Days

Number of days in summer with >1mm rainfall

Sustainable Development

A widely used definition drawn up by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 is “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)

SuDs use techniques to control surface water run-off as close to its origin as possible, before it enters a watercourse. This involves moving away from traditional piped drainage systems to engineering solutions that mimic natural drainage processes i.e. permeable and porous pavements.

Total Dissolved Nitrogen

Total Dissolved Nitrogen consists of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and dissolved organic nitrogen and is readily available for plant uptake.

Trophic Ranking Score (TRS)

A measure of the average trophic rank, calculated by assigning each plant species with a trophic score based on its affinity to waters of a particular nutrient status. Plant scores vary from 2.5 (dystrophic i.e. nutrient poor) to 10 (eutrophic i.e. nutrient rich).

Uncommon Species Index

Species with a rarity score of 2 or more. Refers to species which can be described as local, nationally scarce or red data Book.

Water Framework Directive

A European Directive which commits European Union member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies by 2015. It established a framework for the protection of inland surface waters (rivers and lakes), transitional waters (estuaries), coastal waters and groundwater.

Wetland Creation

Wetland creation refers to the “conversion of a persistent non-wetland area into a wetland through some activity of man” (Lewis 1990).

Wetland Enhancement

Wetland enhancement is the “increase in one or more values of all or a portion of an existing wetland by man’s activities, often with the accompanying decline in other wetland values” (Lewis 1990).

Wetland Mitigation

Wetland mitigation is “the actual restoration, creation, or enhancement of wetlands to compensate for permitted wetland losses” (Lewis 1990).

Wetland Restoration

Wetland restoration is to return an area from “a disturbed or totally altered condition to a previously existing natural or altered condition by some action of man. Restoration refers to the return to a pre-existing condition” (Lewis 1990).

Winter Wet Days

Number of days in winter with > 10mm rainfall.