A TAXONOMIC WEB-EDITOR: carrying out taxonomic revisions online
Marc Geoffroy , Anton Güntsch, Jinling Li , Javier de la Torre & Walter G. Berendsohn Department of Biodiversity Informatics, Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Koenigin-Luise-Str. 6-8, 14191 Berlin, GermanyWe have implemented a web editor on the basis of the concept-based Berlin Model, which is or will be used in several projects such as FloraWeb, Euro+Med, Med-Checklist, IOPI Species Plantarum and the Dendroflora of El Salvador. The system is based on a centralized database management server. This approach minimizes the need for reintegration of shared data such as scientific names, authors or references. The software has been implemented on an application server using Macromedia ColdFusion , i.e. there is no particular client software that has to be installed by users. Instead, standard World Wide Web browser software will suffice to carry out taxonomic work. The editor supports data entry and editing of all data contained in the Berlin Model core database: Scientific names and nomenclatural details as well as taxonomic trees and synonym relationships can be built and modified. Furthermore, the editor supports displaying, adding, and editing of factual information associated with taxa (e.g. geographic distributions). Finally the editor enables taxonomists to establish relationships between “foreign” taxonomic concepts and their own, and therefore to build bridges to parallel taxonomies.
We acknowledge support by the European Union (Euro+Med project) and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (MoReTax project), among others, for the development of the editor.