# Glossary (v5)

**A**

* **Activation (Realm Activation):** The process of assigning an owner/administrator to a *Nature Realm* and enabling governance controls, content moderation, and treasury management. *See also:* **Nature Realm**, **Realm Owner/Administrator**, **Realm Treasury**.
* **Amplify / Soften (Song action):** Two effects available when using **Song Tokens** on an uploaded **Evidence**. Amplify increases a Story’s influence on the **BioScore**; Soften reduces it. Influence scales with a user’s *Realm Shareholding*.

#### B

* **Baseline / Comparison Areas:** Reference areas (e.g., 5× and 12.5× the Realm’s footprint) used to contextualize a Realm’s ecological measures. *See also:* **BioScore**.
* **BCU (BioCultural Unit):** The core value unit representing proof of biocultural connection and contribution within and across Realms. BCUs can be **harvested**, **purchased**, and **staked**. Total supply is capped.
* **BCU Market:** The venue where BCUs can be bought and sold (subject to vesting/eligibility rules). Includes price display, order placement, and—when enabled—secondary liquidity. *See also:* **Vesting Period**, **Staking**.
* **BioScore:** A composite score reflecting a Realm’s biocultural health. Built from multiple components (e.g., **Species**, **Monitoring**, **Data Quality**, **Community**, **Stories**) and contextualized by **Baseline/Comparison Areas**.
* **BioValue (Expert‑Valued):** A weighting/validation mechanism informed by expert review to emphasize ecologically significant contributions. *See also:* **Verifiers**.
* **Buyer (BCU Buyer):** A participant who acquires BCUs (e.g., for impact portfolios, staking, or support of specific Realms). *See also:* **Staking**, **Vesting Period**.

#### C

* **Community Score:** BioScore component capturing people’s engagement, participation, and stewardship behaviors within a Realm. *See also:* **BioScore**.
* **Comparison Areas:** *See:* **Baseline / Comparison Areas**.
* **Confidential/Sensitive Locations:** Handling rules for threatened species or vulnerable sites (e.g., coordinate obfuscation or delayed display). *See also:* **Privacy & Data Ownership**.

#### D

* **Data Ingestion (Supported Apps):** The pipelines that import observations/records from partner apps into Realms, typically on a schedule. Includes licensing and data‑quality checks. *See also:* **Deduplication**, **Privacy & Data Ownership**.
* **Data Quality Score:** BioScore component reflecting identification confidence, photo quality, taxon level, media/metadata completeness, and biocultural health indicators. *See also:* **BioScore**, **Verifiers**.
* **Deduplication:** Processes for avoiding double‑counting when identical or mirrored observations arrive from multiple sources. *See also:* **Data Ingestion**.

#### E

* **Emission / Scarcity Curve (BCU):** The difficulty schedule that governs how hard it is to harvest additional BCUs over time as supply grows. *See also:* **Harvesting**, **Staking**.
* **Evidence**: An uploaded link to, or original digital media, that provides evidence of biocultural health or an activity that increase biocultural health. Categories of evidence include: Personal Narrative/Story/Experience; Cultural Knowledge; Observations about Habitat; Observations about Wildlife; Restoration Activity; Scientific Research; Educational Activity; Ritual or Spiritual Practice; Custodial Statement; Historical information; Data Analysis; Artworks; Other.

#### F

* **Field Apps (Supported Apps):** Third‑party biodiversity and knowledge apps whose submissions can increase a Realm’s **BioScore** after ingestion. *See also:* **Data Ingestion**.

#### G

* **Global BioQuest:** Twice‑yearly competition (April & October) where Realms and participants aim to raise BioScores through observations, stories/songs, and learning activity. *See also:* **Nature Realm**, **Stories**, **Song Tokens**.
* **Governance (Realm):** The roles, permissions, and processes used to manage a Realm’s content, privacy, and treasury. *See also:* **Realm Owner/Administrator**, **Realm Shareholding**, **Moderation**.

#### H

* **Harvester (BCU Harvester):** A participant who increases a Realm’s **BioScore** (e.g., via observations or stories) and receives BCUs according to the current difficulty and rules. *See also:* **BCU**, **Emission/Scarcity Curve**.
* **Harvesting (BCU):** The act of earning BCUs by contributing qualifying ecological and cultural value to a Realm.

#### I

* **Identification (Oracle of Life):** A guided ID/learning process that helps users identify species and contributes to engagement/education metrics. *See also:* **Community Score**.
* **Integration (Realm Integrations):** Connections a Realm can enable—apps, maps, and market features. *See also:***Data Ingestion**, **API**.

#### L

* **Leaderboards:** Rankings (global or per‑event) showcasing top Realms or contributors. *See also:* **Global BioQuest**.
* **Levels (Realm Levels):** Progress tiers for Realms tied to activity and stewardship; higher levels typically unlock more opportunities. *See also:* **Song Tokens**, **Governance**.

#### M

* **Market (Nature Market):** The broader marketplace including buy/sell order books for BCUs, staking interfaces, and Realm pages with treasury visibility. *See also:* **BCU Market**, **Realm Treasury**.
* **Moderation (Stories/Content):** Review powers available to Realm admins (and potentially verified curators) to remove harmful/low‑quality content and enforce policy. *See also:* **Governance**, **Privacy & Data Ownership**.
* **Monitoring Score:** BioScore component reflecting temporal coverage, sampling consistency, and observation effort within the Realm. *See also:* **BioScore**.

#### N

* **Nature Realm (Realm):** A geofenced place on GuardiansofEarth.io with its own page, community, data integrations, governance, treasury, and **BioScore**. Examples include campuses, parks, eco‑resorts,  cultural sites, backyards and more.

#### O

* **On‑chain / Off‑chain Status:** Whether BCUs and actions are represented on a public blockchain or currently recorded in platform ledgers, with a roadmap toward tokenization where applicable. *See also:* **Privacy & Data Ownership**, **BCU Market**.
* **Oracle of Life:** *See:* **Identification (Oracle of Life) -** the BioExpertise system at BioExpertise.org

#### P

* **Polygon Query:** Spatial query by a Realm polygon (or custom area) used for analytics, ingestion filtering, and API access. *See also:* **API**, **Data Ingestion**.
* **Privacy & Data Ownership:** Policy stance: creators retain rights to their contributions; Realms also hold rights relevant to stewardship. Includes data minimization, child safety, and sensitive‑location handling.
* **Project Treasury (Realm Treasury Share):** Portion of harvested BCUs or proceeds reserved for restoration and community projects within a Realm. *See also:* **Realm Treasury**, **Governance**.
* **Propagation (Stories):** The act of sharing evidence across related contexts/Realms; may require **Realm Shareholding** and respects anti‑collusion rules. *See also:* **Song Tokens**.

#### R

* **Realm Owner / Administrator:** The person or organization with permissions to manage a Realm: settings, privacy, moderation, integrations, and treasury approvals.
* **Realm Page:** The public web/app page for a Realm, showing maps, BioScore, stories/songs, activity, and treasury status.
* **Realm Shareholding:** A member’s stake in a specific Realm used to weight **Song** influence and potentially unlock actions (e.g., propagation). *See also:* **Song Tokens**.
* **Realm Treasury:** BCUs allocated/earned at the Realm level, intended for restoration or community initiatives, governed by Realm owners/admins per policy. *See also:* **Project Treasury**, **Governance**.

#### S

* **Scarcity Curve:** *See:* **Emission / Scarcity Curve (BCU)**.
* **Sensitive Locations:** *See:* **Confidential/Sensitive Locations**.
* **Song (Song Token):** A curating and governance token that can *Amplify* or *Soften* the impact of uploaded evidence on a Realm’s BioScore. New users receive a starter allocation; additional Songs may accrue with **Realm Level** or **Shareholding**. Anti‑collusion rules apply. *See also:* **Evidence**, **Realm Shareholding**.
* **Species Score:** BioScore component measuring richness and presence of native/indicator species within a Realm over time. *See also:* **BioScore**.
* **Spirits of the Realms (Game):** GoE’s mobile game that blends exploration, learning, and card‑based play; certain in‑game actions align with Realm engagement and events. *See also:* **Global BioQuest**.
* **Staking (BCUs):** Locking BCUs on a Realm to earn rewards from a **Staking Rewards Pool** based on Realm performance and rules. *See also:* **Vesting Period**, **BCU Market**.
* **Staking Rewards Pool:** A fixed allocation of BCUs distributed to stakers per the platform’s reward schedule. *See also:* **Staking**.
* **Stories/Places/Evidence:** Place‑based knowledge contributions (originals or links) that inform cultural understanding and may influence the **BioScore** via **Songs**. *See also:* **Song Tokens**, **Propagation**.

#### T

* **Treasury (Realm / Project):** *See:* **Realm Treasury**, **Project Treasury**.

#### V

* **Verifier:** A participant or program that reviews data quality and ecological significance (e.g., expert validation) to strengthen BioScore integrity. *See also:* **Data Quality Score**, **BioValue**.
* **Vesting Period:** The minimum holding period before purchased BCUs, or BCUs earned via staking, can be sold or transferred, designed to align incentives and reduce short‑term speculation. *See also:* **BCU Market**, **Staking**.

#### W

* **Whole Earth Page:** The global view aggregating activity, stories, events, and highlights across all Realms.