[tdwg-content] A proposal to improve Darwin Core for invasive species data

[Quentin Groom]

Hi John,

Thanks for your comments. Regarding the community of potential users: The
impetus for putting this proposal together came from a workshop we ran on
data interoperability for invasive species research, management and policy
making. This was a meeting of about 30 scientists from the Alien Challenge
COST Action and their invited guests (
http://www.brc.ac.uk/alien-challenge/wg4). We are currently writing up the
finding of the workshop, but rather than just complain about all the
problems of data interoperability, I thought it would be good to do
something about it.

The users of the establishmentMeans vocabulary are intended to be
researchers of introduction pathways, with the expectation that this
information will ultimately filter through to policy making on such things
as import restrictions. The vocabulary has been taken from the IUCN so that
should be agreeable to a wide range of users.

The controlled vocabulary for occurrenceStatus and the addition of origin
are largely intended for users creating check-lists with Darwin Core. These
terms are less suitable for individual occurrences. The knowledge of when
an organism came to an area and whether it is still there is widely used by
conservationists and those interested in alien species. Currently, Darwin
Core is not very strict on its controlled vocabularies and I found it
necessary to add the new term ‘origin’ to be able to separate the length of
time a taxon had persisted at a site from how it had got there.

I have already received useful input from various people involved with
invasive species, including Annie Simpson and Peter Desmet, but I'm curious
to know what the wider biodiversity community thinks of the proposal.

Regards
Quentin




Dr. Quentin Groom
(Botany and Information Technology)

Botanic Garden Meise
Domein van Bouchout
B-1860 Meise
Belgium

ORCID: 0000-0002-0596-5376 <http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0596-5376>

Landline; +32 (0) 226 009 20 ext. 364
FAX:      +32 (0) 226 009 45

E-mail:     quentin.groom at plantentuinmeise.be
Skype name: qgroom
Website:    www.botanicgarden.be


On 23 May 2016 at 20:36, John Wieczorek <tuco at berkeley.edu> wrote:

> Hi Quentin,
>
> Thank you for your effort in putting forth these welll thought out
> proposals. At various times I have heard discussions on the inadequecy of
> establishmentMeans. Your work encapsulates the problem well.
> One of the things that helps when proposing to add a Darwin Core term is
> demonstrating that there is a community that needs it. Can you tell us who
> has a demonstrated need to share this information? Anyone out there who has
> this interest is also welcome to share that here to provide evidence of
> demand from more than one group, project or individual.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John
>
> On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 3:23 PM, Quentin Groom <
> quentin.groom at plantentuinmeise.be> wrote:
>
>> I've been working on a proposal to improve Darwin Core for use with
>> invasive species data.
>>
>> The proposal is detailed on GitHub at
>> https://github.com/qgroom/ias-dwc-proposal/blob/master/proposal.md.
>>
>> The proposal is for a new term "origin" and suggested vocabularies for
>> establishmentMeans and occurrenceStatus.
>>
>> I'd welcome your feedback on the proposal.
>>
>> From my perspective it provides some needed clarity on
>> the establishmentMeans and occurrenceStatus fields, but also adds the
>> origin that is needed for invasive species research and for conservation
>> assessments.
>>
>> I'm not sure of the best way to discuss this, but if you have concrete
>> proposals for changes you might raise them as issues on GitHub, as well as
>> mentioning them here.
>>
>> Regards
>> Quentin
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Dr. Quentin Groom
>> (Botany and Information Technology)
>>
>> Botanic Garden Meise
>> Domein van Bouchout
>> B-1860 Meise
>> Belgium
>>
>> ORCID: 0000-0002-0596-5376 <http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0596-5376>
>>
>> Landline; +32 (0) 226 009 20 ext. 364
>> FAX:      +32 (0) 226 009 45
>>
>> E-mail:     quentin.groom at plantentuinmeise.be
>> Skype name: qgroom
>> Website:    www.botanicgarden.be
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> tdwg-content mailing list
>> tdwg-content at lists.tdwg.org
>> http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg-content
>>
>>
>
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