Abstract
If a monitoring programme is being planned, there are five basic questions that need to be asked and answered. Each question is important and should be answered before any monitoring begins; they essentially form a sequential set because a satisfactory answer to any individual question cannot be given until all questions higher on the list have been answered. The questions are:
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1.
Purpose: what is the aim of monitoring?
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2.
Method: how can this aim be achieved?
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3.
Analysis: how are the data, which will be collected periodically, to be handled?
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4.
Interpretation: what might the data mean?
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5.
Fulfilment: when will the aim have been achieved?
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© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Usher, M.B. (1991). Scientific requirements of a monitoring programme. In: Goldsmith, B. (eds) Monitoring for Conservation and Ecology. Conservation Biology, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3086-8_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3086-8_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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