Scientific and Technical Communication: Theory, Practice and Policy

Introduction

Definition and description play important and fundamental roles in scientific and technical communication. Definitions are basic, and usually brief. A parenthetical one-word definition of constriction might follow the term's first use in a emergency first-aid manual: "(narrowing)." A one-sentence definition of iodine might appear in a chemistry handbook: "a lustrous, grayish, corrosive element having radioactive isotopes." Descriptions are longer. A description of the surface of Venus might take four pages of an eight-page scientific article. A description of a new design for a suspension bridge might compose a major section of an engineering firm's proposal. And a description of carbon dating might occupy half a chapter of an archeology textbook.

Definition

Definitions are brief statements which specify the basic qualities of their subject. An author using definitions needs some idea of the background of her audience. For instance, an author of an article submitted to a journal in architecture probably does not need to define "traverse" -- the common architectural term for structural crosspiece. But the author of an article in a newspaper should define the term because it is not in the layperson vocabulary. Likewise, an author of an article in a professional field other than architecture should define it simply as a precaution: various disciplines have assigned different meanings to the same term. (In fact -- in navigation, a traverse is a zigzag course forced by contrary winds; in surveying, a traverse is a line established by sighting; in law, to traverse is to make a formal denial of an allegation in a suit.)

When you have established the need for a definition, you must decide whether the definition should be informal or formal.

Informal Definitions

An informal definition offers the reader only what she needs to know, and does not impede the narrative. It is introduced as part of a larger presentation of an argument or a concept. It appears as one or more words in parentheses immediately following the term, or as a sentence or paragraph containing the term. An informal definition is useful when you want your audience to focus only on a certain aspect or aspects of the term.

The following selection, adapted from a college textbook in physical anthropology, uses several informal definitions.

Some Speculations on the Origin of Human Speech

Most primates live in bands. [The term band may be usefully defined as a social group which persists through some time]. The collective activities of the members of the band require coordination of between its members through at least three forms of communication. Body language involves movement of the body, as well as helpful pushing and prodding. In addition, all of the higher primates communicate effectively through changes in facial expression. Finally, vocal signaling provides communication between members within the band, as well as warnings of proximity to other bands. For most primates the call system is rather simple, containing a repertory of half a dozen or more distinct signals. Each of these refers to a specific situation such as the discovery of food, the presence of danger, a friendly invitation to join the company, or a call which merely says, "I am here." Each of these calls elicits a proper response from other primates within hearing. All of the signals in such a call system are mutually exclusive from the others and contain a simple message which cannot be blended with the others. The linguists technically describe a system with this mutual exclusiveness as closed.

In sharp contrast to the closed call system, human language is open, allowing us to speak with words which we have never said nor heard before, and so incorporating new blended meanings. One of the limitations of the closed call system is that its signals apply only to the immediate presence. With open language we can and do refer freely to things that are out of sight, belong to the past and future, and may not even exist. This flexibility of open language results from the arrangement of elementary signaling units which the linguists call phonemes. In themselves they have no meaning, but serve to keep sounds distinct and apart. Whereas the signals in the primate call system may well have a basic genetic determination, the utterances of the open language system are primarily learned through repeated observation and conditioning, with only the capacity for speech being genetically determined.

(from Birdsell, J.B. Human Evolution: an Introduction to the New Physical Anthropology. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1972. 335.)

The first paragraph is devoted entirely to a definition of a closed call system. Within the paragraph is a parenthetical informal definition of bands -- a term simply and quickly defined, but necessary to the larger definition. (Notice that the author does not think it necessary to explain primate -- the passage is from a central chapter in the book, and the author has by now used the term often.) A longer informal definition of open call system occupies the entire second paragraph, which contains a shorter formal definition of phoneme. Because the author borrows the term phoneme from linguistics, he is careful to spend more than a sentence explaining it.

Formal Definitions

A formal definition identifies its subject within a larger group, and differentiates it from others in that group. It is useful in several circumstances.

1) where an audience is likely to confuse the term (or its referent) with another. For instance, an audience might assume that hemlock, the evergreen common to North America is also the poisonous plant made infamous by Socrates. (It is not.)

2) when the term is new. When you use a term you have invented, your audience requires and expects an explanation. In recent years the terms "sociobiology" and "chaos theory" have required whole books.

3) when the term is essential to your overall message. The more important the term is to your larger point, the greater the need for a formal definition. You will want to be certain that you and your audience are beginning from a common reference point.

A formal definition may appear as a self-contained paragraph, a footnote or endnote, or, as in this example, as part of a table:

Clouds are classified into four families distinguished by their height above ground: high clouds (cirrus or cirro-form clouds), middle clouds (given the prefix "alto"), low clouds, and clouds with vertical development (cumulus or cumuloform clouds). High clouds, usually composed entirely of ice crystals, generally occur at altitudes ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 ft. Middle clouds may have bases between about 8,000 ft. and 20,000 ft.

Family	Genus	Species	Description
HIGH CLOUDS 16,500 to 45,000	Cirrus	---	Wispy, hair-like clouds. Formed of delicate filaments, feetpatches, narrow bands, or feather-like plumes.
---	Cirroculumlus	---	Thin, white, grainy, and rippled patches or sheets or layers. Show very slight vertical development in the form of turrets and shallow towers.
---	Cirrostratus	---	Transparent, hair-like or smooth whitish veil. Covers all or part of the sky. Produces halo phenomenon.
MIDDLE CLOUDS 6,500 to 23,000 feet	Altocumulus	---	Extensive sheet of regularly arranged white and gray, somewhat rounded cloudlets.
---	---	Altocumulus castellanus	Altocumulus with vertical development in the form of small towers or turrets. Elements have a common horizontal base and appear to be arranged in lines.
---	---	Altocumulus lenticularis	A patch of altocumulus in the shape of a lens or almond. Often stationary and very elongated with well-defined outlines.

The classifications family, genus and species are borrowed from biology.

"So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. "

-- Genesis 2.19 New Revised Standard Version

Since Adam, many groups have named and classified life forms -- sometimes with peculiar results. There is, for instance, the case of the large South American rodent called the capybara. In the 16th Century Venezuelans and Columbians, who found its meat delectable, petitioned the Pope to decree it a fish, thus allowing them to enjoy it during Lent. He did, and Roman Catholics are still permitted to eat capybara without breaking the Lenten fast.

Law has also been much involved in classification. The Animal Welfare Act, which regulates the use of animals in experiments, defines animal as "any live or dead dog, cat, monkey ... or such other warm-blooded animal as the Secretary may determine is being used, or intended for use, for research." In other words, the Secretary may define what an animal is. In recent years more common laboratory specimens -- mice and rats -- have not enjoyed legal protection because, under the Animal Welfare Act, they are not animals. Animals rights activists and others -- suggesting that the definition is shaped by economics (protection would require inspection, and inspection would cost $1 million a year) -- have made numerous appeals.

Description

Descriptions are detailed definitions. As an author of descriptions, you need first to discover what your audience needs to know about the subject. The way it works internally? What it produces? What it looks like? Description formats may be determined by their subject:

Functional Descriptions

A functional description discusses a machine or tool in terms of the work it performs. A functional description might be used in an application for a machine patent directed to the patent office, the introduction of a device addressed to a scientist who needs to use it to perform an experiment, or a catalogue entry directed at consumer who might wish to buy it. Although few functional descriptions in real technical communication appear independently of other description, we need to be able to separate the functional aspect of the tool in question from the physical aspect if only to make clear our understanding of the tool, and if only to gain some control over our choice of detail. Such separation, in other words, is a useful exercise. To distinguish a tool's functional nature from its physical nature can be difficult. You will make your work easier by omitting details of shape, size, and material, unless they are necessary to the device's function. Concentrate instead on the work the tool performs, and the method by which the work is performed.

A format for a functional description includes:

1) the source of the tool's power. Every tool has one or more power sources -- electric, nuclear, solar, manual, etc. Common household scissors, for instance, are manually-powered.

2) the type of tool, regarded (if possible) apart from its source of power. Tools may be electric, mechanical, or hydraulic, for instance. Scissors are mechanical.

3) the function of the tool. Tools often perform work for which they were not designed. Throughout their history scissors have been used to hammer nails and to pry lids off cans of paint. For purposes of this definition, consider only the function the designer intended: scissors cut and/or shear.

4) the receiver of the tool's action. Scissors can cut any material softer than the blades, and have probably been made to cut almost everything from sandstone to cheese. But again, such uses were not their designer's intent. The phrase most applicable here is suitable material.

5) the main functional components of the tool. The more complicated the tool, the more difficult this part becomes. Perhaps the best organizing principle is the direction in which energy flows through the tool, traced in reverse. In other words, begin with the receiver of the tool's action, and follow the energy to its source.

Combining these elements, we produce the following definition of scissors:

A manually-powered mechanical tool for cutting and/or shearing suitable material by means of two opposed blades hinged at a common point.

Every part of the description contributes to our understanding of the work the device performs, and how the device performs it. This type of description is called blue-sky -- which is to say, it may include the largest possible variety of devices termed "scissors." Because the description mentions neither materials nor size, and because it makes the receiver of the work ambiguous, it may include both tin snips used by machinists and the plastic scissors used by schoolchildren. Note too that the description makes no mention of handles, and so may include scissors whose blades are held apart by a springed hinge and closed by the manual application of pressure directly on the dull outside edge of the blades.

A less expansive description -- which we might term a limited description -- would simply add details to the same format. A limited description of common household scissors might be:

A manually powered mechanical appliance for cutting materials such as paper and cloth by means of two opposed stainless-steel six-inch blades hinged at a common point and rotated by handles with which each blade shares an axis.

An inventor applying for a machine patent is likely to be acutely conscious of the advantages and disadvantages of blue-sky and limited definitions. A description that is too broad may seem to include a machine already in existence; a description that is too narrow may not protect the inventor from a patent claim whose subject is actually her invention altered slightly. The solution is to combine the most useful aspects of each type of definition. An inventor applying for a machine patent of, for instance, a watch, might describe it as:

A semi-automatic, mechanical instrument for indicating the passage of time by means of one or more indicators rotating over a suitably circumscribed dial (actual or implied), on a shaft rotated by a system of gears driven by the loosening of a manually-tightened spring.

The description terms the watch "semi-automatic" because it requires periodic winding. The description avoids words like "hands" and "face" and phrases like "tells time" because they are so colloquial as to impart no real information. The description terms the dial "suitably circumscribed" so that it may include twenty-four hour military clocks, and terms the dial "actual or implied" to include designer watches with blank or transparent dials.

Applicants for patents, of course, are not the only authors of functional descriptions, and not the only authors who need to adjust their descriptions to their audience. An author of a non-technical dictionary might describe a calculator as follows:

An instrument for assisting numerical and arithmetic procedures by means of numerical displays which may be manipulated manually through suitably marked keys.

Physicists and engineers call this a "black box" definition. The phrase refers to a mechanism or part of a mechanism whose inner workings are either not understood, or do not need to be understood. The description would be useful to a generalist, not so useful to an engineer -- who might prefer this limited description from a technical handbook:

A manually-controlled, electrically-powered, electrical-mechanical instrument for assisting numeric and arithmetic procedures by means of a keypad describing numerals which may be manipulated by an integrated circuit which implements algorithms, controls timing function, interprets key-switch closures, carries out requested operations, and multiplexes the individual digits of the result to a backlit liquid-crystal display.

Physical Descriptions

A physical description discusses an object in terms of its composition and/or appearance. It might be used in an application for a design patent, a list of specifications addressed to builders, the presentation of a new product to a corporate board of directors, or the description of a section of woodland for a builder's Environmental Impact Statement.

Although many descriptions in scientific and technical communication use visual aids, they are greatly clarified by accompanying narratives, and have limitations which only narratives can overcome. In certain cases -- if, for instance, the printing budget prohibits it, or if the communication is done over the telephone or with someone visually disabled -- communication will depend entirely upon words.

The difficulty most writers of physical descriptions have is that they unconsciously assume their audience can see the subject of the description; in other words, they do not sympathize with the audience's lack of knowledge. You can overcome the difficulty by adhering to a format which organizes the aspects of the description in a way the audience will find reasonable and predictable.

1) the reference point of the viewer

2) the size, shape and orientation of the whole object and each of its parts

3) details of surface texture, color, labeling, etc.

A physical description is sensitive to the problems of an audience which must imagine an object it cannot see. It is careful to direct the reader's attention in a systematic manner. The focus moves left-to-right, and adjoining components are discussed in succession. Perhaps most importantly, the description begins with an overall view of the subject, thus providing the reader a frame of reference in which she may imaginatively arrange the object's parts.

A physical description of a pencil is relatively simple because its parts are symmetrical: there is an obvious long axis about which to work. An object with no straight lines poses greater problems: imagine, for instance, trying to describe the shape of the exterior surface of a Boeing 747. Fortunately, the people who write such descriptions are provided a technical vocabulary which assists them greatly. In the rare case where you do not have such a vocabulary -- or you know that your audience lacks such a vocabulary -- then you have a very real problem. You can overcome it in two ways. First, through the imaginative use of adjectives: "pear-shaped," "sickle-shaped," etc. Second, through the assertion of an arbitrary frame of reference: describe for your audience the dimensions of an imaginary frame, and describe the object within that frame. For instance: "Imagine the object within a box with the dimensions one meter by one meter by two meters, the longest side corresponding to the vertical (y) axis ..." Once the frame has been established, description becomes a relatively simple matter of placing details with reference to it.

Physical and functional descriptions and geopolitics

The distinction between functional and physical definitions is not merely academic. In fact, it played a large part in a national debate with enormous consequences. In May of 1972 the United States and the Soviet Union signed a treaty which made each party agree "not to develop, test, or deploy ABM [anti-ballistic missile] systems or components which are sea-based, air-based, or mobile land-based."

In March of 1983 President Reagan introduced to the nation a proposal to build a system of orbiting satellites which would destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles in flight. It was called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or, more colloquially, "Star Wars." The system's proponents described it physically -- as "brilliant pebbles," space-based lasers, etc. -- and so were able to argue that the system did not violate the treaty; these were not, after all, antiballistic missiles. Opponents of SDI described it functionally: they regarded the system's function (disabling nuclear warheads) as essentially identical to that of antiballistic missiles, and so could argue that SDI violated the treaty.

When printing budget and time permit, physical descriptions may be greatly assisted by visual aids. A given object may be represented by several views (front and overhead), or by a single view. It may be represented by a line drawing (which outlines an object without shading or detail), a cutaway drawing (which shows the object as though part had been removed) or a cross-section (which shows the object as if it had been sliced in half lengthwise). The choice of visual is determined by the kind of detail necessary. A line drawing, or instance, would be useful only to someone needing to identify the object. Someone needing to understand an internal mechanism would require a cutaway or cross-section.

In general, the visual and the description should complement each other. Names of parts of the object may be listed beside the visual, each name preceded by a number or letter. Corresponding letters or numbers may surround the visual -- lines connecting the letters to the referent part. Letters or numbers should be arranged sequentially, allowing the viewer to find the part easily. Also, a complicated object may require several views. If this is the case, the narrative description should alternate with the visuals: a paragraph of narrative describing a first aspect, the visual of the same aspect, a paragraph of narrative describing a second aspect, the visual of the second aspect, etc.

The modes by which a tool or system are described inevitably focus upon certain aspects of their subject, and omit other aspects. Scientific and technical communicators use these modes to advantage. Physical and functional descriptions are often combined in order to highlight certain aspects of their subject. The scientific and technical communicator should construct such a hybrid not because she is confusing forms, but because she recognizes strengths of each type of description and employs them selectively, always with an eye to what function or what physical detail is necessary to the overall picture.

Although a physical description would be helpful to someone needing to draw the object, it would be nearly useless to someone needing to construct it. For her, another kind of physical description would be in order -- an assembly description.

Assembly Descriptions

A simple assembly description is little more than a listing of parts in the order which they are to be attached to the whole. They may be listed according to the sequence of assembly, or they may be identified merely by serial number. The list may be accompanied by an "exploded" diagram of the object -- that is, a rendering of the object separated in such a way that its parts are arranged along lines radiating from an imaginary central point. A more complicated assembly description -- which would entail the manufacture of some of its parts -- might use terms like "conical" and "beveled," and it might describe components not according to their present arrangement, but by the means in which they were constructed or attached to the whole.

Simple and complex assembly descriptions both include:

1) a general description of the entire object, assembled,

2) the size, shape and orientation each of its parts before and after assembly, and

3) if necessary, an accounting of the origin of certain part. When assemblies are made of parts the reader knows in other applications, the description may omit detailed description of those parts.

The following assembly description is of a Lotus Engineering design for a pursuit racing bicycle which uses aerodynamic principles and composite materials. It is from an article in Popular Mechanics -- written to an mostly unspecialized audience with a general interest in technological developments Lotus used lessons learned from designing Formula One race cars to refine the airfoil shape of the Lotus Sport's monococque -- a 4.5-pound hollow structure that replaces the tube frame. The monococque is a composite of unidirectional and stitched carbon fiber in an epoxy resin matrix, which is molded in two halves.

The rear wheel is supported by a cantilever arm that is part of the monococque, while the titanium saddle is perched atop an airfoil-section seat post. A solid carbon monoblade carries the front wheel. Since the cantilevered monoblade is highly stressed in several directions, a special high-modulus carbon from Japan (an expensive material developed for satellites) was used to form the blade.

The monoblade incorporates narrow, wing-shaped outrigger struts that support the handlebars. At the start, when the rider needs leverage to accelerate, he grasps streamlined knobs on the outrigger ends. Once up to speed, he switches to a pair of carbon-fiber elbowpads and tube aerobars that sharply lower his torso into the maximal aerodynamic position.

The 3-spoke front wheel and disc rear wheel are both made of carbon fiber. The bottom bracket, wheel hubs and axles are titanium, an inert metal that doesn't react galvanically with carbon fiber, which conducts electricity. The chainset uses a solid aluminum chainring and titanium cranks.

Comparison Descriptions

Comparison descriptions appear in many contexts. A wildflower identification manual might compare and contrast three very similar plants, a medical textbook might compare and contrast similar symptoms among several diseases. There exists no standard format -- except that the corresponding aspects should be presented in the same order, thus allowing the reader to cross reference easily.

The following comparison description details three solar energy collector technologies. Observe that aspects of each technology are described in parallel form: physical description of the system and its capabilities, history of the system, and potential future applications for the system. Note too how each section selectively combines aspects of functional and physical description.

Energy Concentrator Systems

Solar thermal systems produce a concentrated photon beam by focusing sunlight from large, ground-based mirrors onto a small area. Three collector technologies benefited from recent federally funded research that increased capacity, decreased collector weight, and caused a corresponding drop in cost. Systems and materials research now in progress is expected to yield similar returns during the next decade.

Collector systems must track the sun as it arcs across the sky from east to west. Most trough collector systems require only a single axis of movement to keep track of the sun's path, although some two-axis systems have been developed. Focusing dishes and heliostat tracking mirrors require two-axis drives.

Dish Systems

Focusing dishes are parabolic mirrors that focus incoming solar energy on a receiver mounted above the dish at the focus. Systems now operating achieve 2000 suns 1 and working temperatures of about 800o C; each dish can produce 4 to 25 kWe.

Fields of dishes can be linked to give a much greater power generating capacity than can be obtained from one dish. Some dish systems use individual Rankine-cycle or Stirling engines mounted at the focus; others use a primary loop of steam or a steam-water mixture that passes through several collectors as a transfer fluid to drive a central turbine.

Dish systems became far less expensive during the 1980s, and current federal research into lighter, inexpensive mirrored surfaces will further lower costs and enable dish technologies to compete for peak power utility applications. Federally sponsored research is also investigating new concentrating receivers for dish collectors that create an incredible 60,000 suns with temperatures as high as 5000o C.

Central Receiver Systems

Central receivers use a field of thousands of individual tracking mirrors called heliostats to reflect solar energy onto a receiver atop a tower, where concentrated energy heats a transfer fluid. Each focusing mirror must maintain its own, continually changing orientation to reflect the solar image directly onto the receiver.

Early receivers were arrays of tubes made of temperature-resistant metal alloys, black for maximum energy absorption. A collection fluid circulated through these tubes, carrying energy to turbines and storage systems. Superheated water was the first fluid tested, but researchers are currently developing receivers using molten salts in the primary transfer loop for much more efficient energy absorption.

Early heliostats were constructed from glass mirrors, which required heavy support structures; but newer models use lightweight materials and more efficient structures, substantially reducing the weight and cost. Central receiver system controls are being automated for further cost savings.

With hundreds of mirrors focused on a single surface, central receivers can produce very high temperatures -- 650o C for systems now in commercial operation. Larger systems coming on line in the next decade may operate at 1500o C or higher.

Trough Systems

Parabolic trough collectors use mirrored troughs to focus energy on a fluid-carrying receiver tube at the focal line. Trough collector technology is well developed and is in use for a variety of commercial low-temperature process heat and district heating applications. Because trough collectors are modular, they can be linked in groups to provide higher capacity -- high enough for large-scale electric generation. Almost 200 MW of electric power are currently on grid from trough power plants in Southern California; another 400 MW will be on grid soon.

(from "Focusing on the Future: Solar Thermal Energy Systems Emerge as Competitive Technologies with Major Economic Potential." Golden, CO: Solar Energy Research Institute, 1989.)

Comparisons may be both descriptive and persuasive: an engineering firm's proposal to build a wastewater treatment facility might describe and evaluate three competing design proposals.

Process Descriptions

A process description is a recounting of the stages of any action. It may describe a natural action which occurs without human intervention like the division of a cell or the flow of an electron through a cathode-ray tube. It may also describe a procedure -- corporation's decision regarding a product line, or the manufacture of a microchip.

Description of a Natural Process

A description of a natural process might appear in a scientific article in microbiology, part of a manual for wine makers or, as in this example, a college textbook's explanation of the formation of a main-sequence star as explained in a college astronomy text. A description of a natural process should include:

1) the nature of the process, and the phases of the process listed chronologically. This also describes a condition necessary for the process to begin.

The formation of a main-sequence star is a gravitational, thermal and nuclear process.

Stars are formed when large clouds of interstellar hydrogen contract, heat, begin internal convective motion, and begin nuclear fusion. A cloud cannot begin to contract unless or until it is sufficiently dense that the mutual gravitational attraction of its hydrogen atoms pulls them towards each other.

2) a detailed description of the phases in parallel phrasing.

A gas cloud with radius about 1000 A.U. 1 contracts to a cloud of about 10 A.U. over a period of as little as 5000 years. At a radius of about 6 A.U. the interior of the proto-star changes: convective motion begins to occur (much as heated water begins to circulate before it boils), and within one hundred years the star flares up, becoming perhaps 500 times as bright as the sun. It then contracts slowly, its contraction producing more internal heat, which is liberated from the star's surface as electromagnetic radiation. Gradually the star becomes fainter.

The star -- now about 1 million years old -- has contracted to a radius twice that of the sun, and the interior is sufficiently cool that convection is no longer necessary to transport its heat; energy is carried outward by radiation alone. Gradually, the star grows hotter again, and after some 10 million years its interior becomes hot enough to begin nuclear reactions -- hydrogen atoms fusing together to form helium atoms. The star has achieved a kind of stability.

3) a description of the end of the process, and an explanation of why it ends when it does. This description offers additional information.

The star's nuclear reactions continue for some 10 billion years, until its hydrogen is consumed completely.

Ninety-nine percent of the interstellar cloud is molecular hydrogen; the remainder is more complicated molecules: over fifty have been detected.

1 Astronomical Unit: the mean distance from the earth to the sun.

Description of a Procedure

A description of a procedure is directed at someone will require an overall understanding of the process, and who may or may not perform the work. In this sense it differs from a set of instructions. A description of a procedure might be addressed to a plant manager, a group of shareholders, or the reviewer of an application for a process patent. And although (again) a description of a procedure is not a set of instructions, it may introduce a set of directions.

Because a description of a procedure contains steps which are purposeful, it requires a format which attends to purpose. It justifies each step as it explains that step. The following is excerpted from a U.S. Department of the Interior publication entitled Inventory and Monitoring of Wildlife Habitat. Its audience is an administrator who wants to understand the entire process -- and who may manage workers performing it. It includes:

1. an overview of the process

1.1. the phases of the process listed chronologically

The habitat inventory and monitoring cycle may be viewed as consisting of five steps:

(1) Scoping,

(2) Data collection and analysis,

(3) Prediction,

(4) Decision/action, and

(5) Monitoring

1.2 the subject process placed in the context of others

2. a description of the phases listed in the overview in a patterned presentation -- including consistent paragraphing, subheadings and parallel phrasing

2.1 the justification of each phase

Scoping

The driving force for a monitoring program is a "problem" or a proposed action of some sort. This may be a very small action, such as a new fence, or a major action, such as a power plant. It may be a very loosely defined issue, such as a "need to reverse habitat deterioration which is causing perceived decline of deer in our area," or it may be a very specific proposal with specified alternatives. It may also be a wildlife problem, such as the deer decline, or an activity, such as a coal lease that is expected to adversely affect the wildlife resource. A typical problem is generally the need to know the resources present on an area for land-use planning, etc. This is the driving force for a basic inventory. All these problems, big and small, well-defined or vague, should result in the same procedure. An important principle is that the magnitude and intensity of the data collection and analysis should correlate with the perceived impact of the problem.

The next step is to clearly define the problem. This will generally require some assessment of the wildlife resources (animals or habitat) present, which are likely to be affected. This assessment frequently is based on some rapid examination or analysis of available data. A critical and initial decision is to determine the geographical area of concern and "bound the study area." This process of taking a vague problem or proposed action, clarifying it, and making an initial assessment of potential resource impacts is commonly termed "scoping."

Scoping may significantly alter the direction of a project. By identifying actions particularly detrimental to wildlife at an early stage, a biologist may be able to direct planners to less detrimental alternatives. This effort may result in much greater benefits to wildlife resources than a thorough analysis at a later stage of an action.

The author has dealt with the problem of a diverse audience by first describing a range of situations; then, for the sake of intelligibility and continuity, he focuses on a single example (bighorn sheep) which he follows through the entire process.

At this stage, the biologist uses habitat models, possibly very vaguely defined conceptually or qualitatively. For example, the biologist may know that forage supply is a limiting habitat factor for a bighorn sheep population. Therefore, he or she can generally predict that a proposal to expand a grazing lease into a critical summer bighorn range will be detrimental to the bighorn. On the other hand, the biologist may only have a very vague idea of how detrimental the impact will be.

If the decision is made to further consider the proposal, then the biologist must plan the data needed. At this point, more quantitative habitat models should be developed. In the bighorn example discussed above, the biologist might need to locate or develop a model that related forage supply to numbers of bighorn. Forage supply would then be defined more specifically and quantitatively as, for example, total pounds of grasses and perennial forbs on summer range. The habitat variable (and possibly others identified in the model) would then be the ones for which the biologist would need to gather data. Depending on the situation, the biologist might also need to collect data on the bighorn sheep population, such as numbers, movements, or lamb survival.

Data Collection and Analysis

Data collection and analysis may suggest refinement of a preliminary model. For example, after intensive field work, the biologist may determine that water supply is also limiting. The biologist then may need to modify the model to incorporate water as a habitat factor, and additional data on number of waters, supplies, etc., may need to be collected.

Prediction

The next step is to use data to predict the effect of alternative management actions. This step requires using a model since the data collected must be used to predict a future state. The models may be simple or complex. Returning to the previous example, the biologist might use the model to predict that expanding the grazing lease would remove 50% of the available forage, reducing the bighorn population by 30%. In this case, the biologist has used a quantitative carrying-capacity model. In other situations, a biologist may be forced to use a simple conceptual model. The trend, however, is to use more formal and quantitative models, since these allow more precision and can be easily documented.

In the past, biologists have concentrated on predicting biological consequences of actions. Recently, biologists and economists have been asked to go one step further and assess economic consequences of these actions. This also requires using models to attach values to wildlife resources with and without the action.

Decision/Action

The next step is the familiar one of choosing an alternative and taking some action. Except in the case of a wildlife-related action (such as a habitat-improvement project), the biologist usually has a minor role in this process. The manager must weigh potential impacts to other resources; economics; and other social, political and legal factors. However, the model becomes the basic tool of the manager, even though [he or she] may be primarily concerned with the model outputs. The model has, in effect, synthesized the assumptions about limiting habitat factors and their effects on wildlife populations.

Monitoring

Once an action has been taken, a biologist needs to monitor the biological effects of the action. This monitoring can serve two purposes. The biologist can determine empirically whether the impact to wildlife resources is as predicted or within tolerable limits. If the action is not achieving the desired goal or if the impacts are outside tolerable limits, then the manager may be able to stop or modify the action being taken. The biologist can also determine the quality of the model in predicting impacts and modify it as necessary.

Many biologists have advocated adding monitoring as a key element in a resource management program and termed it, among other things, "adaptive environmental assessment," "adaptive management," "cyclic incrementalism," or more simply "muddling through" or "common sense management." These approaches vary in details, but all are based on the following assumptions:

(1) Many features of biological systems (such as weather) are unpredictable;

(2) The tools for both measuring biological resources and predicting future states are crude, and the time, money and personnel for such efforts are limited; and

(3) Continuing selective remeasurement (monitoring) can be effective in both correcting or improving management actions and also refining the predictive tools.

The need to monitor may seem obvious; however, the list of projects and programs that have failed because monitoring was not included (or was given the lowest priority) is long and growing fast.

Monitoring without an underlying model may be useful in determining whether management objectives are being met, but it is unlikely to lead to a better understanding of the system being managed.

Clearly, the five steps of the habitat and monitoring cycle are similar and sometimes overlap. Scoping, for instance, is a form of low-level or "quick-and-dirty" inventory and prediction phase. Although monitoring may involve similar data collection, it is done in the inventory phase and for different purposes.

3. if appropriate, instructions concerning means to break out of automatic recycling or "closed loops"

4. if appropriate, a list of materials required by the process

The author is careful to define terms like "scoping" as he introduces them.

(from Cooperrider, A. Y., R. J. Boyd, and H.R. Stuart, eds. Inventory and Monitoring of Wildlife Habitat.U.S. Dept. Inter., Bur. Land Manage. Service Center. Denver, Co.)

Composing Descriptions

Use it to make an outline. Then, compose a first draft. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the subject, and help your reader by using consistent and predictable patterning. The sections of a functional description of a turbofan engine, for instance, might follow the airstream through the engine; a physical description of a transit might arrange its sections according to parts seen right-to-left; a process description of the manufacture of yogurt might follow the materials through the manufacturing machinery. Compose subsequent drafts with attention to transitions between the sections, making sure you do not "lose" the reader.

You may determine relative formality of the description by two considerations. Consider first the audience's needs. A description of voltage regulator in an electrical supplies catalogue will be brief; emphasis will be placed on what it does. An informal functional description. A description of the same machine in a patent application will be lengthy and detailed; emphasis will be placed upon how it does what it does. A formal functional description. Consider also the audience's technical competence. A technician at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is likely to understand technical discourse that involves fluid mechanics -- a layperson is not.

Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions
Chapter 8: Part 1

David M. Toomey with James H. Collier

Book Contents

Chapter 8: Part 1

Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions Chapter 8: Part 1

David M. Toomey with James H. Collier

Book Contents

Chapter 8: Part 1

Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions
Chapter 8: Part 1