Recorder does allow for Associated  species to be recorded. This is done via the Related Occs. Tab on the Taxon Occurrence window. It allows the relationship to be recorded and you can set up your own relationship types through the Terms list. Look in Help for Related Occurrences for more details. At the moment there are no built in reports which include the related occurrences but XML reports could be built to return the associations. The realtionship is contained in table Taxon_Occurrence_Relation and the type in Relationship_Type.

Mike

Hi John,

There is another way to do this.

We have to hold details of the substrates lichens grow on but these are not necessarily other species, they may be stone, metal or dead wood. Associated species doesn't handle these, and the substrate field is too limited, so we have set up a taxon occurence measurement to hold codes for the different types of tree, stone, etc. They can be shown in reports and used to filter the records. It's a simple solution but it works well.

If you are interested let me know and I'll send you further details.

Janet

Hi John,

We need to hold substrate information at two levels.

The list for Substrate has been extended in our system to include terms for corticolous, saxicolous, terricolous, lignicolous etc, and because a lichen may have been found in more than one of these habitats on a site also all the combinations (eg Cort+Sax for something that was growing on a tree and on stone). That's quite enough complexity for one list.

The other code, which for some reason now lost in the mists of history is called the Scale Habitat, allows us to hold more detail such as the types of tree or rock that the lichen was found on. So for one taxon occurence the substrate could be Cort+Sax and the Scale Habitats CFx, CQ, SSd, and SBr for Fraxinus, Quercus, sandstone and brick.

It's a way of holding a lot of information for each taxon occurence in a way that can easily be analysed and shown in reports. Lichenologists do things in their own way, but I would have thought some other groups would have similar requirements.

Janet