Wide range,oscillation, maximum departure from average of alternating current or wave.

The variety of life on Earth or any given part of it.

A place homogeneous in species composition, distinguished by its inhabiting flora and fauna. Usually characterized by its distinctive vegetation type. Now at days  often called habitat.

Having two generations or broods each year.

Maps generally at scale 1:2.000 that describe the bounds of properties, roads and hydrographic nets.

Species-rich plant communities that occur on soils derived from chalk and limestone.

A woodland ecotope, characterized by willows or alder, and often associated with fens and other wetlands.

Number of days per year average temperature is over 10°C, derived after the method of analysing the climate diagram.

A silky, protective envelope formed by a larva and in which the pupa develops.

A traditional method of exploitation of a wood by cutting the poles just above the base of the trunk on a regular cycle.

A biotope classification system largely based on vegetation composition, developed as a framework for comparing habitats across Europe. Now supersede by EUNIS.

Degree Celsius per day, by summing up a measure of quantity of warmth.

A form of dormancy, characteristic of a particular stage of insect life cycles, during which metabolic activity is greatly decreased during a certain period of the year.

The capacity of individuals to move to a new habitat or new parts of a landscape and to establish new populations.

A transition between different ecotopes, a tension zone between ecosystems of different energy flow and material turnover.

The elementary unit of a landscape, homogeneous for a particular pattern or function. Term used by landscape ecologists.

A species or other taxon restricted to a particular region or country, and which, as far as known, evolved or is relic there.

European Nature Information System, a part of the biodiversity data centre.

The animals of a region or epoch, treatise upon these.

Wetland with peat soils, which receive water and nutrients from the soil, rock and ground water as well from rainfall.

The length of the period over the year the adult (flying) stage of a butterfly species is observed. It can be illustrated by a phenogram.

(List of) plants of particular region or epoch.

An attribute of ecological systems: a system is fragile when under a perturbation regime a change in biological diversity occurs.

The smallest natural group containing related but distinct species.

Specific tempo of larval development.

A group of animals with similar characters associated to function (foraging guild, breeding guild etc.).

A place in which a particular plant or animal lives, characterized by its biological and physical attributes. In cases of an animal species, this mostly consist out of a complex of different biotopes. In English speaking tradition the term habitat is widely used in a broad meaning, often used in the meaning of biotope.

A patch selected by individuals of the same species.

Quantity of warmth per year expressed as sum of degree-days over the threshold of 10°C, calculated after the method of analysing the climate diagram.

The shelter of an overwintering (hibernating) larva, usually formed from a leaf.

A species that has established a breeding population in a region outside its historically known native range.

The stage of development and growth between successive moults in insect larvae.

The intentional or accidental release of an organism to a place outside its historically known native range. (See also reintroduction).

Objects in a landscape used by organisms for orientation.

A gathering of male animals that females visit only to mate.

A term of different meanings, in landscape ecology the dominant component of a landscape mosaic.

Several discrete populations in close proximity that are interconnected by movement of individuals.

Climatic conditions that occur in a very small space, e.g. inside a herb or grass vegetation. A microclimate may differ extremely from a meso-climate observed by a meteorologist.

A butterfly that moves instinctively from one geographical region to another (cf vagrant).

Sweet fluid or honey produced by plants, drink of the gods.

The honey gland of a flower.

Wanderer, roaming from place to place for pasture.

Tubular, forked process by the larvae of Swallowtail species. When the larva is alarmed the osmaterium is bulged out and produces a strong odour.

Act of laying eggs .

An organism that is intimately associated with and metabolically dependent upon another living organism (the host) for the completion of its life cycle.

An animal, usually an insect, that is parasitic during the larval stage of its life cycle but becomes free living when adult. In most cases the host is killed, a parasitoid is in fact an endo-predator.

The seasonal occurrence of life cycle events. In studies on butterflies the period they are on the wing this is illustrated in phenograms.

The intentional release of an organism into a part of its native range from which it has become extinct.

Pathways cut to provide access through woodland.

Inhabiting disturbed sites.

Scales on the upper side of the forewings of male butterflies which are modified for distribution pheromones to attract females.

Sinus curve, line drawn from one extremity of arc perpendicularly to radius which meets other extremity (trigonometry).

The variation across space of vegetation type or land cover.

Wander, lose one’s way.

The progressive change in the plant and animal species occupying an area over a long period of time, from the initial colonization to mature ecosystem.

A fixed route, walked regularly through a site, used to monitor changes in abundance of butterflies.

Grassland comprising mainly native species, which has not been ploughed, drained, cultivated or intensively fertilized.

Having one brood or generation each year.

A butterfly observed outside its normal geographical range (cf migrant).

Plants collectively, plant life.

The number of generations of a butterfly species each year.