GLOSSARY AND ACRONYMS
of terms related to the biodiversity

valuation

- The attachment of monetary value to an object through a consideration of both internalised and externalised costs. - This is a method for determining the importance of environmental consequences of economic activity that are not taken into account in market.

variety

A taxonomic rank below subspecies in zoology and botany, varieties are often the result of selective breeding and diverge from the parent species or subspecies in distinct but relatively minor ways.

vascular plants

Plants with a well-developed vascular system that transports water, minerals, sugars, and other nutrients throughout the plant body. Excludes the bryophytes: mosses, hornworts, and liverworts.

vector

'A carrier'. In genetic manipulation the vehicle by which DNA is transferred from one cell to another. An agent of transmission; for example, a DNA vector is a self-replicating segment of DNA that transmits genetic information from one cell or organism to another.

virus

The smallest known type of organism. A non cellular entity that consists minimally of protein and nucleic acid, and that can replicate only after entry into specific types of living cells, and then only by usurping the cell's own systems.

voucher specimens

Collections of organisms that are maintained to provide permanent, physical documentation of species identifications and associated data resulting from inventories.