Additional file 1. Documentation of search term testing conducted in CAB Abstracts, Google Scholar and ISI Web of Knowledge

CAB Database: note that the preferred term for tenure is tenure systems; other dictionary terms include: common property resources, common lands, coownership, property rights; ownership on its own not useful This search was amended 12.5.2014.to include Descriptors and geographic locations based on reviewer suggestions. Symbol * notes truncation in order to retrieve various endings Search Changes Search terms Search results

1 subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 2,133 results; appears somewhat OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR relevant although many soil/plant pasture*) biology entries (OXFORD) AND subject:(collective OR comm?n* OR customary OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership) AND subject:("tenure systems" OR property OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources" OR common lands) AND yr:[1990 TO 2013]

2 Removed subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 2,409 results; still many irrelevant common lands OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR biological studies pasture*) (OXFORD) AND subject:(collective OR comm?n* OR customary OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership) AND subject:("tenure systems" OR property OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources") AND yr:[1990 TO 2013]

3 Searched 2nd subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 5,047 results; too many irrelevant and 3rd lines in OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR results (OXFORD) all fields rather pasture*) than restricted AND to subject field (collective OR comm?n* OR alone customary OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership) AND ("tenure systems" OR property OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources") AND yr:[1990 TO 2013]

4 Changed 2nd subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 55 results; Very focused results and 3rd line OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR but may be too narrow a search fields to pasture*) (OXFORD) descriptor AND de:(collective OR comm?n* OR customary OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership) AND de:("tenure systems" OR property OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources") AND yr:[1990 TO 2013] 5 Changed 2nd subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 64 results; too few even without and 3rd line OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR time limits! (OXFORD) fields back to pasture*) subject; AND subject:(comm?n* OR removed customary OR traditional OR state OR collective and public OR government OR private OR property; participat* OR collaborative OR added cooperative OR coownership) traditional AND subject:("tenure systems" OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources")

6 Added subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 3559 results; again much noise property* and OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR comes in; traditional often refers right* pasture*) to medicine/plants (OXFORD) AND subject:(comm?n* OR customary OR traditional OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership) AND subject:("tenure systems" OR property* OR right* OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources")

7 Removed subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 2,509 results; results appear traditional OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR mostly relevant (many articles are pasture*) from US, and should be easy to AND subject:(comm?n* OR discard) (OXFORD) customary OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership) AND subject:("tenure systems" OR property* OR right* OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources")

8 Added yr: subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 2446 results, showing that most [1990-2013] OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR relevant articles were written in pasture*) review time span (OXFORD) AND subject:(comm?n* OR customary OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership) AND subject:("tenure systems" OR property* OR right* OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources")

9 Added yr: IBID [1990-2013]

10 Changed yr: IBID 4,530 results [2008-2013]

11 Removed subject:((forest* OR fish* OR marine 1,668 results property* OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR pasture*)) AND subject:((comm?n* OR customary OR state OR public OR government OR private OR participat* OR collaborative OR cooperative OR coownership)) AND subject:(("tenure systems" OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources"))

12 Added yr:[2008 IBID 509 results TO 2013] 13 Removed subject:(forest* OR fish* OR marine 2351 results; looks very relevant search string of OR rangeland* OR grassland* OR regimetype pasture*) AND subject:("tenure systems" OR "property rights" OR "property regime" OR "property system" OR "common property resources")

14 Added yr:[2008 IBID 723 results TO 2013]

Google Scholar (English)

Search Changes Search terms Search results Search date

1 (forest OR fish OR marine OR rangeland 8000 hits on 9.2.2013 OR grassland OR pastoralis OR pasture) Google AND (collective OR common OR Scholar, but community OR communal OR small-scale bias towards OR customary OR state OR public OR decentralizati government OR private OR privatized OR on studies company OR concession) AND (decentralization OR decentralize OR reform OR tenure OR allocation OR ownership OR property OR property right OR property regime OR property system)

2 Deleted (forest OR fish OR marine OR rangeland reform brings 9.2.2013 small-scale, OR grassland OR pastoralis OR pasture) a lot of noise customary, AND (collective OR common OR decentralizati community OR communal OR state OR on, public OR government OR private OR decentralize privatized OR company OR concession) AND (reform OR tenure OR allocation OR ownership OR property OR property right OR property regime OR property system) 3 Deleted (forest OR fish OR marine OR rangeland good first 20 - 9.2.2013 community, OR grassland OR pasture) 30 results privatized, AND (collective OR common OR company, communal OR state OR public OR concession, government OR private) reform, AND (tenure OR allocation OR ownership property OR property) right, property regime, property system

4 Changed (fish OR fisheries OR marine OR rangeland more results 9.2.2013 order of OR grassland OR pasture OR forest) for fisheries resource AND (collective OR common OR systems, communal OR state OR public OR added government OR private) fisheries AND (tenure OR allocation OR ownership OR property)

5 Added (fish OR fisheries OR marine OR rangeland much fewer, 9.2.2013 property OR grassland OR pasture OR forest) narrower right, AND (collective OR common OR results property communal OR state OR public OR (around regime again government OR private) 450,000) - but AND (tenure OR allocation OR ownership great OR property OR property right OR emphasis on property regime) common property, delimitation by time range further narrows results

6 Enclosed (fish OR fisheries OR marine OR rangeland many more 9.3.2013 phrases OR grassland OR pasture OR forest) results with "property AND (collective OR communal OR state the phrase right", OR public OR government OR private) "property "property AND (tenure OR allocation OR ownership right" in initial regime" is OR property OR (property regime) OR search results; parentheses, (property right)) some do not deleted appear common relevant to environmental issues

7 Readded (fish OR fisheries OR marine OR rangeland many more 9.3.2013 common OR grassland OR pasture OR forest) results with AND (collective OR common OR "common communal OR state OR public OR property", as government OR private) found in AND (tenure OR allocation OR ownership search 5 OR property OR (property right) OR (property regime))

8 Readded (fish OR fisheries OR marine OR rangeland common 9.3.2013 community, OR grassland OR pasture OR forest) property still manage, AND (collective OR common OR come to the property communal OR community OR state OR top of search system public OR government OR private) results, Removed AND (tenure OR manage OR property OR collective allocation, (property right) OR (property regime) OR seems to ownership (property system)) bring up mosty collective action results

9 Removed (fish OR fisheries OR marine OR rangeland results are not 9.3.2013 collective, OR grassland OR pasture OR forest) too different replaced AND (common OR communal OR manage with community OR state OR public OR management government OR private) AND (tenure OR management OR property OR (property right) OR (property regime) OR (property system))

10 Added rights (fish OR fisheries OR marine OR rangeland results are not 9.3.2013 terms: access, OR grassland OR pasture OR forest) well targeted; withdrawal, AND (common OR communal OR limitation by exclusion, community OR state OR public OR time (2008- exclude, government OR private) present) alienate, AND (tenure OR property OR (property makes results alienation right) OR (property regime) OR (property more system)) irrelevant AND (management OR access OR withdrawal OR exclusion OR exclude OR alienate OR alienation)

11 Removed (fish OR fisheries OR rangeland OR 9.3.2013 rights terms, grassland OR pasture OR forest) communal, AND (common OR community OR state property OR public OR government OR private) right, AND (tenure OR property) property regime, property system

12 Added rights (fish OR fisheries OR rangeland OR emphasis on 9.3.2013 grassland OR pasture OR forest) common AND (common OR community OR property, government OR state OR public OR community private) management, AND (tenure OR property OR rights) but first pages of search results look good

13 Added (fish OR fisheries OR rangeland OR management 9.3.2013 management grassland OR pasture OR forest) gives broad AND (common OR community OR policy results government OR state OR public OR private) AND (tenure OR property OR rights OR management) 14 Removed (fish OR fisheries OR rangeland OR ownership 9.3.2013 management, grassland OR pasture OR forest) adds no new added AND (common OR community OR results of ownership government OR state OR public OR pertinence private) AND (tenure OR property OR rights OR ownership)

search terms used in Topic WOK for Hits Date Comments batch 2008-2013 stock OR resource OR population AND 6637 16.4.2013 Obviously needs a better common* AND property description of the resource fish* OR forest* OR rangeland* OR 1463 16.4.2013 still too much noise pasture OR cattle AND comm* AND govern* AND property OR right* fish*, forest*, rangeland*, pasture, 88308 22.4.2013 Management brings noise cattle AND common OR community OR private OR shared AND access OR management fish*OR forest* OR rangeland* OR 3301 22.4.2013 Seem relevant pasture OR cattle AND common property OR common-pool OR privat* AND access OR management AND effect* AND benefit* fish*OR forest* OR rangeland*, 28971 22.4.2013 Too huge number pasture OR cattle AND common OR private OR shared AND property OR rights OR quota* OR tenure OR title OR deed fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 4914 24.4.2013 Seem relevant rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or reform or regime or rule* or quota* or customary AND impact* OR effect* OR effectiveness OR benefit* AND common property or " common-pool" or "community-based" or state or private "community-controlled" AND access or management or use* or withdrawal or harvest or monitor fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 5064 24.4.2013 rules leads to misleading results rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or reform or property or rule* or quota* or custom* or transfer* AND impact* OR effect* OR benefit* AND common property or " common-pool" or "community-based" or state or private "community-controlled" AND access* or management or harvest* or monitor* fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 4702 24.4.2013 replaced rules with governance, rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or transfer still brings misleading reform or property or governance or results quota* or custom* or transfer* AND impact* OR effect* OR benefit* AND common property or " common-pool" or "community-based" or state or private "community-controlled" AND access* or management or harvest* or monitor* fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 6919 24.4.2013 changed governance into govern*, rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or removed transfer reform or property or govern* or quota* or custom* AND impact* OR effect* OR benefit* AND common property or " common-pool" or "community-based" or state or private or "community-controlled" or "open- access" AND access* or management or harvest* or monitor* fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 4001 24.4.2013 removed property because it brings rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or noise reform or govern* or quota* or custom* AND impact* OR effect* OR benefit* AND common property or " common-pool" or "community-based" or state or private or "community- controlled" or "open-access" AND access* or management or harvest* or monitor* fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 938 25.4.2013 remove state, private and quota rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or reform or govern* or custom* AND right* or ownership* AND common property or " common-pool" or "community-based" or "community- controlled" or "open-access" fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 316 25.4.2013 inserted environmental outcomes rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or and sustainability, because many reform or govern* or custom* AND articles did not mention common property or " common-pool" environmental outcomes or "community-based" or "community- controlled" or "open-access" AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or deplet* or deforestation or conservation AND sustainab* fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 1264 25.4.2013 added state and private rangeland* OR cattle AND tenure or reform or govern* or custom* AND common property or " common-pool" or "community-based" or "community- controlled" or "open-access" or private or state AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or deplet* or deforestation or conservation or benefit* AND sustainab* fish* OR forest* OR pasture OR 3035 25.4.2013 testing with sustainability indicators rangeland* OR cattle AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or deplet* or deforestation or degradation or conservation AND benefit* or sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND tenure or regime or management or access or right AND tenure or reform or governance or customary rangeland OR pasture or pastoralist* 270 30.4.2013 trying with rangeland and pasture AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or and pastoralist. Management brings deplet* or deforest* or degradat* or too much noise, also enclosure conservation AND benefit* or needs a more descriptive attribute sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND community-based or "community- controlled" or "open-access" or enclosure rangeland OR pasture or pastoralist* 2977 30.4.2013 removing enclosure and adding AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or overgrazing deplet* or overgraz* or degradat* or conservation AND benefit* or sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND community-based or community- controlled or open-access or tenure or property or collective rangeland OR pasture or pastoralist* 614 30.4.2013 inserting property rights AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or deplet* or overgraz* or degradat* or conservation AND benefit* or sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND community-based or community- controlled or open-access or tenure or property rights or collective rangeland OR pasture or pastoralist* 8154 30.4.2013 inserting just community and AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or deplet* or overgraz* or degradat* or privatization conservation AND benefit* or sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND community or open-access or tenure or property rights or collective or privatization rangeland OR pasture or pastoralist* 604 30.4.2013 community-based returns a lot of AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or relevant looking results deplet* or overgraz* or degradat* or conservation AND benefit* or sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND community managed or "community based" or "community controlled" or tenure or property rights or collective or privatization rangeland OR pasture or pastoralist* 903 30.4.2013 Adding ranch brings some good AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or articles not so many deplet* or overgraz* or degradat* or conservation AND benefit* or sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND community managed or "community based" or "community controlled" or tenure or property rights or collective or privatization and ranch rangeland OR pasture or pastoralist* 2086 30.4.2013 seems relevant, but still not AND biodivers* or divers* or loss or discussing environmental outcomes deplet* or overgraz* or degradat* or that much conservation AND benefit* or sustainab* or improv* or effect* AND community based or collective or privatization or common property or tenure or property rights fish* OR forest* OR rangeland* OR 10334 17.5.2013 cattle and livestock bring a lot of pasture OR grasslands or livestock or noise, maybe a separate search cattle AND property near (common or needs to be done on the regime) or common?pool or community same ( based or manage*) or privat* or state or compan* AND tree or wood* or environment* or ecologic* OR condition or population fish* OR forest* OR rangeland* OR pasture OR grasslands or livestock or cattle AND chang* or impact* or effect* or improv* or declin* or *crease AND tenure or allocation or ownership or right or intervention fish* OR forest* or marin* AND 2377 17.5.2013 Nice results for forests, fisheries property same (common or regime) or irrelevant common?pool or community same ( based or manage*) or privat* or state or compan* AND forest or timber or tree or environment* or ecologic* OR condition or population or fish* or stock AND impact* or effect* or improv* or deplet* or conserv* or sustainab* AND tenure or allocation or ownership or intervention or quota fish* or marine AND customary or 1007 20.5.2013 based on keywords for fisheries small?scale or (property right*) or article (common property) or tenure or (open access) AND resource* or population or size or stock or catch or specie* or biomass AND access or manag* or harvest* forest* AND comm?n* or community* 5272 20.5.2013 very good, easy to exclude with or privat* or state or compan* or words USA, Canada, Sweden concession* or compan* or collective AND tree* or wood* or environment* or ecologic* OR condition* or biodiversity or specie* or forest* or resource AND chang* or impact* or effect* or improv* or declin* or *crease AND decentraliz* or tenure or allocation or ownership or intervention or reform or (property rights) or property regime or management forest* or property rights or tenure 5538 21.5.2013 By Excluding AND comm?n* or community* or Canada,Sweden,Finland,Mediterran privat* or state or compan* or ean,Australia 316+150+133+128+ concession* or compan* or collective 245 AND tree* or wood* or environment* or ecologic* OR condition* or biodiversity or specie* or forest* or resource AND chang* or impact* or effect* or improv* or declin* or *crease AND decentraliz* or tenure or allocation or ownership or intervention or reform or property rights or property regime or management grassland* or pastoralist or pasture or 599 21.5.2013 stil not too many articles discussing livestock AND comm?n* or state or environmental outcomes but privat* AND property rights or tenure common property regimes in or property regime AD animal* or land general or environment* or vegetation or composition or species forest* or fish* or marine or 2650 2.9.2013 2652 all the years/2557 (1990-2013) grassland* or pastoralis* or pasture or and 1451 2008-2013. Contains rangeland* AND decentraliz* or reform tenure or reform* or allocation or ownership or "property right"or "property rights" or "property regime" or "property system" or manag* or access or harvest* or open?access AND collective or comm?n* or small? scale or customary or state or public or privat* or compan* or concession* or participat* or collaborative or co? operative or co-manage* or shared or joint AND Afghan* or Bangladesh* or Benin* or Burkina* or Burundi* or Cambodia* or Central African Republic or Chad* or Comoro* or Congo* or Eritrea*or Ethiopia* or Gambia* or Guinea* or Haiti* or Kenya* or Korea* or Kyrgyz* or Liberia* or Madagascar* or Malagasy* or Malawi* or Mali* or Mozambique* or Myanmar* or Burma* or Nepal* or Niger* or Rwanda* or Sierra Leone or Somali* or Sudan* or Tajikistan* or Tanzania* or Togo* or Uganda* or Zimbabwe* forest* or fish* or marine or 7169 23.8.2013 7169 (1990-2013), 4147 ( 2008- grassland* or pastoralist* or pasture 2013) or rangeland AND decentraliz* or tenure or allocation or ownership or reform or (property rights) or property regime or management* AND collective or comm?n* or small?scale or customary or state or public or privat* or compan* or concession* or participat* or collaborative or cooperative or co-manage* AND Angola* or Algeria* or Samoa* or Argentina* or Azerbaijan* or Beliz* or Botswana* or Brazil* or Chin* or Colombia* or "Costa Rica" or "Costa Rican" or Cuba* or Dominica* or Equatorian* or Ecuador* or Fiji* or Gabon* or Grenad* or Iran* or Iraq* or Jamaica * or Jordan* or Kazak* or Leban* or Libya* or Malaysia* or Maldives or "Marshall Islands" or Mayotte or Mauritius or Mexic* or Namibia* or Palau* or Panama* or Peru * or Seychell* or "South Africa" or "St. Lucia" or "St. Vincent" or Suriname* or Thai* or Tonga* or Tunisia* or Turk* or Turkmenistan* or Tuvalu* or Venezuela* forest* or fish* or marine or 7356 2.9.2013 7356 (1990-2013), 4241 ( 2008- grassland* or pastoralis* or pasture or 2013). This search contains rangeland* AND decentraliz* or BonilaMoheno 2012, Chen et al tenure or reform* or allocation or 2011, Lawson-Remer Fiji 2013, see ownership or "property right"or folder sample papers property rights "property rights" or "property regime" in dropbox or "property system" or manag* or access or harvest* or open?access AND collective or comm?n* or small? scale or customary or state or public or privat* or compan* or concession* or participat* or collaborative or cooperative or co-manage* or shared or joint AND Angola* or Algeria* or Samoa* or Argentina* or Azerbaijan* or Beliz* or Botswana* or Brazil* or Chin* or Colombia* or "Costa Rica" or Cuba* or Dominica* or Ecuador* or Fiji* or Gabon* or Grenad* or Iran* or Iraq* or Jamaica * or Jordan* or Kazak* or Leban* or Libya* or Malaysia* or Maldives or "Marshall Islands" or Mayotte or Mauritius or Mexic* or Namibia* or Palau* or Panama* or Peru* or Seychell* or "South Africa" or "St. Lucia" or "St. Vincent" or Suriname* or Thai* or Tonga* or Tunisia* or Turk* or Tuvalu* or Venezuela*