Glossary

Comet of Life

EcoIntel's metaphor for the distinction between leading and lagging indicators of ecosystem health. Lagging indicators are the long tail; leading indicators are the bright head where life is happening now.

Coined by EcoIntel

EcoDynamics Engine

EcoIntel's proprietary analytical framework that translates satellite, terrain and climate data into process-based ecosystem diagnostics.

Coined by EcoIntel

ESG-readiness

A farm's state of preparedness to answer ecologically literate, framework-aligned, defensible questions about its land, from buyers under CSRD scope, lenders, regulators, supply chains, or schemes.

Coined by EcoIntel

Eye and Orbit

EcoIntel's framing for the relationship between two scales of seeing the same leading indicators: what the experienced walker reads on the ground, the satellite reads from orbit, weather-corrected and continuously.

Coined by EcoIntel

Farming-system Code

A ten-class label that matches each field or holding to its broader farming context. Matches diagnoses to the relevant prescription pool, so recommendations always fit the system in question.

Coined by EcoIntel

Gap Pattern

The first triage step in EcoIntel's diagnosis. The system classifies each field into one of eight characteristic patterns of ecological dysfunction, organising the conversation before deeper diagnosis.

Coined by EcoIntel

Land Health Gap

The distance between what is known about regenerative land management and the reality of making any of it happen on a specific piece of land, in a specific place, this season. EcoIntel exists to close it.

Coined by EcoIntel

Land Health Score

A nine-level scale (1 Collapsed → 9 Flourishing) summarising the overall ecological condition of a piece of land, designed as a Beaufort Scale for ecosystem health.

Coined by EcoIntel

Leading-Indicator Gap

The time delay between when ecosystem function changes and when traditional lagging measurements (soil carbon, biodiversity counts, water infiltration) can detect it. Leading indicators close the gap.

Coined by EcoIntel

Reference-state Targets

Objective target ranges for ecological indicators that science says are achievable in a given ecoregion under good management. The benchmarks against which actual scores are measured.

Coined by EcoIntel

Weather Halo

The ~50-point-per-year swing in raw satellite greenness on any piece of land that is driven by weather rather than management. EcoIntel's weather-corrected scoring strips it out.

Coined by EcoIntel

Weather-corrected Scoring

EcoIntel's technique for separating the management signal in satellite ecological data from the weather noise, using parcel-specific climate covariates integrated into the prediction model.

Coined by EcoIntel

Cascade Order

The recovery sequence BROWN -> BLUE -> GREEN -> BLACK that EcoIntel uses to prevent wasted effort on downstream processes when upstream processes are still broken.

Coined by EcoIntel

Community Dynamics

How effectively species interact, feed, follow, compete and balance on a piece of land. The fourth of the four ecosystem processes.

Energy Flow

How effectively sunlight is being captured and turned into living tissue across a piece of land. The first of the four ecosystem processes.

Mineral Cycle

How effectively nutrients move between soil, plants, animals and decomposers. The third of the four ecosystem processes.

Water Cycle

How effectively rainfall is captured, held and used by a piece of land. The second of the four ecosystem processes.

Brittleness Score

A 1–10 calibration of how aridity-driven a piece of land is. Calibrates expectations: brittle land needs longer rests and recovers more slowly.

Confidence Label

A Low / Moderate / High annotation on every score and diagnostic conclusion EcoIntel produces. Tells the reader how strongly the underlying data support the number, and how strongly to act on it.

Coined by EcoIntel

Diagnostic Confidence

A Low / Moderate / High label on the overall diagnosis EcoIntel produces for a field, distinct from score confidence, which sits on individual numbers.

Coined by EcoIntel

Limiting Indicator

The single ecological factor currently dragging a field's Land Health Score down. Improving anything else will not help much until the bottleneck is addressed.

Coined by EcoIntel

Permanence Risk

A durability label on carbon-sequestration claims. EcoIntel reports it per parcel as LOW / MODERATE / HIGH / CRITICAL based on fire, drought, pest, management-change and structural risk.

Stress-week Count

The annual tally of weeks during which a piece of land was under environmental stress, derived from ERA5-Land daily climate data. Used to de-trend ecological scores for the weather of the year.

Coined by EcoIntel

ADP

Assessment, Diagnostics, Practical guidance: the diagnostic layer beneath MRV. ADP platforms answer 'how is this land actually functioning, and what should be done about it?'; MRV platforms answer 'how many verified tonnes of CO₂ can be sold from this project?'.

Coined by EcoIntel

MRV Platform

A system that produces verified carbon credits under a formal standard such as VCS, Gold Standard or Plan Vivo. **EcoIntel is NOT an MRV platform**: it is a diagnostic platform supporting better carbon management.

Yeomans Scale of Permanence

A design principle that ranks land-management actions by how difficult and energy-intensive they are to reverse, from most permanent (climate, landform) to least permanent (animal movement). EcoIntel organises recommendations to honour the scale.