Inventories and monitoring efforts are separate, but interrelated concepts.

Inventories:
An inventory accounts for both the presence and the distribution of plant and animal species, soil types, climate features, landforms, water bodies, geological features, and other living and non-living resources that exist within the landscape at a particular moment in time. Inventories provide a critical baseline for resource managers who must conserve, protect, or ensure the wise use of the natural resources within a given park, refuge, or other bounded area.

Monitoring:
Unlike an inventory, which represents a "snapshot" of the status of living and non-living resources at a specific time, monitoring takes place across an interval of time to detect changes or trends in the status, abundance, or conditions of living and non-living resources in a given area. Monitoring is usually initiated in response to a management concern or need, and is govern by protocols that guide the conduct, methods, and procedures of the data collection, as well as the handling and the analysis of the data. The results of a monitoring effort are used to guide management decisions about the resources in question.