PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 2005

The Changing Flora of the New York Metropolitan Region

by Steven E. Clemants and Gerry Moore

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225

Glossary

Acidophilic
Pertaining to plants that thrive in acid soil.
Basic
Alkaline
Change Index
A statistical indication of changes in the distribution of a species. A positive change index indicates that a species is expanding its range, while a negative change indicates that a species is contracting its range.
Congeneric, congener
Belonging to the same genus.
Geo-code
A computerized process that uses coordinates (in our case cells) to uniquely identify a geographic location from a description.
Hydrophyte
An aquatic plant; one that grows in water or needs a waterlogged habitat.
Least-squares regression equation
A statistical method for a simple linear equation to real data points.
Mann-Whitney U test
A non-parametric test used to compare two independent groups of sampled data.