1

Re: Procedure for species not in Recorder lists

Has anyone put together some sort of procedure regarding what to do with the occurrence of species not in the Recorder checklists? I've not had this problem for a while and rather than incorrectly remember what I did a couple of years ago it's probably better to find out what is the generally accepted process.

Gordon Barker
Biological Survey Data Manager
National Trust

2

Re: Procedure for species not in Recorder lists

Taxa are added via Dictionary/Edit Taxon Details. There are two differnt views on where they should be added, both with advantages/disadvantages.

One option is to add them into the preferred list into the appropriate place in the taxonomic hierarchy. If the levels are not there to do this properly (eg genus and/or family), then you need to add these as well. The advanatge of this is that taxa dded in this way will get picked up in reports down the taxonomic  hierarchy. The disadvantage is that they are not that easy to find and if the preferred  list changes this could potentially make it more difficult.

The other approach is to create a dummy new top level in a dictionary of your choice. Often the R3.3 list is used for this purpose as it has a mix of taxa. The new dummy top level is called something like 'User Added Taxa' and all your additional taxa are added here. There is no reason with this approach to create any other levels. The disadvantage with this is that these taxa will not be picked up by reports on the taxonomic hierarchy, but it keeps them all together in one place.

With either of these approaches, you can use an XML report (I think there is a system supplied one) to list the user added taxa. When the taxa are added to a Recorder list you can use a batch update to change the Taxon_List_Item key on Taxon_Determination to the new keys.

Mike Weideli

3

Re: Procedure for species not in Recorder lists

Thanks Mike

I have tweaked the system report to add in the list the non-system taxa were added to, for people like me who can't remember where they added species before. Seems to work.

<SQL>

<Where keytype="Default">
select  tv.taxon_version_key, t.item_name, t.authority, count(toc.taxon_occurrence_key) as number_records, tl.item_name as list_name from  taxon_occurrence toc 
left join taxon_determination td on toc.taxon_occurrence_key = td.taxon_occurrence_key 
left join taxon_list_item tli on td.taxon_list_item_key = tli.taxon_list_item_key 
LEFT join taxon_version tv on tli.taxon_version_key = tv.taxon_version_key 
left join taxon t on tv.taxon_key = t.taxon_key 
left join taxon_list_version tlv on tli.taxon_list_version_key = tlv.taxon_list_version_key
left join taxon_list tl on tlv.taxon_list_key = tl.taxon_list_key 
WHERE td.preferred = 1 and tli.system_supplied_data = 0 
group by tv.taxon_version_key, t.item_name, t.authority, tl.item_name 
</Where>


</SQL>
Gordon Barker
Biological Survey Data Manager
National Trust

4

Re: Procedure for species not in Recorder lists

Perhaps a handy tool would be to add a filter option to the Taxon Dictionary & editor to allow you to filter for the user added taxa?

John van Breda
Biodiverse IT

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Re: Procedure for species not in Recorder lists

Expanding the topic a bit, and maybe this should go in the Species Dictionary forum, but what happens next?

You have added an additional species to one of the lists as described by Mike. As I understand it, the next steps would be :
1- Send a message to the Species Dictionary forum
2- If valid, Charles Hussey adds your request to a list at NHM (I am not certain, but I assume this would usually be added to the List of Additional Names, rather than making changes to the official/published checklists)
3- This works its way through to a dictionary update in Recorder
4- You match your added taxon to the new one in the update (not sure how to do this, to be honest)

The assumption made at 2 makes quite a difference here. If the new system taxon gets added to LAN and you match the user taxon to that, then it wouldn't appear in the hierarchy and queries based on this, but if you keep the user defined taxon in the preferred list/R3 it doesn't get exported.

At some point the relevant organisation may issue a new preferred list, but the Nameserver should pick up anything added to the LAN that matches the new list. If you have added to the preferred list, would this result in the species appearing twice?

Gordon Barker
Biological Survey Data Manager
National Trust

6

Re: Procedure for species not in Recorder lists

Gordon

1. You add a new taxa. When you add a record for the taxa the Taxon_List_Item key you have created is used in the Taxon_Determination table  for that record.  In effect the record can't be exported, because the taxon_List_Item_Key is not system supplied.  More accurately, it will be exported, but can't be imported.

2. You request that the taxa is added to the Recorder Dictionary. It  will probably  find its way into the List of additional names. At this point it gets the system supplied keys it needs including a new Taxon_List_Item_Key

3. You see that the name has now been added as system supplied and you then need to change the taxon_List_Item key originally used on the Taxon_Determination to the new one.  Options here are  via merge data items or via a batch update. Merge data items is fine for just a few  and   will automatically delete your user added taxa entry.  A batch update would be faster if there a several and it could be designed to automatically remove your entries. 

It is a good idea to review your users added taxa following a dictionary update , which is why many users like to keep them in one place. You should always remove your Dictionary entries once you have moved the determinations to the new key. If you don't  the taxa will be in the system twice and the one you have added could be used by mistake. If this happens it will always appear on a separate line in reports, because there will be nothing in NameServer which points it to the new key.

4. When the taxa is added to the new preferred  list, you don't need to do anything. The taxon_List_Item key on your record stays the same and NameServer takes care of it by pointing it to the preferred list.

Mike Weideli

7 (edited by sallyrankin 22-12-2010 17:55:25)

Re: Procedure for species not in Recorder lists

Tools – Database Tools – Merge Data Items enables you to remove user added taxa when system supplied versions are available but this function is only available to system managers.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
E-mail: s.rankin@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01491 578633
Mobile: 07941 207687