Inventory can be described as a point-in-time assessment of the resource to determine location or condition and number. The types of information collected during an inventory can be identical to those collected during monitoring. A key difference is that inventory data are rarely related to a management goal or objective. Collecting this type of data is often justified as providing a “baseline” for later comparison to allow for change detection. However, the question “Are things different now than they were X years ago?” is facetious. Of course, things are different; things always change over time! The more appropriate questions are “How different are they?”, “Is this difference of ecological and management importance?” and “What is the cause of these changes?”
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Author
Bob Unnasch, Ph.D.
Sound Science LLC
Monitoring biodiversity
Confusing monitoring with inventory
Confusing monitoring with research