MoreTax

Rule-based association of taxonomic concepts

Introduction and project description

In order to secure information quality when organism-referred data is represented and searched for in databases, the data must be assigned to a unique class of reference objects (taxon; e.g. botanical or zoological species) and this assignment must be stored permanently. Today, most databases try to achieve this by using the scientific name (e.g. species name). However, the same organism can be assigned to different names, on the one hand because of problems with the designation of the taxon itself (nomenclatural synonymy) and on the other hand because of different taxonomical and systematical conceptions, which derive from different contemporaneous scientific views (interpretations) or from an evolution of the concept (new knowledge). Different concepts can lead to different circumscriptions and therefore to different demarcations between taxa, to different classifications in the hierarchical system of Ranks and to different overall classification systems.

The amount of the uncertainties caused by the use of names as an index system depends on the quantity of different aggregate sources of information, and concerns presumably less than half of all taxa. Nevertheless these uncertainties must be taken in account when organism-referred data are dealt with in information systems.

The present project aims to contribute to the solution of this problem. The model of an interface between concept-based taxonomic data bases and databases containing factual information shall be created which will be based on existing partial implementations and concepts. The project will develop specifications for the crucial interfaces of a concept-based taxonomical core, which would be implemented in separate development projects. It concerns (i) a globally applicable taxonomic editor for the input and update of a concept-based data base, (ii) the interface between organism-referred data, including the resulting user interface, which is derived from the function-model, as well as (iii) a user interface for input, update and maintenance of the rule-based interface between linked factual information bases. Such implementations should concern the data of the BfN (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation) in the context of the BfN internal LANIS (landscape and nature protection information system) as well as in connection with network projects, in which the BfN is involved.

Walter Berendsohn and Marc Geoffroy, January 2001

__________________________________________________________________________

MoReTax (Rule-based association of taxonomic concepts) is a research and development project funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation of the German Ministry of the Environment.

Project co-ordinator: Walter Berendsohn
Project scientist: Marc Geoffroy