Taxa Names
Missouri Botanical Garden’s Tropicos website is our standard: http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/vast.html
General: Choose the taxon name from the drop-down list or copy and paste it from the Tropicos website if it is not in the list. If in doubt, use Tropicos first to double-check spellings. If you can’t find the name in Tropicos, then contact John or Amanda to confirm the spelling.
Family: The first letter of the family name is capitalized. If the family name is not known, then select “FamIndet” from the drop-down list. (For unknown fungi or lichens, choose “FungiFamIndet” or “LichenFamIndet”, instead.)
Genus: The first letter is capitalized. Choose “GenIndet” for unknown genera.
Specific epithet: The first letter of the specific epithet is always lower case. For unknown species, choose “sp.” from the drop-down list. Enter “cf.” or “aff.”, etc after the specific epithet.
Infraspecific Taxa: The first letter of infraspecific names is always lower case. Select the radio button for “var.” or “ssp.”, as appropriate. Leave this section blank if there is no species or variety to enter.
Determiner Name
The determiner’s name should be entered with their first initials with spaces between them, followed by last name.
Common Determiners:
A. K. Neill
C. M. Taylor
E. A. Christenson
M. A. Chocce
J. P. Janovec
M. N. Oppel
J. A. Allison
Wm. W. Thomas (Wayt Thomas)
M. H. Alford
P. J. M. Maas
T. F. Franklin
Determiner’s Institution
Enter the acronym for the determiner’s institution, which is not always BRIT. The New York Botanical Garden’s Index Herbariorum is our standard for institution acronyms:
http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp
Common Institutions:
BRIT(Botanical Research Institute of Texas)
USM (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru, Museo de Historia Natural)
MO (Missouri Botanical Garden)
NY (New York Botanical Garden)
USMS (University of S. Mississippi)
Exceptions: When the determiner has no institution, enter his/her city and state (or country, international.)
Example: Sarasota, FL for E. A. Christenson
Determination Date
The determination date is the determination was received by email or the date written on the determination chit or specimen label. It is entered in this format: year-month-day, eg. 2006-08-23. If the month or day is not known, then enter “01” instead, for example “2006-01-01”.
Authority Names
Missouri Botanical Garden’s Tropicos website is our standard: http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/vast.html
The first letter of the authority’s name is capitalized and abbreviated according to Tropicos standards, eg. “L.” for Linnaeus.
DATA IMPORTATION CHECKLIST
When importing an excel spreadsheet of new data, there are several fields that should be double-checked first. Generally, the spreadsheet follow the same format as a spreadsheet exported from Atrium.
*required field
__Global_Unique_Identifier
__Collector_Abbrev_Name*
__Collection_Team
__ Collection_Number*
__ Family_Name*
__ Genus_Name*
__ Specific_Epithet*
__Infra_Epithet
__Date_of_Collection*
__Determined_By_Name*
__Determined_By_Institution*
__Determined_By_Date
__Continent_Name*
__Country_Name*
__Region_Name*
__Subregion_Name
__Closest_Town
__Locality Description
__Locality_Site_Specific
__Locality Summary
__Latitude
__Longitude
__Coordinate_Uncertainity
__Elevation_Min
__Elevation_Max
__Habitat_Description
__Soil_Description
__Habitat_Summary
__Notes_Plant
__Height_Min
__Height_Max
__DBH_Min
__DBH_Max
__Phenology_Stage
__Local_Name
__Duplicates
__Duplicate_Herbarium
__Basis_of_Specimen
__Collection_Method
__Auxiliary_Collections
__Project_Name
__Research_Site_Name
*Required Filed for Importation
Global_Unique_Identifier
Enter the GUID barcode from the specimen here.
*Collector_Abbrev_Name: (Collector’s Name) The first two initials and the last name of the collector is entered with spaces between the initials, eg. “A. P. Maceda”. Check that the collector’s name is spelled and formatted correctly in every field. Check that the name appears the same way that it does in Atrium by looking on the “Collectors” page in the Atrium Digital Herbarium toolbar.
Common Collector names:
A. K. Neill
A. P. Maceda
B.R. Chambi
J. P. Janovec
M. A. Chocce
P. Centeno
R. E. Repasky
R. Aguilar
T. F. Franklin
Collection_Team: Collection team members’ names should be entered using the same format as collector name (see above). Names should be separated by commas. Do not include the collector’s name here; it belongs in the collector name field only.
*Collection_Number: Ensure that there is a collection number for each collection. Numerical format or numerical format with one extra letter is acceptable, eg. “1888a”.
Family_Name: First, check that the family name is already in Atrium; if not then contact John or Amanda about adding it. ALWAYS check the spelling of family names. Incorrectly spelled names are added as new families to Atrium. Tropicos is our standard for family names. Contact John or Amanda regarding exceptions to this rule. If there is no family name, enter “FamIndet”. It helps to sort the spreadsheet by family name when checking.
*Genus_Name: ALWAYS check the spelling of the genus names before importation. Again, Tropicos is our standard. Enter “GenIndet” for unknown names. Subgenera should be entered in plant notes or id notes.
*Specific_Epithet: ALWAYS check the spelling of specific epithet before importation. Once again, Tropicos is our standard. Enter “sp.” for unknown names. Enter “cf.”, etc after the specific epithet name, eg “roseus cf.”.
Infra_Epithet: (Infraspecific Epithet) Check the spelling, Tropicos is our standard.
Variety: Should be written in this format: “var. name”
Subspecies: Should be written in this format: “ssp. name”
*Date_of_Collection: Date of collection should be entered in this format: day month year, eg: “10 October 2004”.
*Determined_By_Name: Enter the name of the determiner of the collection here, even for partial determinations. This name should be entered in the same format as Collector Name (see above).
* Determined_By_Institution: Enter the acronym of the determiner’s institution here. Index Herbariorum is our standard (see above).
* Determined_By_Date: Enter the date the specimen was determined here. Often, this is the same as the collection date.
*Continent_Name: The continent where the collection was made should be entered here, eg “South America” or “Central America”.
*Country Name: Enter the country where the specimen was collected, eg. “Peru” or “Costa Rica”. Remember to check spelling! The Getty Online Thesaurus of Geographical Names is our standard for place names and is available at: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/
*Region_Name: Enter the department or state where the specimen was collected here, eg. “Madre de Dios”. The Getty Online Thesaurus of Geographical Names is our standard for place names and is available at: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/
Subregion_Name: Enter the subregion name here, eg “Osa”. The Getty Online Thesaurus of Geographical Names is our standard for place names and is available at: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/
Closest_Town: Enter the name of the nearest town to the collection site, eg. “Cusco”. Check spelling! The Getty Online Thesaurus of Geographical Names is our standard for place names and is available at: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/
Locality_Description: In-depth description of collection location.
Locality_Site_Specific: Specific collection location detail.
Locality_Summary: Collection location summary.
Latitude: Can be decimal degrees or sexagesimal degrees (degrees, minutes, seconds).
Longitude:
Coordinate_Uncertainity
Elevation_Min: The minimum elevation of the collection’s location should be entered here in meters. If there is only one number for elevation (no minimum and maximum elevation), then record that number here.
Elevation_Max: The maximum elevation of the collection’s location, if any, should be recorded here in meters.
Habitat_Description:
Soil_Description:
Habitat_Summary:
Notes_Plant: Enter collection notes here. This is also a good space for any data not covered by the other fields, such as morphospecies and sub-genera. Check spelling!
Height_Min: The minimum height of the specimen (or the tree it came from) should appear here in meters. If there is just one number recorded for height (no minimum and maximum height), then record that number here.
Height_Max: Record the maximum height of the specimen here in meters.
DBH_Min: Enter the minimum diameter at breast height here in meters. If there is only one DBH number (no max and min), then enter it here.
DBH_Max: Enter the maximum diameter at breast height here in meters.
Phenology_Stage: If a phenology stage is entered, make sure that it matches one of the phenology stages already in Atrium (You can see them in a drop-down menu at the bottom of the “Edit Collection” page. Acceptable phenology stage entries are listed below:
Fertile: fruits: mature fruits
Fertile: fruits: immature fruits
Fertile: fruits: fruiting cones
Fertile: flowers: bisexual flowers
Fertile: flowers: female flowers
Fertile: flowers: female cones
Fertile: flowers: male cones
Fertile: flowers: male/female cones
Fertile: flowers: buds
Fertile: flowers: Spore-bearing bodies
Sterile
>Local_Name:
Duplicates: The number of duplicate collections goes here.
Duplicate_Herbarium: The acronyms of herbaria where the duplicates are deposited are entered here. Use the Index Herbariorum acronyms (see above).
Basis_of_Specimen: Ensure that this entry matches the options already in Atrium. Acceptable names include:
Preserved Specimen
Living Specimen
Human Observation
Machine Observation
Drawing or Photograph
Record Only
Collection_Method: Ensure that this entry matches the options already in Atrium. Acceptable entries include: alcohol, fruit, pollen, etc.
Auxiliary_Collections: Ensure that this entry matches the options already in Atrium. Acceptable entries include: carpological, wood, spirit, and slide.
Project_Name: The name of the research project goes here. Ensure that the spelling matches the project name already in Atrium by looking in Research Projects in the Digital Herbarium toolbar. Acceptable research project names are below:
Aguajal Project
Botany of the Osa Peninsula
Los Amigos Botany
Proyecto Flora de Puerto Maldonado
Proyecto Pteridofitas
Wayquecha Botany (note the spelling)
Research_Site_Name: Ensure that the spelling of this name matches the name already in Atrium. Acceptable names are below:
Aguajal Colorado
Aguajal Huitoto
Comunidad Tumi
Los Amigos CICRA
Puerto Maldonado
Wayqecha