Report Guidelines

Inventory reports should follow a standard publication format for a typical scientific journal.

Any peer reviewed journal format such as that used by the Journal of Wildlife Management is acceptable. Such formats usually contain but are not limited to the following components:

  1. TITLE. Short, specific and informative. Preferably less than 10 words. Include the species, geographic location and specific subject in the title.

  2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY or ABSTRACT. Must be complete and informative in scope, methods and results. Briefly indicate significance of findings. Avoid unnecessary descriptions.

  3. TABLE OF CONTENTS. List primary and secondary headings. For longer documents include list of tables, list of figures and list of appendices.

  4. INTRODUCTION. Describe the Project and Study Areas, their sizes, and include a map of their location. Indicate appropriate ecoprovinces, ecoregions and ecosections; and biogeoclimatic zones and subzones covered by the Project and Study Areas. Include a review of existing information on the distribution, abundance, and habitat requirements of the species inventory groups examined within the Project Area. State the objectives in simple point form. Reference any pertinent investigations which are related to the study. Provide background information on the abundance and distribution of the species inventoried. Include literature review here. Include acknowledgments as a final paragraph in this section.

  5. METHODS. Describe the design and organization of the survey and the procedures used, including statistical analyses of data. Describe the sampling procedures in sufficient detail to allow the reader to repeat them properly. Cite references justifying your choice of method.

  6. RESULTS. Summarize findings in tables, figures and charts. The text itself should be meaningful without reference to tables, figures or appendices. Figures, tables and appendices should be referenced in parentheses. There should be at least one table which summarizes a species occurrence list for the Project Area. Species designation (e.g., red-, blue- or yellow-listed), and the ecosection, biogeoclimatic zone, subzone and broad ecosystem unit occupied should also be noted in the table. Only data necessary to support the text should be included in the body of the report. Provide statistical confidence intervals on data where appropriate (e.g., population estimates). Presence/not detected surveys and measures of relative abundance need not necessarily provide a statistical measure of error but should include a qualitative assessment of reliability and identification of error in the process.

  7. DISCUSSION. The highlights of the survey findings are summarized here in a simple format. Present a basic interpretation of the data gathered. State the significance of the findings and their relation to previous or ongoing work, and literature reviews. Tabular comparison with other survey data can be included. Include any speculation and intuitive comments based upon experience. Address the issues of scale and level of error inherent in the dataset. Specifically, provide warnings against inappropriate extrapolations or interpolations of data. Provide an evaluation of the inventory methods used. If the survey revealed new information on survey methods, or species-specific aspects of surveying or particular problems which need to be addressed by the Elements Working Group, include them here.

  8. MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS. Provide management recommendations. This may include recommendations for maintenance of wildlife diversity based on the inventory results, recommendations that relate to forest development planning or implementation of Wildlife Habitat Areas, and hypotheses regarding the effects of disturbance on distribution.

  9. LITERATURE CITED. Reference all unpublished and published papers, reports, manuals and books used or referred to in the report.