Ministry of Environment Biodiversity/Environmental Information Resources e-Library

EIRS (Environmental Information Resources System)

GLOSSARY

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

A

Abstract - A brief outline of the document summarizing the study topic, approach, highlights and key findings. If an abstract is available for a document, a checkmark appears under the Abstract column on your Search Results page. Clicking on the checkmark opens the abstract immediately below the title. Clicking the checkmark again closes it. See Catalogue Help for access and printing instructions.

Author - the primary person responsible for writing a report. Also see Contributing Author. Note that an EIRS advanced search for a particular author searches both the Primary Author and the Contributing Author fields.

B

Biodiversity - In the context of the EIRS application, Biodiversity refers to the B.C. Ministry of Environment Ecosystems Branch, responsible for maintaining the biodiversity component of the EIRS application, and to the topic area itself. EIRS Biodiversity can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eirs/bdp/index.html . Please refer to the home page description for further details of documents included there.

Blue List - List of ecological communities, and indigenous species and subspecies of special concern (formerly vulnerable) in British Columbia.

Buy – If the $ icon is displayed, it indicates the document is available for purchase (hard copy or CD). Clicking on the “$” icon will generate an email message to the appropriate vendor, providing sufficient information to identify the document desired.

C

Conservation - Preservation, especially of the natural environment.

Contributing Author - one or more authors who provided significant input into the development of a report. Also see Author. Note that an EIRS advanced search for a particular author searches both the primary Author and the Contributing Author fields. However, only the primary Author appears in the search results.

Crown Publications - is an authorized distributor licensed to sell selected B.C. ministry publications, and is also an authorized agent for the sale of Canadian Federal Government Publications. If a publications is available for purchase through this vendor, a $ icon is shown in the EIRS Search Results. Clicking the icon automatically generates an email to this vendor requesting purchasing details. There is also a direct link to their site on the EIRS home page. Also see Vendor and $ Icon.

D

Document ID - is a system-generated number uniquely identifying each document. This number is used only by application programmers and administrators.

E

Ecocat - A BC Ministry of Environment e-Library application currently used to catalogue a variety of geographically-referenced scientific and technical information such as groundwater wells, lakes information, etc. This application can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/ecocat/  Please refer to the home page description for further detail on documents included there.

Ecosystem - An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and the nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit. Ecosystems vary enormously in size: a temporary pond in a tree hollow and an ocean basin can both be ecosystems (definition taken from Millenium Ecosystem Assessment 2003)

Ecosystem at Risk - An extirpated, endangered or threatened ecosystem or an ecosystem of special concern (formerly called vulnerable).

EIRS - Environmental Information Resources System. A B.C. Ministry of Environment application © 2006, used to catalogue scientific and technical publications related to natural resources, relevant to Environmental Protection and Biodiversity.

E-Library - a collection of documents available electronically.

Endangered - Facing imminent extirpation or extinction.

Environmental Protection - In the context of the EIRS application, this refers to both the BC Ministry of Environment Branch responsible for maintaining the Environmental Protection component of the EIRS application and to the topic area itself. The EIRS Environmental Protection e-library can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eirs/epd/index.html Please refer to the home page description for further details of documents included there.

ESD - Environmental Stewardship Division, B.C. Ministry of Environment

Export Results - Convert search results into a convenient form for further sorting or ongoing use. Users can export to a tab-separated value ("Export to TSV") format for use in applications like Microsoft Word Document or a comma-separated value ("Export to CSV") for use in applications like Microsoft Excel.

Extinct – Species that no longer exist.

Extirpated - Taxa or ecological communities (ecosystems/habitats) that no longer exist in the wild in British Columbia, but do occur elsewhere.

I

Identified Wildlife - Species at risk in British Columbia that have been designated by the Chief Forester (Ministry of Forests) and Deputy Minister (Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection) as requiring special management attention during forest and range operational planning or higher level planning. While there are currently there are no ecological communities designated as identified wildlife, they may be added in the future.

ISBN - (International Standard Book Numbers) A coding system that identifies a book for purposes of commerce and supply chains. It is either a 10-digit or 13-digit number. 13-digit ISBN's start with either 978 or 979, and the 9 digits that follow correspond to the first 9 digits of a 10-digit ISBN. The first number or numbers of a 10 digit ISBN identifies the country that issued the publishers prefix; this number is followed by a dash and the publisher prefix. This code is shown in EIRS if known.

ISSN - ( International Standard Serial Number): Used since the 1970's, this is a universally accepted eight-digit number that identifies periodical publications as such, including electronic serials . This code is shown in EIRS if known.

K

Keywords - words or phrases (enclosed in "") that EIRS uses to search the e-library for documents of interest. EIRS allows users to select "all of the words" or "any of the words" selected to narrow or broaden search results. In the advanced search, users can also specify "without the words", and specify detail in other fields (e.g. author, title, year, species name, other identifier, report number) to further limit the search.

M

Ministry Library - The Ministry library houses documents produced by, for or about the Ministries of Environment and Forestry, and related subject matter in both hard copy and electronic form. http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/

Multi-page icon - Seen in the results view, the multi-page icon indicates that the document is made up of multiple parts for download purposes, often required for large documents. The icon links you to a "document details" page, showing the component parts of the document, and making the individual component documents available for download. E.g., large documents may be broken in 5MB (or smaller) portions, or large appendices such as maps may be available as a separate download file. See also Single-Page Icon.

N

NatureServe - An organization dedicated to providing reliable information on species and ecological communities for use in conservation and land use planning. NatureServe is an independent non-profit organization created in collaboration with the Network of Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centres and The Nature Conservancy (U.S.).

Other Identifier - can be used to search for any documents using additional information attached to the document by an administrator.

P

PDF - Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) files look exactly like original documents and preserve source file information - text, drawings, 3D, full-color graphics, photos, and even business logic - regardless of the application used to create them. (Adobe 2006)

Primary Author - please see Author

Public - Allows access to electronically available, published documents produced by, for or about the BC Ministry of Environment. Public users have access to the basic search and advanced search functions of the e-library application. Microsoft Internet Explorer v4.x or above, or Netscape version 4.x and above is required.

Published (PUB) - Document is now published on EIRS.

Q

Queen's Printer - an authorized distributor of B.C. government publications. If a publications is available for purchase, a $ icon is shown in the EIRS Search Results. Clicking the icon automatically generates an email to this vendor requesting purchase details. There is also a direct link to their site on the EIRS home page. Also see Vendor and $ Icon .

R

Red List - List of ecological communities, and indigenous species and subspecies that are extirpated, endangered or threatened in British Columbia. Red listed species and sub-species have- or are candidates for- official Extirpated, Endangered or Threatened Status in BC. Not all Red-listed taxa will necessarily become formally designated. Placing taxa on these lists flags them as being at risk and requiring investigation.

Report Number - is an alphanumeric field used to indicate a document is part of a series, and may also be used to link to a paper filing system. As an example, 'wr10' refers to the wildlife working report number 10. Another example is 'EP-ALCA-1988-002' - Skeena region's filing number scheme indicating that the document relates to Environment Protection, their ALCAN client, is dated 1988, and numbered 002 in their filing system for that client and year. The format of the Report Number may vary from report to report, and region to region, or it may be blank.

S

Single Page Icon - This icon, seen in the "view" column on the Search Results screen, indicates that the document is a single file, typically in PDF format. Clicking on the icon immediate downloads the document to your computer. See also Multi-Page Icon.

Species Name (Scientific) - the standard provincial scientific (Latin) name assigned to a species.

Species Name (English) - The standard provincial English name assigned to a species.

Staff - permits password-authenticated government users to access unpublished documents, consultant reports without specific copyright permissions, and selected, relevant partner publications normally accessed directly through partner sites, in addition to documents available to the public.

T

Threatened - Likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed.

Title - The published title of the document as seen on the cover of the document and/or as referenced in the library catalogue.

V

Vendor - agency contact for the purchase of a hard copy or CD version of the document. When this option is available, EIRS Search Results shows a $ sign in the "Buy" column. Clicking the "$" icon produces a pre-populated email message to the vendor, providing the document vendor with sufficient information to respond directly to your email query.

View (report) - The "View" column, seen on the Search Results screen, links directly to the electronic version of the publication, if available. In most cases, a Single-Page icon is present that identifies the size of the document for download purposes. Clicking it results in immediate file download.

If a Multi-Page icon is present, this indicates that there are multiple components to the document. Clicking this links you to a "document details" page, showing the component parts of the document and their respective file sizes. Clicking the single-page icon for the component document, results in immediate file download. See also Single-Page Icon and Multi-Page Icon.

Vulnerable - Particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events. [As used by NatureServe - Vulnerable globally either because very rare and local throughout its range, found only in a restricted range (even if abundant at some locations), or because of other factors making it vulnerable to extinction or elimination.]

Y

Year - The publication year for a given document. When using the Advanced Search function, year can be searched based on a particular year, a range of years (e.g. 1991-1995) or with a wildcard (e.g. 199* for any document from 1990-1999)

Yellow List - List of ecological communities and indigenous species which are not at risk in British Columbia.

icon - indicates that the document is available for purchase as hardcopy or on CD. Clicking on the "$" icon will produce a pre-populated email message to the vendor, providing sufficient information to identify the document to the vendor.