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Re: Entering taxon occurrences abbreviation or common name

Hello,

Over the weekend I was entering some Moth data onto Recorder. As I was in a bit of a hurry I used the common name to enter the data. However, when I ran a report I found that the lst_item_code which in the case of Moths is the Bradley number, was missing. However, when I went back into the data and used the abbreviation to enter the data the lst_item_code was ok. Can anyone offer an explanation as to why this happens?

Cheers for now

Gary Pocklington

2 (edited by MikeWeideli 05-07-2011 16:23:04)

Re: Entering taxon occurrences abbreviation or common name

Data entered through Recorder 'Enter a Species Record' and also imprted data can use a common name and this is what will be saved in the records (the Taxon_List_Item_key).   As the Bradley is attached to the scientific name it will no longer be available easily. For this and a number of other reasons, if possible,  it is best not to use common names for recording.

When displayed or reported on you still get the scientific name, but this isn't what is stored in the sytem.  If you hightlight an occurrence and look at the Taxon information under the 'General' tab you will see the taxon actual held by the system.     

You can also run Report SY2 (found in Repotst/Run/SystemReports/Information). Enter a * as a paramter for the group to get all groups.. The Taxon Used In System column of this report will identify the name actually stored. 

If you wish to change all your common names to scientific names this could be done with a Batch update.   


Mike

Mike Weideli

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Re: Entering taxon occurrences abbreviation or common name

Hello Mike,

Thanks for reply.

The report SY2 produces a couple of hundred results and I must confess I am not sure what it is telling me?

Is there some documentation that explains how the taxon dictionary works that I can look at which would give me a better understanding?

The batch update sounds useful as I also have some records that I would like to update which have not got record types on them. Again, is there documentation that would help?

Thanks

Gary Pocklington

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Re: Entering taxon occurrences abbreviation or common name

Amendment to my last posting. Having taken another look at the output from SY2 I can see that it is listing the taxon preferences used for the data I have entered. Ran the report late last night and I couldn't see what the report was about. I notice that for the micro moths that the Porter listing is the preferred one? I work using the Bradley listings as the main source as  I thought they were the 'bible' for lepidoptera?

Previous questions still apply for documentation to help understand. Thanks. 

Cheers for now

Gary Pocklington