1. a vegetation strip or management zone of varying size, shape, and character maintained along a stream, lake, road, recreation site, or different vegetative zone to mitigate the impacts of actions on adjacent lands, to enhance aesthetic values, or as a best management practice —synonym buffer strip, buffer zone, roadside zone, roadside strip, waterfront zone —see riparian zone 2. GIS a zone of a specified distance around features —note 1. both constant- and variable-width buffers can be generated for a set of features based on each feature?s attribute values; the resulting buffer zones form polygons that are areas either inside or outside the specified buffer distance from each feature —note 2. buffers are useful for proximity analysis, e.g., to find all stream segments within 300 ft (91.4 m) of a proposed logging area 3. an area maintained around an experimental or sample plot to ensure that the latter is not affected by any treatment applied to the area outside them both —synonym isolation strip 4. wildlife management habitat that reduces dangers of having sharply contrasting edges of a harvest area next to protected habitat 5. wildlife management an animal species that reduces or neutralizes the incidence of predation on another species —see predator 6. an area of intergradation between two sympatric species 7. an area uninhabited by a particular species or related species but likely to be inhabited This definition last updated 10/24/2008