]> 2009/04/07 OpenCyc Knowledge Base Copyright© 2001-2009 Cycorp, Inc., http://www.cyc.com/, Austin, TX, USA This file contains an OWL representation of information contained in the OpenCyc Knowledge Base. The content of this OWL file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license whose text can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode. The content of this OWL file, including the OpenCyc content it represents, constitutes the "Work" referred to in the Creative Commons license. The terms of this license equally apply to, without limitation, renamings and other logically equivalent reformulations of the content of this OWL file (or portions thereof) in any natural or formal language, as well as to derivations of this content or inclusion of it in other ontologies. Mappings between OpenCyc terms and Wikipedia article names provided by Olena Medelyan and Catherine Legg, University of Waikato, NZ under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. externalID A unique, language-neutral, variable-sized identifier for a concept that can be used to refer unambiguously to that concept across OWL exports or across Cyc inference engines. label A natural-language representation for a concept that is both human readable and readable by the Cyc inference engine. These terms are not guaranteed to refer to the same concept across time but are guaranteed to be consistent within a particular OWL export. Use 'cycAnnot:externalID' for unambiguously referring to a concept across OWL exports or across Cyc inference engines. ecosystem Ecosystem This is the collection of ecosystems. An ecosystem is a particular region in which organisms live, together with the interrelations between these organisms and the relations between these organisms and their physical environment. ecosystems

Ecosystem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem (SubcollectionOfWithRelationToTypeFn Ecosystem inRegion BodyOfWater) ecosystem that is in some body of water Biome biome The collection of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv_UD6pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Ecosystem</a>s that exist on dry land (islands or continental land masses). aquatic life zone The collection of all <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv_UD6pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Ecosystem</a>s that exist within bodies of fresh or salt water. AquaticLifeZone (SubcollectionOfWithRelationToTypeFn Ecosystem inRegion LandMass) ecosystem that is in some land mass TheEarthsBiosphere the Earth's Biosphere The whole biosphere of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVkL_pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PlanetEarth</a>, considered as a total <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv_UD6pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Ecosystem</a>. the Earth's Biosphere (EcosystemOfRegionFn PlanetEarth) ecosystem Ecosystem This is the collection of ecosystems. An ecosystem is a particular region in which organisms live, together with the interrelations between these organisms and the relations between these organisms and their physical environment. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rummjkLHtEdmAAAACs6hO_g" class="cyc_term">NaturalFeatureType</a> is the collection of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r6-wc8BKxEdeIXwCgydofLQ" class="cyc_term">CartographicFeatureType</a>s which naturally occur on the surface of the Earth. Positive examples include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjODZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Mountain</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjktpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Ocean</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvgD8VZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Mesa</a>. Negative examples include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjzt5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">WaterReservoir</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjzcZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Canal</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rT2uByCTVQdeVZZaE0030Zg" class="cyc_term">Airfield</a>. Also see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4ru-8ymLHtEdmAAAACs6hO_g" class="cyc_term">ArtifactualFeatureType</a>, the corresponding collection for feature types which are <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVkH_ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Artifact</a>s. natural feature type NaturalFeatureType Wikipedia Article URL (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rNv0nbm4TTjOp7yhmnzOyqg" class="cyc_term">wikipediaArticleURL</a> THING URL) means that in <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rtqXA6OC8QdiWC72DuLJdUw" class="cyc_term">Wikipedia_WebSite</a> THING is described by an article located at URL wikipediaArticleURL The collection of all systems -- complex objects that decompose into simpler components that, by virtue of the relations among them, form a recognizable, cohesive whole. Notable specializations include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv9YtpJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PathSystem</a> and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvsWv_5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">FunctionalSystem</a>. The components of an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv9Xu1ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">System</a> can be identified using <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rqWixJi_fQdiDAuNReZaKSg" class="cyc_term">systemComponents</a>. System system Pretty String (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwLSVCpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">prettyString</a> TERM STRING) means that STRING is the English word or expression (sequence of words) commonly used to refer to TERM. The predicate <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwLSVCpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">prettyString</a> is used by the code which generates CycL to English paraphrases, but its applicability is not restricted to this use. prettyString geographical region A specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwLjlAJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeographicalThing</a> and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVkDZZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">SurfaceRegion_Tangible</a>. Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViACZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeographicalRegion</a> is a tangible spatial region that includes some piece of the surface of a planet (usually <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVkL_pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PlanetEarth</a>), and may be represented on a map of the planet. This includes purely topographical regions like mountains and underwater spaces, places defined by demographics (e.g. language areas) and territory otherwise demarcated (e.g. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwPvi0JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TimeZone</a>s). In "dualist" geopolitical contexts (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvnCA15wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">DualistGeopoliticalMt</a>, instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjl2pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeopoliticalEntity</a> are also considered to be instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViACZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeographicalRegion</a>. In all cases the region in question must contain some tangible component with which it is possible to make physical contact. The instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViACZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeographicalRegion</a> contrast in this respect with the instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvc-YsJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeographicalThing_Intangible</a>, which are wholly intangible. Examples of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViACZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeographicalRegion</a> include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjOO5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">RockyMountainStates_USRegion</a>, the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv9tl95wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ContinentOfAustralia</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViO4pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">SinaiPeninsula</a>, and -- in "dualist" geopolitical contexts -- <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViC4ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">YaleUniversity</a> and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBlpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CityOfPittsburghPA</a>. Some important types of regions are represented by the sub-collections <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVj3CJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">LanguageArea</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwPvi0JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TimeZone</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWdbEZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PostalCodeRegion</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjKJ5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">EcologicalRegion</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwP2CrJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ConstructionSite</a>, and -- in "dualist" geopolitical contexts -- <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjl2pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeopoliticalEntity</a>. No instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViACZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeographicalRegion</a> are wholly indoor locations. GeographicalRegion A Cyc collection. Each instance is a special kind of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjmoJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Group</a> that exists in time and interacts over the course of time in ways that underpin controlled application of resources and internal information exchange and processing by the system as a whole in order to perform certain tasks--which often can themselves be considered as functional roles in a larger system. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvsWv_5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">FunctionalSystem</a>s have some of the characteristics of what James Grier Miller calls 'living systems'. Instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVim7ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BiologicalLivingObject</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjVT5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Organization</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjl2pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GeopoliticalEntity</a> are all considered to be <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvsWv_5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">FunctionalSystem</a>s in the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwTy5O5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">FunctionalRoleAnalysisMt</a>. structure FunctionalSystem NaturalThing natural thing The notoriously hard to define collection of "natural" things. An individual is an instance of this collection if it is itself an individual or <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvYjIS5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Situation</a> that occurs in nature, i.e., not as a result of an <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVinb5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IntelligentAgent</a>'s (or group thereof) intentions to modify the environment, or else is an individual that is the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWStbZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">outputsCreated</a> of an <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViADZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Event</a> that is itself natural. A collection of collections. Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWXYgJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ExistingObjectType</a> is a specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVj27ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PartiallyTangible</a> (q.v.). Moreover, each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWXYgJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ExistingObjectType</a> is a collection that is temporally stuff-like (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVitN5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TemporalStuffType</a>) but physically-spatially object-like (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVirnZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ObjectType</a>) -- i.e. object-like with respect to some physical-spatial part-whole predicate (e.g. some specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r8a2smPXcQdiEoJhcx65EiQ" class="cyc_term">properPhysicalDecompositions</a>). Consider the collection <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwJaXepwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BookCopy</a>. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwJaXepwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BookCopy</a> is a specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVj27ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PartiallyTangible</a>. Further, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwJaXepwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BookCopy</a> is temporally stuff-like: any one of the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWn4OZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">timeSlices</a> of a given copy <code>COPY</code> of (say) "Moby Dick" is still a copy of "Moby Dick". (Most collections of tangible objects are temporally stuff-like in this way.) But <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwJaXepwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BookCopy</a> is spatially object-like: if we take a scalpel and slice <code>COPY</code> into ten pieces, each piece is not a copy of "Moby Dick". So <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwJaXepwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BookCopy</a> is an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWXYgJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ExistingObjectType</a>. See also <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVir35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">StuffType</a> and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVny6pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ExistingStuffType</a>. ExistingObjectType type of object ecosystem Ecosystem This is the collection of ecosystems. An ecosystem is a particular region in which organisms live, together with the interrelations between these organisms and the relations between these organisms and their physical environment. ecosystem Ecosystem This is the collection of ecosystems. An ecosystem is a particular region in which organisms live, together with the interrelations between these organisms and the relations between these organisms and their physical environment. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjaApwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Individual</a> is the collection of all individuals: things that are not sets or collections. Individuals might be concrete or abstract, and include (among other things) physical objects, events, numbers, relations, and groups. An instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjaApwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Individual</a> might have parts or structure (including discontinuous parts); but no individual has elements or subsets (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwGWaK5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">elementOf</a> and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvZA-05wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">subsetOf</a>). Thus, an individual that has parts (e.g. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVj5FpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">physicalParts</a> or <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVj-BJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">groupMembers</a>) is not the same thing as either the set or the collection containing those same parts. For example, your car is an individual, but the collection of all the parts of your car is not an individual but an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViAzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Collection</a>. This collection (unlike the car itself) is abstract: it doesn't have a location, mass, or a top speed; but it does have instances, subcollections, and supercollections. In partial contrast, the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjmoJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Group</a> (q.v.) of parts of your car (while also not the same thing as the car itself) is an individual that has location and mass. Another example: A given company, the group consisting of all the company's employees, the collection of those employees, and the set of those employees are four distinct things, and only the first two are individuals. Individual individual wikipediaArticleName (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rTv-jk9SPTXa991kk5mAvHg" class="cyc_term">wikipediaArticleName</a> THING NAME) means that in <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rtqXA6OC8QdiWC72DuLJdUw" class="cyc_term">Wikipedia_WebSite</a> THING is described by an article with the title NAME Wikipedia Article Name A collection of geographical regions. Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjKJ5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">EcologicalRegion</a> is a region having one or more characteristic ecosystems. From knowledge of those ecosystems, we can posit whether certain organisms can forage, reproduce, and live successfully there. Information about ecological regions typically also includes what kinds of organisms are in fact found there. In theory, any arbitrary continuous region could be analyzed as an ecological region, but most regions identified in practice have some kind of sameness or systematic interconnection in their topology, climate, and biology. Examples: the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQBnu5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">WesternDesertOfEgypt</a>, the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvr5ZE5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GreatBarrierReef</a>, the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvgEX1ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Amazon_Region</a>. EcologicalRegion ecological region