McDonald-Madden, E., Baxter, P.W.J., Fuller, R.A., Martin, T.G., Game, E.T., Montambault, J. & Possingham, H.P. 2010. Monitoring does not always count. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 25, 547-550.

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The gross under-resourcing of conservation endeavours has placed an increasing emphasis on spending accountability. Increased accountability has led to monitoring forming a central element of conservation programs. Although there is little doubt that information obtained from monitoring can improve management of biodiversity, the cost (in time and/or money) of gaining this knowledge is rarely considered when making decisions about allocation of resources to monitoring. We present a simple framework allowing managers and policy advisors to make decisions about when to invest in monitoring to improve management.

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