Unit of natural biological diversity, representing species (or infraspecies taxa), ecological communities, ecological systems, or other non-taxonomic biological entities, such as migratory species aggregation areas. For more information see Classification.

the basic building blocks of the Natural Heritage Inventory. They include natural communities, rare plants, rare animals, and other selected features such as colonial bird rookeries, bat hibernacula, and mussel beds. In short, an element is any biological or ecological entity upon which we wish to gather information for conservation purposes.

The biologic components of an ecosystem, used by the Heritage Network to assess biological diversity. These are grouped into three categories: species, natural plant communities, and "others" (a broad category encompassing an eclectic mix of natural features that a particular Heritage program believes are worthy of attention). The concept of "element occurrences" is the foundation of the Heritge approach to assessing biodiversity.

A species or a natural community (i.e., natural plant community). The term "species" is used to include all entities at the taxonomic level of species, including interspecific hybrids, as well as all subspecies and plant varieties.

An biotic piece, such as a species or community, including the components that CDCs, NHPs, and NatureServe focus on when compiling information about species (including sub-species, varieties, and hybrids) and natural communities.

a plant community or animal species mapped by GAP, may also be referred to as "element of biodiversity"

The term element refers to a unit of biodiversity, i.e. species, natural community or special animal assemblage.