-- SteveGinzbarg - 22 Nov 2005

What else do botanists want to know? - A Draft Botanical Extension of Darwin Core

I have posted a Draft Botanical Extension to Darwin Core on the Herbaria Collaborative web site.

Darwin Core is a common standard adopted by participating collections which makes possible simultaneous searches of collection data from multiple collection databases over the web. It is currently being used by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) whose goal is to make data from all specimen collections accessible over the internet.

Darwin core is a simple one-size-fits-all-organisms exchange profile.

The Botanical Extension consists of additional plant-specific elements which could be provided to a web portal dedicated to plant data. Plants hybridize, so an element to indicate that a plant is a hybrid has been added to the Botanical Extension.

Descriptions of the Botanical Extension elements, as well as of the Darwin Core elements, are provided in a table. The descriptions of the Darwin Core elements are customized so that botanists will provide information more consistently for these elements to GBIF as well as to a plant portal. There is an element, 'LifeStage', in Darwin Core to record age class or reproductive stage. It is up to us whether to leave this as a free text element or define a pick list of reproductive states for analysis of phenology.

I have passed around some slips with the Herbaria Collaborative web site URL. After you create a new account and log in, you will be able to view the attached Excel file with the table of elements and their descriptions and add comments.

I posted this draft to start the ball rolling. With your input I hope that it will come to reflect a consensus of the botanical community. Only we can tailor it to suit our needs.

On the slips I passed out I have also included links to the Darwin Core 2 Review and Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD) web sites. One would think that global standards for all groups of organisms would be swamped with comments but this has not been the case. I encourage you to make your opinions heard.

Herbaria Collaborative web site

• http://herbaria.science.oregonstate.edu/
• Can also be accessed from a link on the ASPT home page, http://www.aspt.net/.
• Create New Account and Log In.
• Draft Botanical Extension of Darwin Core is under Standards.
• Link at bottom of grey discussion box to Excel attachment w/ table of elements and their descriptions.
• Also a link to add comments.

Darwin Core 2 Review

• http://darwincore.calacademy.org/
• Can register to add comments and/or register for a mailing list/newsgroup.
• “With some diligent work over the next two to three months, we can finalize the Darwin Core 2, test it, and begin broader deployment. If you are a current or potential user of the Darwin Core, please note that additional work needs to be done and your participation would be appreciated.” - Stan Blum

Access to Biological Collection Data (ABCD)

• http://www.bgbm.org/TDWG/CODATA/Schema/default.htm
• See Schema Viewer link.
• Comments can be sent to Walter Berendsohn, w.berendsohn[at]bgbm.org
• Recommended as a Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG) Standard at the recent meetings in St. Petersburg.