1 Reply by Alan Hale (edited by Alan Hale 30-01-2008 16:52:39)

  • Alan Hale
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  • From: Aberystwyth, Wales
  • Registered: 11-05-2006
  • Posts: 278

Re: Reporting from Rucksack - spurious taxa

I've constructed a rucksack which comprises all the UKBAP/Section 42 "lower plant" species that occur in Wales. For the bryophytes I based the rucksack entries on the preferred bryophyte dictionary. But I've found something odd when I report from the rucksack using the Report Wizard.

Fossombronia foveolata is in the rucksack, Fossombronia incurva is not. As far as I am aware there is not nor has been any synonymy of these two species. If I run a report on the rucksack, ticking the "All Taxa from List" box, I get no records of F. foveolata reported (rightly, because I don't have any) but I DO get a records of F.incurva reported (they were originally input using the Recorder 3.3 list).

If I  run a report on F.foveolata only (i.e. not ticking "All Taxa from List") from the rucksack, I get no records of either species (as expected). I get the same result if I report on F. foveolata from the Recorder 3.3 list.

There is a similar issue with Weissias. W. levieri and W.squarrosa are in my rucksack, W.longifolia is not. But if I report ticking "All taxa from List" I get records of W.longifolia as well as records of the two others. In this case though I find that if I report on W.levieri alone I also get W.longifolia (I expect this is all as clear as mud by now). Again, there is no synonymy taht I am aware of involved here.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here?

Thanks

Alan

Alan Hale
Aberystwyth

Alan Hale's Website

2 Reply by Sarah Shaw

  • Sarah Shaw
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  • Registered: 23-06-2006
  • Posts: 267

Re: Reporting from Rucksack - spurious taxa

Hi Alan

I think what is happening here is that if you have any entries in the rucksack that are above F.incurva (taxonomically) and you select to include all taxa from list (with 'current rucksack' or 'current rucksack (expanded)' selected), the report wizard expands the rucksack taxonomically and produces a report containing all taxa (including ones such as F.incurva that weren't specifically included in the rucksack).

However, if you select specific taxa from the rucksack the report produced is restricted to the specific taxa selected and isn't expanded taxonomically.

Perhaps the second example you give does signify some incorrect synonymy within the dictionary but I've been unable to reproduce this - I've created a rucksack containing 'Pottiales' from the BRYOPHYTE checklist. I have added 4 records -  1 of Weissia levieri using the BRYOPHYTE checklist, 1 of Weissia levieri using the Rec 3 list, 1 of Weissia longifolia using the BRYOPHYTE list and 1 of Weissia longifolia using the Rec 3 list.

However, if I do a report just selecting Weissia levieri only from the rucksack I just get the 2 appropriate records returned and not those of Weissia longifolia.

If you could provide me with a copy of the rucksack you are using I could do some further checking - and if there are any problems with the synonymy I can report this back to the NHM.

Best wishes,

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC