May 2020 - tdwg-content - lists.tdwg.org

Re: [tdwg-content] If you need something for referring to a population, then it is probably best to do it as a related class
by Nico Franz 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

Hello all: I have a few inserted comments, hopefully with some clarifying effect: On 5/4/2011 10:54 AM, Peter DeVries wrote: > Hi Steve, > > I may have overloaded the term specimen to make the explanation easier > to follow. > > A specimen could be an individual or it could be part of an individual. > > To some extent you need to think about how these models will be used. > > If you subscribe to the model that a species is whatever a taxonomists > says it is then it is difficult to make statements like. > > X% of the world's species will be extinct by 2050. > > If you mean a species as defined by the concept documented at this URI > which is supported by these specimens, images, and DNA then you are on > firmer ground. > > Species in the natural world do a pretty good job recognizing those > individuals that are appropriate mates. In other words members of > their own species. > > Are we modeling species or variations in human conceptualizations of > species? > >> Assuming that there was only one individual organism identified >> there is really one one species (or hybrid). > Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Please Nico C., don't take this one up! > > > I stick with this. Assuming you don't have a hybrid individual. That > individual is one species. The fact that human may disagree on what > species it is a human issue. > > Again, Are we modeling species or variations in human > conceptualizations of species? NMF: I believe there is a history of biodiversity database engineering that actually led some people, initially in Australia (Greg Whitbread?) and Europe (Berendsohn's group) to place more emphasis on modeling human conceptualizations of taxa. I understand this happened in the late 80s / early 90s. The motivation was, apparently, that no long-term consensus seemed available to model a single and sufficiently widely accepted taxonomy of, say, Central European vascular plant species or mosses. I believe that projects such as the Euro + Med PlantBase (http://www.emplantbase.org/home.html) are examples of the persistence (success?) of this 20+ year old practice. I think this is the kind of background that Steve is referring to. > > Which of these is of primary importance to decision makers and > non-taxonomist biologists? > Part of the problem with various publications relating to ontologies > and taxonomy is that their species models entail a specific > phylogenetic hypothesis. > > In the real world taxa are not as clean as some would like to make > them out to be. > > Each individual is a unique combination of thousands of separate gene > lineages which often do not follow clean monophyletic paths. > > I would argue that most of those who work with species related data > see them as useful typological constructs which in general follow the > biological species model. NMF: The solution of how to properly model things such as species in RDF, OWL (etc.) should ideally accommodate all "species concepts" (BCS, ESC, PSC, GSC, there's dozens), i.e. it should be neutral towards this issue. The examples below are too simple, ignoring for example cases such as pro parte synonymy, or a concept ("species") that appears unique and monophyletic to one author but (vastly) polyphyletic to another. To do an accurate mapping in that latter case (which is not super-common but it's real), I think one would have to come down on saying we're modeling human conceptualizations. They are not just that, so really it's not a strict dichotomy, meaning that by modeling conceptualizations we do not have to say "the species only exist on our heads", or "well, then anything goes". I agree (sheepishly) that it does come down to what the input data look like, and what the expectations are towards just accommodating the user community versus pushing them in a particular direction. Some of this also on p. 47 of this PDF: https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/jbi/article/view/3927/3852 > > /Aedes triseriatus/ owl:sameAs /Ochlerotatus triseriatus/ > > Others seem to see them as phylogenetic end nodes which entail a > specific phylogenetic history. > > /Aedes triseriatus/ distinctFrom /Ochlerotatus triseriatus/ > / > / > If you are primarily interested in understanding issues of ecology, > disease, diversity and conservation the former model is more > appropriate than the later. > > Respectfully, > > - Pete Regards, Nico Nico M. Franz, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Director, UPRM Invertebrate Collection Department of Biology University of Puerto Rico Call Box 9000 Mayagüez, PR 00681-9000 Phone: (787) 832-4040, ext. 3005 Fax: (787) 834-3673 E-mail: nico.franz(a)upr.edu Laboratory website: http://academic.uprm.edu/~franz/ UPRM-INVCOL: http://uprm-invcol-project.tumblr.com/

3 2

SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST go Virtual for 2020
by Deborah Paul 11 May '20

11 May '20

RE: SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST go Virtual for 2020 Register now at https://spnhc_icomnathist2020.eventbrite.com SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST are hosting a virtual digital meeting from 8-12 June, 2020. Together, we are offering an online event tailored to foster conversation across our joint worldwide communities. Activities currently envisioned include a plenary session, symposia and presentations, and an educational share fare, all in support of communication and professional development in these times of uncertainty and isolation. For members of SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST, Annual Business meetings are scheduled for Wednesday 10 June 2020. SPNHC Committee meetings and ICOM-NATHIST working group meetings, for those wishing to be more active in the community, are planned for Monday 8 June 2020. The online virtual meeting will use Zoom video conferencing, and it is free to register for the event. Registration is necessary so we can send you links and Zoom password to the free online meeting. We do, however, encourage you to support your society by becoming a member or renewing your SPNHC <https://spnhc.org/get-involved/become-a-member/> and/orICOM NATHIST <https://icomnathist.wordpress.com/benefits-of-membership/> membership. Two time blocks for sessions are proposed to be as globally inclusive as possible: 12:00PM - 4:30PM UTC | 9:00PM - 1:30AM UTC You can determine these times at your location using the handy website https://timeanddate.com. Conference information, including the agenda, as it is finalized can be found via https://spnhc.org/virtual-meeting-2020-registration/. Questions? Contact us via email: organizer(a)spnhc.org We look forward to seeing you soon online. SPNHC and ICOM NATHIST Virtual 2020 Organizing Committee (Apologies for cross-posting) -- -- Upcoming iDigBio Events https://www.idigbio.org/calendar -- Deborah Paul, iDigBio Digitization and Workforce Development Manager iDigBio -- Steering Committee Member SPNHC Liaison, Member-At-Large and Member International Relations Committee ICEDIG External Advisory Board Member https://icedig.eu/ Vice Chair, Biodiversity Information Standards Organisation (TDWG)(2019-2021) Managing Editor, Biodiversity Information Science and Standards (BISS) https://biss.pensoft.net/board/ Institute for Digital Information, 234 LSB Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 850-644-6366

1 0

Reminder: Darwin Core Hour + 2BBQs: Imagining a global gazetteer of georeferences
by Paula Zermoglio 06 May '20

06 May '20

A new *Darwin Core (DwC) Hour + 2BBQs!* are almost here: *Imagining a global gazetteer of georeferences* [image: Promotion_v2.jpg] This Darwin Core Hour will consist of a 1hs Webinar and two 2hs BBQ sessions. Please see Webinar and BBQs Details and Meeting Links at https://www.idigbio.org/content/darwin-core-hour-2-bbqs-imagining-global-ga… *Abstract:* We want our georeferencing to be just right: complete, as accurate as possible, and usable for research. However, it takes a great effort and resources to do so, right? Although the majority of the records shared online are not georeferenced, we have invested a huge, collective effort already; there ARE a lot of georeferenced locations already published. In GBIF, for example, there are >54M unique location strings that are georeferenced, affecting >530M occurrence records. We know that many collection/observation sites tend to be repeated across institutions and even taxa. Could we take advantage of all the effort already invested by the community? Could we use those georeferences to complete records that do not have them? The answer is: (probably) yes, and it would be awesome! In this Darwin Core Hour and BBQ we will present and discuss the idea of building a global gazetteer of georeferenced localities for everyone to use. When: 1. *Darwin Core Hour Time (~1 Hour **13:00 to 14:00 UTC)*: 9:00 AM EDT, 10:00 AM ART, 14:00 BST, 15:00 CEST, 13:00 GMT Click for your local time <https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20200504T1300> . 2. *Darwin Core Hour BBQ 1* (Monday 4 May 2020, 14:00 to 16:00 UTC) 3. *Darwin Core Hour BBQ 2* (Thursday 7 May 2020, 20:00-22:00 UTC <http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20200507T2000>) 4:00 PM EDT, 5:00 PM ART, 9:00 PM BST, 10:00 PM CEST, 20:00 GMT EXTRAS: - Explore the Darwin Core Questions & Answers wiki: https://github.com/tdwg/dwc-qa/wiki - See which of your questions have been asked and answered so far: https://github.com/tdwg/dwc-qa/issues - Submit your question / volunteer (yourself or someone) to do a webinar on a darwin core topic: https://tinyurl.com/zja2muz Happy Darwin Core and Data Quality, and hope to see you soon! Paula Zermoglio, et al. from the Darwin Core Hour Team (please kindly excuse cross-postings!)

1 1