Workpackage 2
TETTRIs Workpackage 2: "Connecting local and European taxonomies"
TETTRIs' task 2.2 responsible for the wiki started in 2023. We will gradually incorporate project results as they become available.
Our mission (project deliverables):
"Functional workflow for mapping local taxonomies established and documented" (Task 2.2)
This is to document and enhance the mapping of local taxon lists (or scientific data holdings containing lists of taxon names) to global and European aggregators of scientific names and taxa. Local lists are here understood to range from spreadsheets maintained by individual researchers to large databases containing taxonomic checklists for countries or entire regions of the world (e.g. the European plant checklist Euro+Med PlantBase). Scientific names are used to document multiple kinds of properties of organisms, the mapping process serves to unite this information while at the same time ensuring that potential caveats in the direct linking of names (and their synonyms) can be identified. The initial step in that process is matching the local name with the names in the aggregated lists.
So why would the administrators of local lists want to relate their name data to global or regional aggregators, for example to Catalogue of Life, World Flora Online Plant List or
EU-Nomen? We are collecting such use cases for name matching and from that we are proposing mechanisms to improve name matching and other services provided by the target aggregator systems.
This task will also be supported by two 3PP third party projects (3PP) funded by TETTRIs that address TETTRIs Topic 2: "Improving access to local taxon lists and taxon-related scientific data through pragmatic name-mapping workflows": iSedge and particularly Taxonomic Name Linking Services - TNLS.
Discussion: Metadata for "local lists" and categorisation of global or regional aggregators
"Functional optimised EU Nomen processes and services up and running" (Task 2.1)
EU-Nomen is the first all-taxa inventory for European species, initially assembled by the EU-funded PESI project (Pan European Species Inventory Infrastructure). EU-Nomen is an aggregated data set allowing queries and name matching via the Internet. The central database is hosted and web access maintained by the Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ). The content consists of several largely complementary European taxonomic datasets, each of which is maintained by a specialised taxonomic community: Fungi from Index Fungorum / Species Fungorum, Marine organisms from the European Register of Marine Species ERMS, Animals from Fauna Europaea, and Plants from Euro+Med PlantBase. Merging these datasets is the responsibility of the Zentrum für Biodiversitätsinformatik und Sammlungsdatenintegration (ZBS) in Berlin. TETTRIs will streamline the process of merging these datasets in order to enable regular updating of the EU-nomen services. It will foster the provision of globally unique identifiers provided by the source datasets. In collaboration with the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, special attention will also be given to common taxon names, as they are the key to data access by a broader public.
This task will directly improve the data content of EU-Nomen (PESI), which is the principal European target for mapping taxon names.
Project milestones:
"MS4 Agreed strategy for mapping local taxonomies (31 May 2024)" (Task 2.2)
Strategy for synchronising taxonomies agreed and documented
"MS3 Taxonomic Resolution Platform up and running (30 Nov 2024)" (Task 2.3)
Taxonomic Resolution Engine is available and linked to backbone services
