Literature module

The development of the TOPIC database depends on the contributions of its members and the involvement of the scientific community. Data in the Literature Review Module are available to members of the subgroup, or scientists willing to become members of the subgroup. To become a member, scientists contribute to the development of the database by providing plant functional trait data. The TOPIC Editorial Board ensures data quality and standardization.

Data request

Interested parties are asked to submit the following:

  1. Collaboration agreement proposal outlining the study rationale, its objectives, expected outputs and potential timeframe for contribution
  2. List of species and traits requested
  3. Outline a return data contribution

Database contribution

TOPIC is a project based on collaboration with the scientific community; it would be difficult for the database to grow if users did not also contribute in return. There are two ways to contribute:

  1. Contribute to the “literature review module”. The most common option is to “fill-in the blanks”. Requestors document missing data by doing a thorough review of the literature and send us back the completed dataset. Otherwise, requestors can augment data on Canadian species for a trait not currently in the database.
  2. Contribute a dataset to the “empirical module”. Datasets contributed to TOPIC in this way would be advertised on this website (see this link for how Empirical module works).

Please contact the database manager for more information (see Contact page).