mg/L = micrograms per litre (1,000 micrograms per milligram)

Micrograms per metre squared

Micrograms per metre cubed

Australian Bureau of Statistics

adequacy-the reserve system's ability to maintain the ecological viability and integrity of populations, species and communities.

The area that is defined by natural or topographical features affecting air quality. Once a substance is emitted it can be contained therein for a reasonable time (DPIWE 2000).

Australian Land Use Management

Australian National Committee on Large Dams Incorporated

lacking oxygen

The description of something that is a development of the human race, and is especially a subject of scientific study.

An extensive horizontal movement of the atmophere spirally around and away from a gradually progressing central region of high barometric pressure, the sprial motion being anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.

Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council

ANZECC (1999) guidelines for water quality monitoring and assessment emphasise key features to incorporate in any monitoring of indicators, including:

(1) explicit definition of the sampling area and the sampling protocol that will support the work;

(2) the definition of sampling sites, sampling frequency, and spatial and temporal variability that will permit appropriate statistical method to be used;

(3) rigorous attention to field and laboratory quality control and assurance; and,

(4) a pilot study to test the sampling protocol and refine spatial and temporal variability.

Atomic Planning Units

A layer of rock of sediment able to hold or transmit water.

Age standardised rate - rates are adjusted for age to facilitate comparisons between populations that have different age structures, e.g. between youthful and ageing communities. Age standardisation has been used in which age specific rates are used to calculate the number of new cases that would have occurred if the population had the same age structure as the world standard population. The influence of age structure on the summary rate is effectively removed, the age standardisation rate is then arrived at. The method may be used for both incidence and mortality calculations (DPIWE 1999).

The analysis of soils to determine the concentrations of component minerals.

The boundary layer near the bed of a waterbody (e.g. sea, lake, river).

Wetlands may be a sink for, or transform, nutrients organic compounds,metals, and components of organic matter. Wetlands may also act as filters of sediments and organic matter.

(http://h2osparc.wq.ncsu.edu/info/wetlands/function.html)

An area of land which share similar environmental, physical and climatic conditions and contain characteristic ecosystems of plants and animals. Tasmania is divided into nine land bioregions and nine coastal and marine bioregions. Bioregions represent broad landscape patterns that are the result of the interplay between a range of factors including geology, climate and biota. Subregions represent more homogenous geomorphic units at a finer scale that often closely relate to historical and current land-use and therefore, reflect differing pressures on the landscape (Gouldthorpe & Gilfedder 2002).

biological oxygen demand

One common method of examining data collected at varous sites is to plot the data from each site as a box and whisker plot. These plots display the median (or the middle of the data) as a line across the inside of the box. The bottom and top edges of the box mark the first and third quartiles respectively, indicating the middle 50% of the data. The ends of the whiskers show the extremes of the data and together enclose 95% of the data.

Mass per unit volume of soil (sampled as a clod or core), dried to constant weight at 105°C. The unit of measurement is usually grams per cubic centimetre. Bulk density is a measure of soil porosity, with low values meaning a highly porous soil and vice versa. Bulk density may be used as an indicator of the structural condition of the soil, with low levels indicating a better state of aggregation than high levels. The range for soils in natural condition would typically be from 1 to 2 grams per cubic centimetre.

Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative

A reserve system displaying the features of comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness.

Comprehensiveness-the degree to which the full range of ecological communities and their biological diversity are incorporated in the reserve system.

Adequacy-the reserve system's ability to maintain the ecological viability and integrity of populations, species and communities.

Representativeness-the extent to which areas selected for inclusion in the reserve system are capable of reflecting the known biological diversity and ecological patterns and processes of the ecological community or ecosystem concerned.

Scientific Advisory Group for the Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative Private Forest Reserve Program

The land area which drains into a particular watercourse (river, stream or creek) and is a natural topographic division of the landscape. Underlying geological formations may alter the perceived catchment area suggested solely by topography (limestone caves are an example of this).

Focuses on anthropogenic changes to land surfaces that influence rivers (Norris et al. 2001).

Census Districts. The smallest areal unit used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the collection of statistical data such as those in the Census of Population and Housing. Rural and urban CDs differ in the number of households captured within their boundaries.

Clorofluorocarbon

An understanding among individuals that membership in a jurisdiction or community requires more than a passive acceptance of the rights of that membership. It goes beyond paying taxes, voting or obeying the law. Thus, active citizenship implies an acceptance of responsibilities to the collective good as well as individual rights. An active citizen is one who has developed or is developing the capacity to engage in public work to solve common problems. This public work involves both practical effort and participation in decision-making about these problems. Active citizens extend due consideration to non-citizens and non-human nature, as well as to other citizens. As an idea, active citizenship is crucial to sustainability in practice.

The immediate nearshore environment, either on land or in the water. While it is impossible to define an exact distance, in most cases it means within 1 to 2 kilometres of the mean high water mark.

Material deposited under the influence of gravity on steep slopes.

comprehensiveness-the degree to which the full range of ecological communities and their biological diversity are incorporated in the reserve system.

To make solid or firm, solidify or strengthen.

To cut or prune dead-wood to encourage regeneration.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

Cumec is a measurement of discharge. One cumec is one cubic metre of water per second.

One of the values of a variable which divides its distribution into ten groups having equal frequencies, i.e. percentile bands. Drought conditions during El NiÑo events, for example, are defined by the predominance of rainfall in the first decile (the lowest 10% band).

Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources

dissolved inorganic nitrogen

That part of an individual's or group's wages, salaries or other income that remains after all expenses are paid.

Oxygen is essential for all forms of aquatic life and many organisms obtain this oxygen directly from the water in the dissolved form. The level of dissolved oxygen in natural waters varies with temperature, turbulence, photosynthetic activity and atmospheric pressure. Dissolved oxygen varies over 24 hour periods as well as seasonally and can range from as high as 15 mg/L to levels approaching 0 mg/L. Levels below 5 mg/L will begin to place stress on aquatic biota and below 2 mg/L will cause death of fish.

The average annual volume of water that can be trapped and used through existing and potential infrastructure.

Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia

Department of Premier and Cabinet

Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment

Department of State Development

E-Ball is an approach similar to that used in AUSRIVAS models in that it can be used to calculate an observed/expected ratio of macroinvertebrate taxa richness for a river, but does not require the classification and discriminant function analysis steps in AUSRIVAS. It enables the biota condition of a river reach to be predicted when no samples have been taken (Norris et al. 2001).

Ecological community means an assemblage of native species that inhabits a particular area in nature. A legislative definition is provided in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The ability of the aquatic ecosystem to support and maintain key ecological processes and a community of organisms with a species composition, diversity and functional organisation as comparable as possible to that of natural habitats within a region (Schofield & Davies 1996).

An individual's or group's capacity to understand (in basic or advanced terms) the biological, geomorphological, geological, and cultural processes of life on Earth; to appreciate that earth processes occur in a closed and finite system; and to be alert to the principles of sustainability - integration, equity, precaution, participation, continual improvement and maintenance of diversity.

The biological, chemical and physical processes that take place within an ecosystem (e.g. carbon cycling, nutrient assimilation).

"A positive change in the level of production of goods and services by a country [or other spatial unit] over a certain period of time. Nominal growth is defined as economic growth including inflation, while real growth is nominal growth minus inflation. Economic growth is usually brought about by technological innovation and positive external forces" (Investor Words 2002).

A dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999).

The edge habitat sampled consists of slow flowing or still waters adjacent to the bank, usually with overhanging or emergent vegetation, undercut banks, and/or root mats (Krasnicki et al. 2001).

Conductivity is a measure of the capacity of an aqueous solution to carry an electrical current. Conductivity is commonly used to determine salinity and is mostly reported in microSiemens per centimetre (mS/cm) or milliSiemens per metre (mS/m) at a standard reference temperature of 25° Celsius.

Distribution has contracted to less than 10% of the original 1750 area, or there is less than 10% of original 1750 area remaining or 90% of its area is in small patches and is subject to threatening processes.

Confined to a particular area, for example, a Tasmanian endemic species.

"Economic capital should be stable. The widely accepted definition of economic sustainability is 'maintenance of capital,' or keeping capital intact. Thus Hicks' definition of income - 'the amount one can consume during a period and still be as well off at the end of the period' can define economic sustainability, as it devolves on consuming interest, rather than capital. Historically, economics has rarely been concerned with natural capital (e.g. intact forests, healthy air). To the traditional economic criteria of allocation and efficiency must now be added a third, that of scale (Daly, 1992). The scale criterion would constrain throughput growth the flow of

material and energy (natural capital) from environmental sources to sinks. Economics values things in money terms, and is having major problems valuing natural capital, intangible, intergenerational, and especially common access resources, such as air. Because people and irreversibles are at stake, economics needs to use anticipation and the precautionary principle routinely, and should err on the side of caution in the face of uncertainty and risk".

A stream that is often one of the outer links of a drainage network and which contains flowing water only during and immediately after a rainstorm which may be fairly intense.

Plants that grow on other plants, like small macroalgae that grow on seagrass.

(See also ephemeral). A stream that is often one of the outer links of a drainage network and which contains flowing water only during and immediately after a rainstorm which may be fairly intense.

A trellis or framework on which fruit trees, vines, or shrubs are trained to grow flat.

'… a semi-enclosed or periodically closed coastal body of water in which the aquatic environment is affected by the physical and chemical characteristics of both fluvial [freshwater] and marine systems' (Edgar et al. 1999).

Over-enrichment of nutrients in a water body chiefly due to pollution by sewage, run-off from the land, and industrial wastes (e.g. inorganic nitrates and phosphates). These compounds act as nutrients, stimulating algal growth which may result in algal blooms. Their subsequent decomposition reduces the oxygen content in the water, so killing animals with a high oxygen requirement. Much of the nitrate and phosphate settles to the bottom, to promote further growth at a later stage.

An unintended side-effect of market activity. A negative externality is a cost not reflected in market price and usually results in hyper-efficient output - that is, overproduction to the detriment of other market and non-market values. A positive externality is a benefit not reflected in market price and may result in less than efficient output - that is to the detriment of market values.

Faecal coliform bacteria are a sub-group of the total coliform population that are easy to measure and are present in virtually all warm blooded animals. Although measurement of this group is favoured by the NHMRC (1996) as suitable indicators of faecal pollution, it is recognised that members of this group may not be exclusively of faecal origin. However their presence in samples implies increased risk of disease. Pathogenic bacteria are those which are considered capable of causing disease in animals.

Of or relating to or happening in a river. Fluvial landforms are those landforms produced by the action of running water in the terrestrial environment, and fluvial geomorphic processes are those natural processes that produce, maintain and change fluvial landforms.

Forest Practices Board

Named after an Italian demographer and statistician, Corrado Gini (1884-1965), the Gini coefficient shows the gap between the perfect distribution of income, and a country's or region's actual distribution curve, but it does not stand alone as a measure of standard of living or quality of life (Constance 1998).

Geographic Information System

A gigajoule is 10^9

Groundwater Management Units: which are geographical areas that contain similar hydrogeological characteristics and were defined through the National Land and Water Resources Audit process (NLWRA 2001). GMUs provide a framework for the implementation of future groundwater management practices.

A downthrown block between two normal faults of parallel strike but converging dips; hence a tensional feature.

One hectare is the area of a square 100 metres on each side. The MCG playing field is slightly over two hectares in area.

Uses measures of sediment inputs, riparian vegetation clearing and connectivity (dams, weirs, levee banks) to assess the state of local habitat and its probable ability to support aquatic life. It incorporates bed condition, riparian condition, and connectivity (Norris et al. 2001).

Hydrochlorofluorocarbon

Formaldehyde

House Dust Mite

The Henderson half-average poverty measure sets the standard poverty line at half of the average equivalent disposable household income for a standard household. The standard household consists of a couple both under 40 years old with the husband working and the wife not in the labour force with 2 children, a boy aged 6-14 and a girl aged under 6 years old. The Henderson half-average poverty line was $400 (Lloyd et al. 2001).

The Poverty Line, developed by Professor R.F. Henderson in the 1970s, calculates the amount of money people need to cover their basic living costs and maintain a minimum standard of living.

An elongate, elevated block of crust forming a ridge or plateau, typically bounded by parallel, outward-dipping normal faults.

One of a number of 'capital assets', and one that sometimes refers to "the capabilities or capacities, both innate and derived or accumulated, embodied in the working-age population that allow it to work productively with other forms of capital to sustain economic production" (Government of Canada 2001). A broader understanding of the term includes those aged younger than the legal working age and those retired from work because they make significant contributions to economic life, as well as to social and economic endeavours for sustainability.

A plot of flow (typically in a stream) versus time. The time base is variable so that a hydrograph can refer to a single flood event, to a combination of flood events, or alternatively to the plot of all flows over a month, year, season or any given period.

Assesses the change to flow regimes that typically result from river regulation and/or substantial flow diversion or extraction. The hydrological disturbance subindex is based on comparisons of the current flow regime to the natural or pre-European settlement flow regime (Norris et al. 2001).

Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia

Refers to the International Classification of Diseases, a classification system of diseases, health conditions and procedures developed by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), which represents the international standard for the labelling and numeric coding of disease. Within this system, all diseases are assigned numbers in hierarchical order. There are several versions of the ICD coding system, including ICD-8, ICD-9, ICD-9-CM (Clinical Modifications), ICD-O (Oncology), and ICD-10.

Geology formed by congealing rapidly or slowly from a molten state.

Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia

Provides an index of change from the natural state and is composed of sub-indices relating to hydrology, water quality, physical stream form, streamside habitat and ecological health. The Tasmanian approach is based on similar approaches being used in Victoria and Queensland (Krasnicki et al. 2001).

Both indices have a minimum value of 0 if none of the families expected in a sample is found. Any value less than 1 indicates either some of the expected families were not collected (O/E FAMILIES), or that the suite of families collected is, on average, more tolerant of pollution than expected (O/E SIGNAL). Index values of 1 indicated a perfect match between the families expected and those found (O/E Families), or that the families collected are exactly as pollution sensitive, on average as those expected (O/E SIGNAL). A value exceeding 1 indicates that more families were found than were expected (O/E FAMILIES), or that those found were on average more sensitive than expected (O/E SIGNAL) (Barmuta et al. 1998).

According to Newton et al. (1998, p.88) an index of dissimilarity is a 'summary figure [which] represents the proportion of the population who would have to move within a given urban centre [for example, Greater Hobart] to result in the same end distribution of income in that centre, as for Australia [or Tasmania] as a whole'.

A flow that occurs only seasonally when the water table is at the maximum level. The drainage network is composed of ephemeral, intermittent and perennial streams and the network expands during rainstorms and extends to limits affected by antecedent conditions especially antecedent moisture. Flow may occur along intermittent streams for several months each year but will seldom occur when the water table is lowered during the dry season (Thomas and Goudie 2000).

A flow that occurs only seasonally when the water table is at the maximum level. The drainage network is composed of ephemeral, intermittent and perennial streams and the network expands during rainstorms and extends to limits affected by antecedent conditions especially antecedent moisture. Flow may occur along intermittent streams for several months each year but will seldom occur when the water table is lowered during the dry season (Thomas and Goudie 2000).

Interval data (whole numbers or fractions) are ranked and sorted, and the magnitude of the difference between each observation is made clear.

An animal without a backbone.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

A line drawn on a map connecting points having equal rainfall at a certain time or for a stated period.

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Landforms that have characteristic forms always resulting from the dissolution of rock by water. Karst is a dominant process in carbonate rocks.

Winds and air currents that drain downhill when air in the upper slopes of a valley is cooled at night and so becomes denser. Katabatic flows in a valley are analogous to stormwater flows, both draining down gullies to the valley floor.

Land components are grouped into larger entities called land systems, which were the mapping units used for the salinity audit in Tasmania (2000). Land systems are areas of land with the same annual rainfall, geology, altitude, topography, soils and vegetation. Over 400 land systems have been recorded in Tasmania and have been published by the department as seven Regional Reports. Each land system is described by a six-digit code, based on rainfall, geology, surface rock or sediment, altitude, landform, and a final unique land system number e.g. 173121.

Land tenure can be defined as the multi-layered system of responsibilities, rights, administration, and institutions that shape access to land and the use of the land.

Land use describes the activities that occur on land, such as agriculture, energy production, human settlements, transport, forestry, mining and conservation.

A still or standing water system.

Rock that has been systematically described in terms of mineral composition and texture.

The London Convention, with its amendments of 1978, 1980 and 1993, controls marine pollution from dumping and incineration at sea. It prohibits the dumping of some substances including plastics and mercury and allows the regulated dumping of other substances. It does not cover operational discharges from ships, for example, ballast water and oily bilge water. Proposals to amend the Convention include replacing the existing list of banned substances with a severely restricted list of substances which may be dumped at sea.

A broad, low-lying, typically crescent-shaped mound of sandy or loamy matter that is formed by the wind, especially along the windward side of a lake basin.

Species of alga, like marine seaweeds, larger than microscopic.

Invertebrate (without a backbone) animals which can be seen with the naked eye. In rivers common macroinvertebrates are insects, crustaecans, worms and snails.

Flowering plants larger than microscopic.

Where tides have a dominant effect on all other processes (range >4 m).

Areas where the environment is more strongly influenced by the oceans and the sea than the main landmass of Tasmania and the rivers. Mostly refers to the open waters, seabed and more remote offshore islands.

The middle reading, or 50th percentile, of all readings taken. For example, of the readings 10, 13, 9, 16 and 13 {re-ordering these to read 9, 10, 13, 13 and 16}, the median is 13. The mean (or average), is the sum of all values divided by the total number of readings (which in this case equals 12.2).

A scale that is between local and regional scales of influence.

Where tides have a strong, but not necessarily dominant, influence on the estuarine environment (typical range 2-4 m).

Geology having undergone changes of mineralogy and texture imposed on it by pressure and temperature in the Earth's interior.

Marine Farm Development Plan

milligrams per litre (1,000 milligrams per gram)

Where tides have too small an amplitude to alter the physical conditions in the estuary by a large amount (typical range <2 m).

1 million litres (referred to as a megalitre)

The MO/E is a sub-index, which incorporates the number of modelled observed macroinvertebrate families and the expected number to occur according to the predictions of the E-Ball model for least-disturbed conditions (Norris et al. 2001).

The monthly median house price is the median price of houses sold in a particular month. It is not considered as reliable a measure of house prices as the moving annual median house price (which is an average of the median figures for any previous twelve months period) because it may be affected by the size of the sample.

In March 1985, an international treaty, the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, was agreed. Following agreement that concrete measures were required to curb the increasing use of ozone depleting substances, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (http://www.unep.ch/ozone/montreal.shtml) was finalised in September 1987. The Protocol has been signed by over 165 countries, including Australia. The Montreal Protocol sets out a mandatory timetable for the phase out of ozone depleting substances.

An accumulation of boulders, stones, or other debris carried and deposited in the landscape by a glacier.

(1) A disease or the incidence of disease within a population; (2) Adverse effects caused by a treatment.

None

Mineral Resources Tasmania, Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources

The water flows that would exist if no diversions, extraction or storage of water occurred, i.e. no changes in flow associated with human activities.

National Environment Protection Council

National Environment Protection Measure

National Health and Medical Research Council

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

National Land and Water Resources Audit

Forest dominated by plant species other than eucalypts such as (Banksia, Allocasurina, Acacia and Leptospermum).

Characterised by the drawing-down of a finite stock.

Nitrogen Dioxide

Natural Resource Management

National Road Transport Council

Nephelometric Turbidity Units

Considers the effects of long-term changes in suspended sediment and total nutrient loads, and the effects of short-term changes in toxicant levels. The subindex is primarily a comparison between existing and natural average annual loads of nutrients and suspended sediments, using modelled data (Norris et al. 2001).

A broad term which encompasses elements and compounds that are required by plants and animals for growth and survival. In the area of water quality the term is generally used with only phosphorus and nitrogen in mind, though there are many other elements that living organisms require for survival.

Sub-index that incorporates the number of families expected to occur according to the predictions of the model for least disturbed conditions in a sample and the number of those actually observed.

Sub-index based on the observed and expected values of the SIGNAL biotic index and incorporates the tolerances of different macroinvertebrate families to common types of water pollution. SIGNAL (Stream Invertebtrate Grade Number Average Level) is a biotic index that uses a grade assigned to each family according to its sensitivity to pollution (Chessman 1995). A grade of 10 represents a high sensitivity to pollution, while a grade of 1 represents a high tolerance of pollution. The sum of the grades of all families present in a sample is divided by the number of families to give an average sensitivity (SIGNAL value) for the sample (Barmuta et al. 1998).

Ecologically mature forest that has been subject to negligible unnatural disturbance such as logging, roading and clearing.

Data that have a specific order. One observation is ranked against another or in a system of classes (e.g. asking people to rank preferences in order - first, second, third and so on - in a questionnaire).

Polyaromatic hydrocarbon

As a concept, participation refers to the number of people engaged in an activity: public meetings, local governance, Landcare groups, adult education, indigenous education, employment and so on.

disease-producing organisms

A stream that flows all year. A dynamic drainage network also includes intermittent and ephemeral streams but there should always be flow in a perennial stream channel (Thomas and Goudie 2000).

a stream that flows all year. A dynamic drainage network also includes intermittent and ephemeral streams but there should always be flow in a perennial stream channel (Thomas and Goudie 2000)

Processes that are driven by the freezing and thawing of ice, which can be a strong enough force to crack rock and move large boulders.

The Regional Forest Agreement defined the Forest Estate as all forest growing on public or private land. Forest is defined as an area of land carrying a forest community, or a plantation of one or more forest species established for timber production.

The Permian period is the last of the geological periods of the Palaeozoic Era, extending in time from 286 to 245 million years ago. It follows the Carboniferous and comes before the Triassic. A period characterized in many parts of the world by an increasingly dry climate, it saw the extinction of many marine animals (for example, trilobites and primitive corals) and the proliferation of reptiles. Mudstone: a general term applied to an unlaminated, non-plastic, indurated sedimentary rock, consisting of clay minerals and other clay-grade constituents.

Protected Environmental Values

The pH is a measure of the acidity of a solution and ranges in scale from 0 to 14 (from very acid to very alkaline). A pH value of 7 is considered 'neutral'. In natural waters, pH is generally between 6.0 and 8.5.

A soil-based fungal disease that infects plant roots and kills some species of native plants.

A petajoule is equivalent to 10^15 joules.

Intensively managed trees of either native forest or exotic species, created by the regular placement of seedlings or seed.

Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 \µm

Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 \µm

According to the World Bank, poverty is an inability to attain a minimal standard of living and subsist (that is obtain sufficient food, shelter and clothing to remain secure and well). Like quality of life poverty is a relative term and is linked to ideas about inequality. As Saunders (1996) notes, for the Australian context, relative poverty means 'lacking the resources required to be able to participate in the lifestyle and consumption patterns enjoyed by other Australians. To be relatively poor is thus to be forced to live on the margins of society, to be excluded from the normal spheres of consumption and activity which together define social participation and national identity'.

Parts per billion

Parts per million

Parts per trillion

The precautionary principle states that when there is reasonable suspicion of harm or irreversible change, lack of scientific certainty or consensus must not be used to postpone preventative action.

None

This phrase is relative because what is seen as quality of life in one place or time may not be the same for another place or the same place at another time. It also relative because different people will perceive 'the good life' in different ways depending on their position in society. These issues aside, quality of life may be taken to mean 'life satisfaction' or 'subjective well-being' (see, for example, the American Thoracic Society, 2002). As such, quality of life has a number of dimensions, including (a) physical and material well-being; (b) relationships with other people; (c) engagement in social, community and civic activities; (d) personal development and fulfilment; and (e) recreation.

The period of geologic time starting 1.6 million years ago and continuing to the present day. It is the most recent geological period and is the time when human beings arrived on Earth. It is divided into two epochs: the Pleistocene the Holocene with the division between these two falling at about 10,000 years before the present.

Data organised in discrete 20 percent groupings: 0-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-100.

Forests dominated by tree species such as myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghami) sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum), celery top pine (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius), leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida), and blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), in which eucalypts comprise less than 5% of the crown cover. It generally occurs in areas with high rainfall.

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty, which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources (Ramsar 2002).

Total range generally less than 10,000 ha, or total area generally less than 1,000 ha or patch sizes generally less than 100 ha.

River Disturbance Index

The portion of a stream that extends downstream from the confluence of two streams or rivers to the next encountered confluence and where the stream power changes by 95%.

Some of the water that precipitates, flows on ground surface (surface runoff) or seeps through soil first, then flows laterally (interflow), and some continues to percolate deeper into the soil. This body of water will eventually reach a saturated zone and replenish or recharge groundwater supply.

Not all animals or plants can be identified to species level, either because of a lack of resources, identification difficulties or because they are a species new to science and not officially described. An animal or plant identified to only family or genus taxonomic level can be referred to as either representing a 'taxa' or a 'Recognised Taxonomic Unit'.

The survival of individual animals that settle in an arbitrarily chosen area at any one time.

Near pristine conditions (prior to European and Asian settlement).

A pristine or minimally disturbed site by human impacts.

Usually remnants of an original ecosytem surviving in isolated or discrete areas. They are areas which have not undergone ecological change in environments that have undergone considerable change. They provide suitable habitat for species which may have once been distributed across an entire local environment or bioregion. It is a place that effectively protects species from the effects of severe environmental disruptions that, in the rest of their habitat range, lead to significant declines in biomass, mass death, or mass extinction.

Eucalypt forest that has been logged and regenerated, generally since 1960, using deliberate site preparation and seeding techniques. The year of sowing is documented and the age of trees may be determined.

Native eucalypt forests regenerated after wildfire or other disturbances since 1890 where there is no deliberate site preparation or seed sowing. Regrowth forest may contain scattered individuals or stands of ecologically mature trees (Forestry Tasmania 2001).

Species that have survived a given place while disappearing elsewhere.

Representations of parts of the earth surface as seen from the air or space.

Any source of energy that can be used without depleting its reserves (The Australian Renewable Energy Website, 2001).

representativeness-the extent to which areas selected for inclusion in the reserve system are capable of reflecting the known biological diversity and ecological patterns and processes of the ecological community or ecosystem concerned.

Regional Forest Agreement. These are agreements between the Commonwealth and State governments which are aimed to provide a blueprint for the future management of Australia's forests, and are purported to be the basis for an internationally competitive and ecologically sustainable forest products industry. These 20 year agreements aim to establish: a world class Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) forest reserve system; certainty for industries and regional communities, enabling the development of internationally competitive and ecologically sustainable industries; and ecologically sustainable management of the whole forest estate, both on and off reserves.

The riffle habitat sampled is one of flowing broken water over gravel, pebble, cobble or boulder, with a depth greater than 10cm (Krasnicki et al. 2001).

Riparian vegetation are plants (trees, shrubs, ground covers and grasses) which grow on the banks and floodplains of rivers and other waterbodies. A 'healthy' riparian zone is characterised by a homogeneous mix of plant species (usually native to the area) of various ages. This zone is important in protecting water quality and sustaining the aquatic life of rivers.

Resource Management and Planning System. A suite of legislation and related regulations and policies developed in Tasmania in the early 1990s to advance the principles of sustainable development.

The Resource Planning and Development Commission

Russian tea urn

An area that has reached the maximum water holding capacity.

Sub-Catchment Disturbancce Index

Comprised of Eucalypt, Acacia and other forests and woodlands. Classified into two types: dry where the trees and understorey plants mostly have tough leaves adapted to drought and low-nutrient soils; wet are intermediate between typical sclerophyll forests and rainforests: They are dominated by tall eucalypts containing the tallest flowering plants on earth but with an understorey of ferns (including tree-ferns) and other rainforest elements.

Areas of coarse slope deposits, including the periglacially formed screes that are dominant on Tasmania's dolerite mountains.

Statistical Divisions are areas defined in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) which consist of one or more Statistical Subdivisions (SSDs) and cover, in aggregate, the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. They do not cross State or Territory boundaries and are the largest statistical area building blocks of States and Territories. SDs are used as large, general purpose regional type geographic areas. They represent relatively homogeneous regions characterised by identifiable social and economic links between the inhabitants and between the economic units within the region, under the unifying influence of one or more major towns or cities (ABS 1996). Tasmania is divided into four statistical divisions for Census purposes: Greater Hobart, Southern, Northern and Mersey-Lyell.

Sea-level Fine Resolution Acoustic Measuring Equipment

A grouping of the main human activities that contribute to the release or capture of greenhouse gases into or from the atmosphere (AGO 1998).

Geology formed by the accumulation and cementation of mineral grains transported by wind, water, or ice to the site of deposition or chemically precipitated at the depositional site.

As a concept, segregation is the act of separating or setting one thing apart from others or from the main body - isolating it. In more specific terms, it can refer to labour force segregation according to age, sex, or ethnicity; or to residential segregation according to socio-economic status, ethnicity, or stage in family formation, for example.

The process for managing forest vegetation.

Standard mortality rate, which is the ratio of the actual number of deaths in the population under study and the number of deaths that would have occurred if the population under study had experienced the age-specific death rates of the standard population (DPIWE 1999). The standardised mortality rate removes the effect of different age structures of the population, and allows a more meaningful comparison of the death rates of different sub-populations. It allows a comparison of death rates between populations with different age structures by relating them to a standard population. It is the overall death rate that would have prevailed in the standard population if it had experienced at each age the death rates of the population under study.

'Social sustainability means maintaining social capital. It lowers the cost of working together and facilitates cooperation. Trust lowers transaction costs, for example. This can be achieved only by systematic community participation and strong civil society, including government. Cohesion of community, connectedness between groups of people, reciprocity, tolerance, compassion, patience, forbearance, fellowship, love, commonly accepted standards of honesty and ethics. Commonly shared rules, laws, discipline, etc., constitute the part of social capital least subject to rigorous measurement, but essential for social sustainability. Social (sometimes called 'moral') capital requires maintenance and replenishment by shared values and equal rights, and by community, religious and cultural interactions. Without such care it depreciates as surely as does physical capital. The creation and maintenance of social capital, as needed for social sustainability, is not yet adequately recognized ...' (http://www2.worldbank.org/hm/e-sust/0039.html).

None

This is calculated from the monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the air pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin. Sustained negative values of the SOI often indicate El NiÑo episodes. Positive values of the SOI are associated with stronger Pacific trade winds and warmer sea temperatures to the north of Australia, popularly known as a La NiÑa episode (BoM 2002).

Sulphur dioxide

In principle, different land cover such as forests and built-up areas can be identified from their spectral reflectance signature, provided the sensing system has sufficient spectral resolution to distinguish its spectrum. For more information, see, for example, http://www.sci-ctr.edu.sg/ssc/publication/remotesense/optical.htm

suspended particulate matter

Simplifying Planning Schemes project. This was the subject of a State level partnership agreement with local government to prepare a planning scheme template containing common key elements.

Much confusion, misunderstanding and misapprehension appears to be in the public in regard to the so-called 'one-in-ten year', 'one-in-twenty year' or 'one-in-fifty year' storm scenarios. A common perception is that a one-in-fifty year storm occurs once in 50 years time. This, however, is a misinterpretation and leads to a false sense of security (Smith 1994). A one-in-fifty-year scenario outlines the statistical probability of a certain storm event at any time in the next 50 years. This storm could occur within weeks from now, in two years, ten years, fifty years or long after fifty years. It also means that there could be a series of storms over a few weeks or months, followed by a period of calm conditions for the following 100 or 200 years. The important aspect, however, is to be prepared for these storm events and not to be deceived by the false security of the 50 years.

Sewage Treatment Plant

An atmospheric layer between approximately 15 and 50 km above the Earth.

Acknowledges intrinsic values in natural environments; is egalitarian; recognizes the global maldistribution of wealth and responsibilities to future generations; is participatory in its broadest sense; and widely interprets sustainability as the maintenance of environmental integrity and quality of life (Davidson 2000). Conversely, weak sustainability emphasises the trade-offs between economic growth and environmental protection; is non-egalitarian and accepts limited global redistribution; is top-down and managerial; and narrowly interprets sustainability as the maintenance of the resource base. It is these weaker variants that have so far gained widespread formal institutional and organisational credence.

existing, situated, or operating below the surface of the earth; underground

Settlements are more or less sustainable depending on their citizens' individual and collective, formal and informal capacities to (a) understand the principles of integration, equity, precaution, participation, the maintenance of diversity and continual improvement; and (b) act to advance the practise of these principles in daily life.

Managing the use, development and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural well-being and for their health and safety while - (a) sustaining the potential of natural and physical resources to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations; and (b) safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil and ecosystems; and (c) avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on the environment.

For surface waters: The difference between median annual flow and environmental flows and represents the amount of water available for use once environmental water needs have been accounted for. Sustainable yield represents the average amount of water that could be expected in a catchment one in every two years.

For groundwaters:The level of extraction measured over a specified timeframe that should not be exceeded to protect the higher value social, environmental and economic uses associated with the aquifer.

surface water management area

Cooperative, combined, or mutually supportive actions.

Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, University of Tasmania.

The ongoing State Government program of mapping Tasmania's vegetation at high resolution, primarily at 1:25,000, across the whole State.

An assessment site, usually one that has been subject to human impacts

Assessment sites that have usually been subject to human impacts

The Land Information System of Tasmania, Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment http://www.theList.tas.gov.au/

When cold and warm water within a water body form zones: epilimnion (warm surface layer), thermocline or metalimnion (transition zone between warm and cold water), and hypolimnion (cold bottom water).

Flora or fauna that is listed in Schedule 3, 4 or 5 of the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. That is, species or subspecies listed as extinct, endangered, vulnerable or rare.

The Triassic is a period of geological time during the early Mesozoic era, lasting from about 240 to 200 million years ago. The dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs appeared in the Triassic. Sandstone: A sedimentary rock consisting of consolidated sand. The sand accumulated originally underwater in shallow seas or lakes, or on the ground along shorelines or in desert regions. The rounded quartz grains are 0.06-2 mm across. They may be consolidated by pressure, but more often they are cemented together by calcite (calcareous sandstone), clay, or iron oxide (ferruginous sandstone), which determines the colour of the rock.

Total suspended particulate matter

total suspended solids

Turbidity in water is caused by suspended material such as clay, silt, finely divided organic and inorganic matter, soluble coloured compounds and plankton and microscopic organisms. Turbidity is an expression of the optical properties that cause light to be scattered and absorbed rather than transmitted in a straight line through the water.

Total volatile organic compound

animal with a backbone

animals with backbones

showing distinct vertical layers

Volatile Organic Compound

Volatile Organic Compounds

approaching greater than 70% loss (depletion), includes forest communities where threatening processes have caused loss or significant decline in species that play a major role within the ecosystem or significant alteration to ecosystem processes

Water Information Resources and Electronic Data

The Warra Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in the southern forests has been established by Forestry Tasmania to facilitate the understanding of ecological processes and the biodiversity functions of Tasmania's wet forests. These forests are part of the southern cool temperate wet forest biome. The site contains both working forests and conservation reserves. Appropriate management prescriptions and practices prevail in the different parts of the site.

The goal of research at Warra is to describe the ecology of the cool temperate wet forest (Eucalyptus obliqua) ecosystem by fostering multi-disciplinary research within a long-term framework. The site provides infrastructure and background information for researchers combined with relative ease of access and relative surety of long-term maintenance (source: http://www.warra.com).

where water is abstracted once for exclusive ownership

describes the water level changes that result as a function of flow regime and channel morphology. The components of water regime are timing, duration and extent of inundation, frequency, rate of rise and recession, depth and variability. Water regime thus incorporates both spatial and temporal variation, with the frequency and duration of inundation the key components of the water regime that define the hydrologic characteristics of a waterway/wetland.

Water Information Management System

A database that lists the State's water licences, water allocations and dam permits. It provides details of clients, purpose and amount of water allocated and the size and capacity of dams.