What Is That? Creating User-Friendly Keys to Make Species Identification Easier and Faster -- from Wolfram Library Archive

Title

What Is That? Creating User-Friendly Keys to Make Species Identification Easier and Faster

Author

Whit Farnum

Organization:

Museum of Comparative Zoology

Conference

International Mathematica User Conference 2008

Conference location

Champaign, IL

Description

Taxonomic keys are essential for identifying plants and animals to the species level. A dichotomous key guides the user through choices involving the specimen's anatomy in a specific order. This format can frustrate new users, amateur naturalists, and trained taxonomists. This format also provides a rule structure that can be mined for species information. The data is then searched and sorted according to the organism's body plan. The resulting format allows traits to be searched in any order. This method of data mining and organizing could be used to create rough drafts of matrix style keys from the existing literature. It also creates an ability to reference back to the original key so user can be guided by the expertise of the original writer. This program provides a familiar framework for taxonomists that will allow them to convert existing keys and make new keys in a readily converted format. It does this with minimal formatting requirements in order to simplify data entry. Making this information widely available will make species identification faster leading to a better inventory of life on Earth.

Subject

Wolfram Technology

URL

http://www.wolfram.com/news/events/userconf2008

Downloads

AntKeyConverterHeadPlans.nb (223.4 KB) - Mathematica Notebook

AntsofMicronesia-CutTraits-images.xls (80 KB) - Microsoft Excel document

CreatingUserFriendlySpeciesIdentificationKeys_Abstract.nb (251.2 KB) - Mathematica Notebook

CreatingUserFriendlySpeciesIdentificationKeys_Presentation.nb (772 KB) - Mathematica Notebook

CreatingUserFriendlySpeciesIdentificationKeys_Slideshow.nb (826.2 KB) - Mathematica Notebook

NorthAmericaMatrix.nb (92.4 KB) - Mathematica Notebook

NullProblemExplanation.nb (32.1 KB) - Mathematica Notebook

body_hierarchy.xls (31.5 KB) - Microsoft Excel document

single images.zip (4.2 MB) - ZIP archive