Instructions to authors of abstracts
Authors should refer to the current edition of “Common and Scientific Names of Fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico,” published by American Fisheries Society, for the proper names to use, at least to species level (since subspecies are not included there). Note that AFS also provides a spell checker for names – please use it!
Complete scientific names of organisms are to be provided at least once in every abstract for each species mentioned, along with their accepted common names, at least at first mention in the abstract. After first mention, genera may be abbreviated (e.g. G. robusta). Whenever possible, a scientific name should be set off by commas rather than parentheses when it follows the common name of an organism (for example use “…Western Mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, Bonytail, Gila elegans,…”).
To decrease confusion about when to use the singular “fish” or the plural “fishes,” we subscribe to the explanation provided in Fig. 1.1 on p. 6 in Helfman, G.S., B.B. Collette, and D.E. Facey, 1997, The Diversity of Fishes, Blackwell Science.
In showing respect for abstract readers, difficult-to-trace citations to published works are not permitted [e.g., “Ruiz (2003)”] since there is no literature cited section to the Proceedings. Such citations must minimally include the name and volume of the journal which published the paper, and ideally the number and pages of that volume [e.g., “Ruiz, 2003, J. Fish Biol. 24(3):112-120”]. The editors will delete improper citations from an abstract.
Authors should not assume that readers will understand their use of acronyms. The names of agencies / organizations / institutions / etc., formalized governmental reports / documents/ statements / etc., molecular / genetic tools and analyses, and specialized computer programs / statistical methodologies, etc. should be spelled out (followed by the acronym) at their first use in an abstract. Otherwise, misinterpretations may occur or deletions may be necessary in the translated version of an abstract.
There is no length limit on DFC abstracts. In order to maximize the future value of the content, we prefer to allow authors to provide as much detail about their work as possible.
Abstracts reporting only research or analyses yet to be done (i.e., no results) are unacceptable and if the number of abstracts submitted exceeds the space available in the program, authors of such abstracts may be asked to present their papers as posters and provide abstracts that convey information about results. Please realize that those in the audience listening to papers will constitute only a very small minority of the total audience that will make use of the abstracts via the web and Proceedings. They don’t want to read that you told that small audience present at the meeting what your project was really about, but that they’ll never know. Please help us maximize the information content of the Proceedings.