This document defines the terms that are used throughout the Invasive Species System.
A person who is using a computer to access data on invasive species for their personal use. End-users include those browsing the web for information as well as scientists accessing the Internet to obtain information for analysis. End-users typically use a web-browser to access the data but may use a protocol to download information using a web crawler. End-users does not include those enabling web services to exchange data with other computers in a general fashion.
A species, genus, subspecies, or variety, that is not native to a given area and is considered harmful to humans, economic concerns, or native ecosystems.
A defined grammar and syntax that allows two computers to control the exchange of a particular type of data.
A group of computers that can communicate between one another to provide a higher level of functionality for end-users that if they were operating individually.
An individual or organization that has possession of data on invasive species and wishes to make it available to others through the Internet. Also, a computer that contains such data and has made it available to other computers through a web service.
An individual or organization that wishes to access that is held by others for purposes such as mapping, modeling, and statistical analysis. Also, a computer that requests data from another computer.
A provider that also allows end-users to add data to their database, their by making it available on the Internet.
A portal is a web site who’s primary purpose is to provide access to different web services provided in the Invasive Species System.
Location refers to a unique place on the earth and can be a country, state, province, or other area. A location can be identified by a location type and a standard location code or by geographic coordinates. An example of a location type and code would be a country paired with a standard United Nations country code (cite). Geographic coordinates can be used to describe locations as points, a series of line segments (for streams and roads), or as polygons.
A date is defined as an ISO standard date and includes at least a year but can also have a month, day, hour, and minute.
A Taxon defines a particular location in a taxonomic hierarchy. A taxon can be a kingdom, phylum/division, class, order, family, genus, species, sub species, or variety.
Note: The plural of Taxon is a Taxa which is a number of points in a taxonomic hierarchy, one example of a taxa is a species list.
A taxon that contains at least a Genus and can also include species, subspecies, and variety.
BioStatus defines the status of a particular taxon to a particular location. BioStatus includes the following classifications:
Example:
- In the state of New Mexico, Tamarix is:
Origin: Alien
Introduced: Yes
Harmful: Yes
Noxious: No
Present: Yes
Note: the details of the BioStatus data is current being defined
The following data types include some number of the data types defined in section 1.
Occurrence is the identification that a particular organism or organisms, identified by a taxon, where in a particular location on a specific date. Occurrence is used as a synonym for the terms; specimen, observation, survey, etc. In the documents for the protocol, only occurrence will be used. An occurrence includes a taxon, a date, and a location. An occurrence can also include ancillary data such as the person who identified the organism,
Examples:
- The x,y coordinates of a Tamarix plant on December 1st, 1990
- Zebra mussels were identified in Spain on January 1st, 2000
Note: Occurrences could be organized either as locations for a taxon or taxon at a location. Each has advantages for certain types of data. As long as the locations do not include polygonal data the form presented can be used for either type of data as the IDs of the locations can be used to reorganize the data back to taxon at a location.
A checklist record, also referred to as a BioStatus record, is the BioStatus of a taxon in a location without a specified date.
- Location
- BioStatus
- Citation (optional but desired)
- Ancillary:
- Publication date
- When I heard about it
Examples:
- BioStatus of Tamarix in New Mexico, citation
- Invasiveness of Tamarix in New Mexico
- Tamarix was published, in 1914, as being in New Mexico
- The Tamarix entry in the 2006 invasive species list for Colorado
Set of locations (could be for a taxon, locations with invasive species)
- Locations
Examples:
- A list of the countries that a species occurs in
A list of taxa (typically at a location)
- Taxa
Examples:
- A list of the non-native species in a particular country
A check list contains a check list records.
Examples:
- A list of the BioStatus for all Asteracea for a particular country
- List of invasive species in the United States
- Noxious weeds in Colorado
- Non-indigenous aquatic species in the US
- Invasive animals in New Zealand
- List of all invasive taxa anywhere
Locations of a occupancies
Examples
- Locations of Tamarix in New Mexico in 1990
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