Taxon name matching using the Species Dictionary

1  Introduction

This tutorial is aimed at the beginner to intermediate level: some experience of working within MS Access is assumed and a copy of MS Access is required.

Matching a list of names into the species dictionary is a fairly common task carried out by data managers, for example when manually creating a recording card. However, the complexity of the species dictionary within Recorder makes this a less than straightforward task for the uninitiated. This tutorial sets out the basic steps to match a list of names, including briefly outlining the main structure of the species dictionary. There are a couple of different methods of achieving the same results. The mechanism provided in this tutorial uses the raw species dictionary not the Index Taxon Name table.

1.1  The species dictionary

Before beginning any operation with the species dictionary you need to have a basic understanding of how it is structured within Recorder. The key concept to understand is that the species dictionary is heavily based on the concept of taxonomic lists. Thus rather than just associating a species record with a species name, the record is actually made against the instance of a name on a particular list (typically a published taxonomic checklist). The benefit of this approach is that it is less ambiguous when the taxonomy of a species changes. Generally with a particular list it is fairly clear what meaning is associated with a particular name and so tagging a record to a particular list reduces this sort of ambiguity.

The five tables that make up the main ‘spine’ of the model are shown below:

1.2  Matching the names

The easiest way to match names into the dictionary is probably to work in the linked Access database created when Recorder installs (this is an Access database which contains linked tables from the SQL Server database). The linked Access database is called nbndata.mdb and can be found in C:\Program Files\Recorder 6\Database.  If the database is not there (and you have Recorder installed and working on your computer) then you need to recreate the linked Access table. This can be done using the tool/file specifically designed for this job called ‘Create Access mdb’ which can be downloaded from the website section xxx. This tutorial matches the taxa from the BRC ladybird recording card (including the search codes which can be used for fast data entry) from an excel source file using Access 2007. The file used is available for download to allow you to work through the tutorial URL.

1.3  Preferred Lists

The dictionary holds numerous lists and the same species name may occur on a number of different lists. Some time ago, the concept of preferred lists was developed. In essence these are lists which are considered by the Natural History Museum (the managers of the species dictionary) to represent the correct and current taxonomy for their taxonomic area. Ultimately it is hoped these will span the full taxonomic coverage of the UK and already there is good coverage of most of the popular groups. As a general rule matching to names on these ‘preferred’ lists is likely to be more robust. There is a flag in the TAXON_LIST table called “PREFERRED” which, if set to true, indicates that the list represents one of these preferred lists.