Guidelines for authors 
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the MS Word program and italicize all variables, ex¬ 
cept those variables represented by Greek letters and 
the superscript and subscript parts of variables and ex¬ 
pressions. Do not use photo mode when creating these 
symbols in the general text, and do not cut and paste 
equations, letters, or symbols from a different software 
program. 
Number equations (if there are more than one) for 
future reference by scientists; place the number within 
parentheses at the end of the first line of the equation. 
Literature cited section comprises published works and 
those accepted for publication (in press) in peer-re¬ 
viewed journals. Follow the name and year system for 
citation format in this section (i.e., citations should be 
listed alphabetically by the authors’ last names, and 
then by year if there is more than one citation by the 
same author. A list of abbreviations for citing journal 
titles can be found at this website 
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and com¬ 
pleteness of all citations. Literature citation format: 
Authors (last name, followed by initials for first name 
and, if given, middle name of first author; then list 
names of additional authors with initials before last 
names). Year. Title of article. Abbreviated title of the 
journal in which it was published. Always include ei¬ 
ther the range of page numbers (for a journal article) 
or a total number of pages (for a book or other type of 
publication). List a sequence of citations in the general 
text chronologically, for example, “(Smith, 1932: Green. 
1947; Smith and Jones, 1985).” Avoid the use of mul¬ 
tiple citations when a single citation sufficiently sup¬ 
ports a statement; cite the work that first reported the 
information that supports a statement, not all of the 
subsequent works. 
Acknowledgments should be no more than 6 lines of 
text. Only those who have contributed in an outstand¬ 
ing way should be acknowledged by name. For recog¬ 
nition of other persons or groups, use a general term, 
such as crew, observers, or research coordinators, and 
do not include names with these terms. 
Digital object identifier (doi) code ensures that a pub¬ 
lication has a permanent location online. A doi link 
(which may include a doi code) should be included at 
the end of citations of published literature. Authors are 
responsible for submitting accurate doi links. Faulty 
links will be deleted at the page-proof stage. 
Footnotes are used for all documents that have not 
been formally peer reviewed and for observations and 
personal communications, but these types of references 
should be cited sparingly in manuscripts submitted to 
the journal. 
All reference documents, administrative reports, 
internal reports, progress reports, project reports, 
contract reports, personal observations, personal 
communications, unpublished data, manuscripts in re¬ 
view, and council meeting notes are footnoted in 9-point 
font and placed at the bottom of the page on which they 
are first cited. Footnote format is the same as that for 
formal literature citations. A link to the online source 
(e.g., [Available from http://www... , accessed July 
2017.]), or the mailing address of the agency or depart¬ 
ment holding the document, should be provided so that 
readers may obtain a copy of the document. 
Tables are often overused in scientific papers; it is sel¬ 
dom necessary to present all the data associated with a 
study. Tables should not be excessive in size and must 
be cited in numerical order in the text. Headings should 
be short but ample enough to allow the table to be in¬ 
telligible on its own. 
All abbreviations and unusual symbols must be ex¬ 
plained in the table legend. Other incidental comments 
may be footnoted with numeral footnote markers. Use 
asterisks only to indicate significance in statistical data. 
Do not put a table legend on a page separate from the 
table; place the legend above the table. Do not submit 
tables in photo mode. 
• Note probability with a capital, italic P. 
• Provide a zero before all decimal points for values 
less than one (e.g., 0.07). 
• Round all values to 2 decimal points. 
• Use a comma in numbers of 5 digits or more (e.g., 
13,000 but 3000). 
Figures must be cited in numerical order in the text. 
Graphics should aid in the comprehension of the text, 
but they should be limited to presenting patterns rather 
than raw data. The number of figures should not exceed 
1 figure for every 4 pages of text. Place panel labels 
A, B, C, etc., within the upper-left area of graphs and 
photos. Avoid placing labels vertically. 
Figure legends should explain all symbols and abbre¬ 
viations seen in the figure and should be double spaced 
on a separate page at the end of the manuscript. 
Line art and halftone figures should be saved at res¬ 
olutions >600 dots per inch (dpi) and >300 dpi, respec¬ 
tively. Color is allowed in figures to show morphological 
differences among species (for species identification), 
to show stain reactions, to show gradations (such as 
those of temperature and salinity within maps), and 
to distinguish between numerous lines and symbols in 
graphs. Figures approved for color should be saved in 
CMYK format. 
All figures must be submitted as PDF, TIFF, or EPS 
files. 
• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and 
proper nouns in all labels within figures. 
• Do not use overly large font sizes in maps and for 
axis labels in graphs. 
