Search Strategies
Search All Fields
- * Truncation operator. An asterisk appended to a word will find that word plus any additional letters; for example: sediment* will return references on sediments, sedimentation, sedimentary, etc.
- + AND Operator. A leading plus sign (+) indicates that this word must be present in each row that is returned. There is no space between the operator and the search term; for example, +hydrilla
- - NOT Operator. A leading minus sign (-) indicates that this word must not be present in any of the rows that are returned; for example, haller* -hydrilla will return references containing haller, but not those containing hydrilla.
- OR operator. When neither + nor - is specified, the default is OR; for example, haller* hydrilla* returns references that contain either word.
- " " A phrase that is enclosed within quotation marks matches only rows that contain the exact phrase; for example, "chemical control"
- ( ) Parentheses group words into subexpressions. Parenthesized groups can be nested. ex: +acid +(rain* precip* depositi*) Finds acid AND (rain* or precip or deposit*)
- To restrict your search results by date, choose one of the modifiers from the Date modifier field (<,>, =), and enter a date, combined with your search term in Search All Fields.
- To search by year alone, enter the year into the Date field.
- +hydrilla haller finds records that contain the word "hydrilla", but rank records higher if they also contain "haller".
- +najas -marina finds records that contain "najas" but not "marina"
Search Single Fields
To search a specific field (for example, Title, Author, Date, etc.), type a single word into a single field. Individual field searches do not support the above operators or multiple search terms.
Advanced Search Examples
Following are examples of advanced search strings for searching the APIRS database. These have been compiled based on many years of experience using the database. For additional assistance, please contact Karen Brown.
- For acid rain, search the following to be sure you're not missing the publications that refer to acid rain as acid precipitation or acid deposition:
+acid +(rain* precip* depositi*) - For carbon-14, search
("c-14" "c14" "14-c" "14c" "carbon-14*" radio* radio-label*) (+carbon* +isotop*) - For revegetation/restoration, search
(restor* reveg* transplant* reestabl* mitigat* reclaim* reclama* aquascap* recover*) - For tissue culture, search
microprop* "tissue culture" kane* cloning* - For utilization, specify the type of use you are interested in and a plant name, if appropriate. Search
+utilization +(drug* medicin* pharmac* ethnobot*) or search +utilization +(biofertiliz* compost* mulch* manur* fertilizer amend* enrich* organic*) or +utilization +(food feed diet forage)+utilization +(bird duck ducks waterfowl) or +utilization +animal* - For herbicides in the environment, search the herbicide name (Ex: blammo) and
+blammo+(persist* toxic* mobil* risk* degrad* bioaccum* residu* dissipa* bioconcen* fate biodegrad*)
If you get too many citations, repeat the initial search and add +effects:
+blammo +effects +(persist* toxic* mobil* risk* degrad* bioaccum* residu* dissipa* bioconcen* fate biodegrad* ) - For control of plants, search
"chemical control" or "mechanical control" or "biological control" or "government control" - For how to grow plants, search
grow* propaga* cultiva* horticu* Add hobby aquari* for growing plants in tanks. - For plants used in pollution control systems, search
"pollution control" - For created or constructed wetlands, search
+wetland*+(creat* construc* artific* manmad* man-mad*) - For the success or failure of these wetlands, combine the above search with
(assess* success monitor* evaluat* failur* result* surviv*) Do not use * after success unless you want a lot of articles on plant succession. - For erosion, search
(erosion* erod* scouring*) - For erosion control, search
"erosion control" "erosion control" "bank stabili*" - For citations on invasions by exotic species, search
(noxious* threat infest* obstruct* inva* spread* impact* exotic* non-indig* non-nativ* introduc*) You can also use economic* but this greatly increases the yield. To reduce either search, repeat the search with +effects - Regarding copper as an herbicide search
+copper +("chemical control" herbicid*),
as a heavy metal or pollution, search
+copper* +(metal* pollut* sediment* bioaccumu*), or you can search
copper* -chemical* - For seagrasses, use the genus names:
(zostera halodule enhalus posidonia syringodium amphibolis heterozostera thalassia halophila ruppia cymodocea phyllospadix) If you search seagrass* without a genus name, you will retrieve fewer references. - We have a small number of cites on mangroves. Use the genus names:
avicennia rhizophora laguncularia - For cites on aquatic soils or sediment, search
+aquatic +(hydrosoil* substrat* sediment*) - For cites on models or systems, search
(system* stud* model* profil* predict* assess*) These keywords can be combined with categories such as lakes or wetlands or rivers to make the search more specific:
+rivers +(system* stud* model* profil* predict* assess*) - For cites on the effects of drought or flood or water level fluctuations, search
moist* saturat* flood* drought* level* inundat* waterlog* hydrolog* hydroperiod* fluctuat* - For cites on the benefits of aquatic plants, search
benefi* valu* habitat* host* economic* To limit the search, add review and/or plant names:
+review* +(benefi* valu* habitat* host* economic*) - For cites on flowing water research, search
flow flowing hydraulic* resist* velocit* manning* coeffici* friction*
Do not search flow* or you will get a lot of cites on flowering. - For cites on growth or productivity of plants, search
growth producti* competit* biomass* succession - For cites on plants that kill or repel, search
(phytochemical* phenolic* allelo* defens* toxic) Note: If you use * with toxic, you will retrieve articles on herbicide toxicology and toxicity. - For cites on plant distribution, do not simply search distribution. We have used this word to indicate where the research effort described in the citation took place. Search the plant name and
(phytogeog* ("new record") occurr* loca* flora range survey distrib* geograph* floristic* phytosociol*) - For cites on evapotranspiration, search
evapo* This will pick up evaporation and evapotranspiration. You may add transpir* for cites on transpiration.
Tagging Help
From the search results screen, check records you wish to tag. Each page of results must be tagged separately and submitted to your profile by using the Tag Records button. To view, print or email the collected tagged records, use the Tagged Records button in the toolbar at the top of the page. To email tagged records, check those you wish to receive or use the Check All button, and click on Email Tags. Tagged records selected will be sent to the email address given in your login information.
To return to your results page, use the BACK TO RESULTS link at the top of the page.
APIRS Keywords
Any word may be used as a keyword, but this list represents keywords that we regularly and consistently use in the APIRS database.
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