620SR93013
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
Research and Development
EPA/620/SR-93/013 January 1994
EPA Project Summary
EMAP Master Glossary
D. Eric Hyatt
The Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program (EMAP) Master
Glossary was created to promote stan-
dard language use within the EMAP
community and to provide access to
the program's publications. EMAP per-
sonnel have used the glossary to keep
EMAP terminology consistent in dis-
cussions and documents and the us-
ers of EMAP's publications have con-
sulted it to develop a deeper under-
standing of the program's conceptual
framework, activities, and processes.
The main objective of the glossary is
to assist users as they consult other
EMAP products. This version—now
called the Master Glossary— also sup-
ports access to EMAP documents by
supplying authors and information
seekers with words that can be used
to search electronic databases to find
which EMAP documents are available
and where they are kept.
Background
This Master Glossary clarifies terms that
describe EMAP's conceptual framework,
research, and field work. The Master Glos-
sary seeks to assist readers as they in-
vestigate other EMAP products and infor-
mation. It provides a concordance (Ap-
pendix A) that can be used by authors to
construct an index to another EMAP docu-
ment. It also lists selected Library of Con-
gress Subject Headings (Appendix B) to
assist authors in choosing descriptive key
words. Finally, EMAP's Master Glossary
contains terms from thQ Framework for
Ecological Risk Assessment (Risk Assess-
ment Forum) and the entire Glossary of
Quality Assurance Terms (Appendix C)
used by the Quality Assurance Manage-
ment Staff (QAMS) within the Office of
Modeling, Monitoring Systems and Qual-
ity Assurance of EPA's Office of Research
and Development.
In March 1993, the original version of
the EMAP glossary was revised because
EMAP managers realized that many words
had been added to, refined, or eliminated
from the EMAP vocabulary. They also de-
cided it should be entitled Master Glos-
sary because it will be used to customize
specific glossaries for each EMAP publi-
cation. In the revised Master Glossary,
terms have been reconciled to current us-
age by contributions from EMAP manag-
ers, including technical coordinators and
technical directors.
Notes from contributors now follow defi-
nitions to inform readers of changes in
usage, synonyms, or preferred and re-
lated terms. Writers of EMAP documents
suggested that words appear in boldface
type to show that they are defined else-
where in the Master Glossary. EMAP man-
agers also suggested that acronyms and
abbreviations specific to EMAP appear
within the Master Glossary, and that EMAP
use the guides to acronyms and abbrevia-
tions already published in EPA's Terms of
Environment and in the Glossary of Qual-
ity Assurance Terms.
New to the 1993 revision is an appen-
dix (B) that lists controlled vocabulary
terms from the Library of Congress Sub-
ject Headings (LCSH) to supplement ter-
minology as authors select title words and
key words. The Catalog Policy and Sup-
port Office of the Library of Congress pro-
vided information on new subject head-
ings for environmental sciences as well
Printed on Recycled Paper
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as insight on how EMAP documents might
take advantage of LCSH as key words.
EMAP authors who use scientific terms or
EMAP terms in their titles and abstracts
and who use LCSH as key words enable
seekers of EMAP information to more eas-
ily find it.
Assumptions and Usage
Each contributor and editor has main-
tained one principal assumption in devel-
oping the glossary: it must be useful. To-
gether with its concordance, this Master
Glossary can serve as a reference or as
files from which EMAP authors can con-
struct publication-specific glossaries. With
this in mind, the content of the EMAP
Master Glossary has been guided by sev-
eral criteria:
1. It includes terms broadly applicable
and relevant to the program as a
whole or terms with EMAP usage
that is different or more restricted
than common definitions. Terms spe-
cific to individual resource or cross-
cutting groups have been included
only to properly support documenta-
tion for those groups.
2. It includes basic scientific terminol-
ogy like ecosystem and variance as
well as more complex scientific ex-
pressions related to EMAP science,
such as terminology about design,
statistics, and indicators.
3. It avoids legitimizing slang terms as
official EMAP language. Perhaps the
only exception to this criterion is 40-
hex, already a firmly ingrained bit of
jargon.
4. It avoids, when possible, terms that
are concatenations (chains) of other
defined words. For example, if both
ecology and indicators are defined,
it is unnecessary to define ecologi-
cal indicators. On the other hand,
landscape ecology has a meaning
that is broader than a the sum of its
separate terms.
5. It explains or describes terms in
EMAP's context by providing con-
The EPA Author, D. Eric Hyatt, is also the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "En vironmental Monitoring and Assessment Program
Master Glossary," (Order No. PB94-121829/AS;Cost: $19.50, subject to change)
will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
EMAP Center
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
nections to other EMAP terms, for
example, to synonyms or preferred
terms (See: ) or to related words
(See related:).
For certain expressions in the Master
Glossary, particularly those relating to eco-
logical risk assessment, EPA continues to
adjust definitions, with the most recent
published in Terms of Environment. The
Agency's environmental results agenda
has called for coordination and coopera-
tion among the Comparative Risk and Stra-
tegic Planning communities, the Risk As-
sessment Forum, and EMAP. As EPA de-
velops and operates within its ecological
risk assessment paradigm, the terminol-
ogy communicates to decision makers,
scientists, and other users the results of
actual ecological risk assessments. It is,
therefore, especially important that our lan-
guage agree with other parts of this im-
portant initiative. EMAP uses EPA's defi-
nitions as first meanings with refinements
noted. EMAP plans to revise and publish
this Master Glossary on a regular basis.
For further convenience and access,
Appendix C includes the Glossary of Qual-
ity Assurance Terms.
•U.S.QOV
igOMoK 1904 — 560-087/80166
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research Information
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA/620/SR-93/013
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