1,721,133 research outputs found
Multi-authored interactive identification keys: The FRIDA (FRiendly IDentificAtion) package
No full textFRIDA (FRiendly IDentificAtion) is a new software application for producing multi-authored interactive identification keys, which can be published on the Web, stored on optical devices, and used on mobile devices as PDAs and Smartphones, both on-line or in stand-alone mode. FRIDA is based on a double-level architecture, which grants to the authors that are involved in multi-authored projects a high degree of independence while working on their data, and several instruments to control and modify the final result of the elaboration of the keys. FRIDA can produce keys from the data by one author only, as well as keys from data by several different authors, merged together into new and original entities. In this paper we discuss the most interesting features of the FRIDA package, and detail the process of generation of an identification key
A federated database of taxon pages in the Italian Biodiversity Network
No full textPrimary biodiversity data are often organised in federated databases in the framework of big international projects and initiatives. Other data are normally organised into isolated resources: ecological, morphological and morpho-anatomic databases, checklists, archives of digital identification tools, etc. These data, which do not refer specifically to one specimen or observation, but to a taxon, can be addressed to as “taxon-related data”. In the framework of the Italian Biodiversity Network, taxon-related data have been aggregated by using a federated approach, with the creation of a network of data providers, which required the development of a communication protocol, the species-related data (SRD) protocol and of a simple data format (the SRD format). The SRD federated database aggregates currently ca. 70,000 taxon pages for several groups of organisms: vascular plants, lichens, mosses, algae, freshwater fishes and butterflies. All these resources can be queried by using one simple interface in the web portal of the Italian Biodiversity Network (http://www.naturaitalia.it/nnb/)
From a textual checklist to an information system: the case study of ITALIC, the Information System on Italian Lichens
No full textChecklists are fundamental for accessing information about organisms known to occur in a given area. Nowadays, it is possible to convert textual, paper-printed checklists, into structured digital formats. This process can eventually lead to the development of digital information systems, which output can be far more complex than a lists of taxa. Digital information systems can be continuously updated by a constant flow of information, and their content can be exported in many other different formats, hence not only mobilising, but also making biodiversity data reusable on different platforms. The conversion of the Checklist of Italian Lichens into an information system is discussed, in order to provide some general guidelines of such a process
Procedimento per il riconoscimento di oggetti classificabili, quali organismi vegetali oanimali, minerali od altro
No full textThe distribution of the two chemical varieties of the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea in Italy
No full textThe Italian distribution of the two chemical varieties of the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea (var. ceratea with olivetoric acid and var. furfuracea without olivetoric acid) is studied on the basis of 329 samples. Var. furfuracea is most common in the beech belt, under humid climate conditions, var. ceratea in more continental areas, such as the subalpine belt of the Alps. Differences in substrata depend on the presence of different trees in humid and continental areas
Testing the predictivity of ecological indicator values. A comparison of real and 'virtual' relevés of lichen vegetation
No full textA complex database on the lichens of Italy was used to combine ecological indicator values assigned to each species (pH, eutrophication, light and aridity), in such a way as to simulate 'virtual habitats' from a beech forest of northern Italy. For each habitat, a list of species was obtained ('virtual releve'). A matrix of real and virtual releves was submitted to classification and ordination, obtaining six main community-types, all of which include both real and virtual releves. Two ordinations of species were carried out, one on the matrix of real releves, the other on that of virtual releves: their comparison shows that the consistency and the resolving power of the indicator values was high, but it also permits to detect and correct some errors. The results indicate a high predictivity of the indicator values for constructing ecological scenarios
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