Benefits (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services) that people obtain from ecosystems, including attributes and processes through which natural and managed ecosystems can sustain ecosystem functions (http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html).

The direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human wellbeing. The concept

A type of mycorrhizal fungi that grows between root cells and forms a sheath around roots, but does not actually invade cells. They are important to many woody plants.

The community of soil organisms (microbes, fungi, nematodes, worms, insects, protozoa, etc.)

(1) The rainfall useful for meeting plant water requirements. This does not include water percolating down to aquifers, or surface runoff of water (cf. definition (2)!) (2) The difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration, i.e. the water percolating to aquifers or surface runoff (cf. definition (1)!). (3) The amount of rainfall after subtracting the fraction that has been directly evaporated from the canopy surface without reaching the soil surface (as in coniferous forests).

The soil depth from which a fully grown plant can easily extract most of the water needed for transpiration. It can be limited by physical (e.g. cemented pan) or chemical (e.g. saline horizon) properties.

The ability to get a job done satisfactorily (often under controlled conditions). Efficacy does not imply effectiveness.

The ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste (doing the things right); often expressed as the ratio of the output to the inputs of any system.

European Innovation Partnership.

Measure of a material's ability to accommodate the transport of an electric charge and used as a measure of the salinity of the soil, and to estimate practical consequences for crops. EC of a soil suspension at a given soil to water ratio (usually 1:5 or saturated extract as a proxy to soil solution), expressed as deciSiemens per m (at 25 degrees Celsius).