Glossary

acclimatisation: the adjustment of an organism to environmental conditions in the field or environment rather than the laboratory without an adjustment in their genetics. Acclimatisation has been used to describe phenotypically plastic responses in natural conditions. Source: Ross et al. (2023).
adaptation: the evolutionary mechanism where natural selection of traits is genetically passed on, typically over many generations, to create an organism suited to the environment. Source: [rossRoss et al. (2023)
adaptive capacity: the capacity of the ecosystem or organism to improve and reorganise in response to stress such as climate change through phenotypic plasticity (acclimation, acclimatisation) or adaptation, distributional shifts, and rapid evolution of traits suited to new conditions. Source: Ross et al. (2023).
epigenetics: the modification of phenotype plasticity of an organism through altered gene expression without an alteration to the DNA sequence. ‘Epi’ means above the DNA and includes DNA methylation, modification of histones, and non-coding RNA. Source: Ross et al. (2023).
exposure: the magnitude of the change in the environment
fecundity: the maximum physiological potential reproductive output of an organism to produce offspring (reproductive output). This differs from fertility, which is the number of offspring born. Source: Ross et al. (2023)
MBON: Marine Biodiversity Observation Network; see MarineBON.org
resilience: the capacity of an ecosystem, society, or organism to absorb disturbance and reorganise while undergoing change so as to retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks. Resilience reflects the degree to which a complex adaptive system is determined by its capacity to reorganise and adapt in order to avoid being disturbed again. Source: Ross et al. (2023).
sensitivity: the magnitude of response to the change
stressor: the stimulus that causes stress to an organism
vulnerability: combination of exposure and sensitivity