There are up to five fields in the BMDE that describe the protocol used to collect an observation. They are:
- ProtocolType contains a broad description of the type of protocol used to make the observation (e.g. point count, area search, incidental, etc).
- ProtocolCode contains a code indicating the specific protocol used to make the observation, typically specific to a particular project. This may be the name of the protocol within the project, or an acronym or number (e.g. NOCTOWLS, Marsh Monitoring, Incidental).
- ProtocolSpeciesTargeted contains a short description of the species or groups targeted by the protocol (e.g. birds, marsh birds, Least Bittern).
- ProtocolReference contains information on any published work that describes the protocol used to collect the data.
- ProtocolURL contains the web address of any online resource that describes the protocol used to collect the data, typically the project metadata.
Photo by Samreen Munim
Understanding the protocol used by a given project is often crucial to understanding the information in the Effort and Observation fields described in the following sections. The ProtocolReference and ProtocolURL fields, if populated, may direct you to useful resources for understanding the project’s protocols. The project’s metadata is also an essential resource for further information.
Next section: Effort Fields
