aerial videography - video images of the land surface taken from an airplane
algorithm - a procedure to solve a problem or model a solution (In GAP, this term typically refers to a GIS procedure used to model an animal distribution)
alliance level - a land unit made up of an "alliance" of natural communities that have the same dominant or co-dominant plant species or, in the absence of vegetation, have the same dominant land cover typically described according to the Anderson land cover classification (see "Natural Community Alliance" in Grossman et al. 1995)
anthropogenic - caused by man
band, spectral - a segment of the electromagnetic spectrum defined by a range of wavelengths (e.g. blue, green, red, near infrared, far infrared) that comprise the Landsat TM imagery
biodiversity - (or biological diversity) generally, the variety of life and its interrelated processes
classification, digital - a computer-assisted approach to developing land cover maps from digital imagery, in which image pixels are classified based on statistical differences in spectral characteristics (see supervised and unsupervised classification)
classification, visual or visual interpretation - classification of imagery based on human interpretation, as opposed to digital or computer-assisted classification (see classification, digital)
coarse filter - the general conservation activities that conserve the common elements of the landscape matrix, as opposed to the "fine filter" conservation activities that are aimed at special cases such as rare elements (see Jenkins 1985)
community - a group of interacting plants and animals
cover type - a non-technical, higher-level floristic and structural description of vegetation cover
cross-walking - matching equivalent land cover categories between two or more classification systems
delineate - identifying the boundaries between more or less homogenous areas on remotely sensed images as visible from differences in tone and texture
digitization - entering spatial data digitally into a Geographic Information System
distribution, species - in a GAP context, this refers to a computer-modeled map of a species' potential distribution for a given area, based on parameters such as range (see range) and habitat associations (see habitat and wildlife habitat relationship model)
ecoregion - a large region, usually spanning several million hectares, characterized by having similar biota, climate, and physiography (topography, hydrology, etc)
ecosystem - a biological community (ranging in scale from a single cave to millions of hectares), its physical environment, and the processes through which matter and energy are transferred among the components
edge-matching - the process of connecting polygons at the boundary between two independently created maps, either between TM scenes or between state GAP data sets
element - a plant community or animal species mapped by GAP, may also be referred to as "element of biodiversity"
error of commission - the occurrence of a species (or other map category) is erroneously predicted in an area where it is in fact absent
error of omission - when a model fails to predict the occurrence of a species that is actually present in an area
fine filter - see coarse filter
floristic - pertaining to the plant species that make up the vegetation of a given area
gap analysis - a comparison of the distribution of elements of biodiversity with that of areas managed for their long-term viability to identify elements with inadequate representation
geographic information systems (GIS) - computer hardware and software for storing, retrieving, manipulating, and analyzing spatial data
ground truthing - verifying maps by checking the actual occurrence of plant and animal species in the field at representative sample locations
habitat - the physical structure, vegetational composition, and physiognomy of an area, the characteristics of which determine its suitability for particular animal or plant species
hectare - a metric unit of area of 10,000 square meters and equal to 2.47 acres
hexagon - typically refers to the EPA EMAP hexagonal grid of 635 square kilometer units
latilong - a geographic unit, one degree latitude by one degree longitude
metadata - information about data, e.g., their source, lineage, content, structure, and availability
minimum mapping unit (MMU) - the smallest area that is depicted on a map
pixel - the smallest spatial unit in a raster (cell-based) data structure
polygon - an area enclosed by lines in a vector-based Geographic Information System data layer or a region of contiguous homogeneous pixels in a raster system
range - the geographic limit of a species
registration, spatial - matching different images to each other by finding points on the images that can be matched to known points on the ground
remote sensing - deriving information about the earth's surface from images acquired at a distance, usually relying on measurement of electromagnetic radiation reflected or emitted from the feature of interest
resolution - the ability of a remote sensing system to record and display fine detail in a distinguishable manner, or the smallest feature that can be distinguished or resolved on a map or image, such as a TM pixel
riparian - areas adjacent to streams and rivers where vegetation is strongly influenced by the presence of water. Saturation by water does not necessarily have to be an existing factor as in the definition of wetlands given by Cowardin (1992)
scale, map - the ratio of distance on a map to distance in the real world, expressed as a fraction; the smaller the denominator, the larger the scale, e.g., 1:24,000 is larger than 1:100,000
species richness - the number of species of a particular interest group found in a given area
supervised classification - a type of digital classification of imagery, whereby pixels of unknown identity are classified using samples of known identity (i.e., pixels already assigned to informational classes by ground truthing or registration with known land cover) as training data
Thematic Mapper - a sensor on LANDSAT 4 and 5 satellites that records information in seven spectral bands, has a spatial resolution of about 30 m x 30 m, and represents digital values in 256 levels of brightness per band
transect - a transversely cut line along which physical and biological observations are made
unsupervised classification - a type of digital classification of satellite imagery involving the identification and mapping of natural groups, or classes, of spectral values within an image based on uniformity of brightness in several spectral channels.
visual interpretation - see classification, visual
wetland - an environment where standing or moving water is present or where saturation by water is the key factor controlling the ecology of the area; includes bogs, swamps, marshes, ponds, lakes and in some definitions also includes riparian areas (see riparian)
wildlife habitat relationship model - a method of linking patterns of known habitat use by animal species with maps of existing vegetation, thereby identifying the spatial extent of important habitat features for use in conservation and management
ACRONYMS
BCD - Biological Conservation Database (TNC)
BCNRA - Bighorn Canyon Nation Recreation Area
CA-GAP - California Gap Analyis Project
CO-GAP - Colorado Gap Analysis Project
BLM - Bureau of Land Management
DEM - Digital Elevation Model (USGS)
DLG - Digital line graph (USGS)
DTNM - Devil's Tower National Monument
EMAP - Environmental Monitoring & Assessment Program (EPA)
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
FGDC - Federal Geographic Data Committee
GAP - Gap Analysis Program
GIS - Geographic Information System
GYE - Great Yellowstone Ecosystem
ID-GAP - Idaho Gap Analysis Project
MIPS - Map and Image Processing System
MMU - Minimum mapping unit
NBII - National Biological Information Infrastructure
NBS - National Biological Service
NM-GAP - New Mexico Gap Analysis Project
NPS - National Park Service
NWI - National Wetlands Inventory (USFWS)
PLSS - Public Land Survey System
RIS - Resource Inventory System (USFS)
RMS - Root mean square error
SCS - Soil Conservation Service (Natural Resource Conservation Service)
SDVC - Spatial Data and Visualization Center
SPOT - Système Pour l'Observation de la Terre
TM - Thematic Mapper
TNC - The Nature Conservancy
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
URL - Universal Resource Locator
USFS - US Forest Service
USGS - US Geological Survey
USFWS - US Fish & Wildlife Service
UT-GAP - Utah Gap Analysis Project
UTM - Universal Transverse Mercator
WBN - Wyoming Bioinformation Node
WGFD - Wyoming Game and Fish Department
WHMA - Wildlife Habitat Management Area (Wyoming Game and Fish Department)
WHR - Wildlife-habitat relationships
WLI - Wyoming Land Inventory
WWW - World Wide Web
WY-GAP - Wyoming Gap Analysis Project