1. Transition to taxon concepts from a world of legacy data --- R.K. Peet 1, A.S. Weakley 1,2, X. Liu 1,3, & N. Franz 4,5 1 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2 The North Carolina Botanical Garden 3 National Evolutionary Synthesis Center 4 National Center for Ecological Anal. & Synthesis 5 University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

2. Taxonomic database challenge The well-known problem: Integration of data from different times & places, by multiple investigators using varied taxonomic standards. The well-known solution: Identifications to taxon concepts that have mapped relationships to related concepts.

3. The good news: TDWG has embraced taxonomic concepts and adopted TCS. TDWG has embraced taxonomic concepts and adopted TCS. Multiple organizations are developing tools for concept use and integration. Multiple organizations are developing tools for concept use and integration. The challenge: Few large-scale compilations of concepts and their relationships are available. Few large-scale compilations of concepts and their relationships are available. Legacy data lacking concept annotation will be around forever. Legacy data lacking concept annotation will be around forever.

4. A Case Study: Flora of the Southeastern US 1. Regional floras were badly obsolete and incomplete 2. No flora covered the Atlantic SE 3. Ecological datasets with multiple taxonomic authorities and inconsistent taxonomic concepts defied integration 4. Need for an updated atlas of the flora of the Southeast 5. Good candidate for a demonstration

5. Critical SE floristic works 1.Weakley 2005. Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and Surrounding Areas 2.Small 1933. Manual of the southeastern flora 3.Fernald 1950. Gray's manual of botany 4.Gleason 1952. Britton and Brown illustrated flora 5.Radford, Ahles & Bell 1968. Manual of the vascular flora of the Carolinas 6.Gleason & Cronquist 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada 7.1993-2005. Flora of North America north of Mexico 8.Kartesz 1999. A synonymized checklist for the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland 9.Wofford 1989. Vascular Plants of the Blue Ridge 10.Godfrey & Wooton 1979. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southeastern United States 11.1980-1990. Vascular Flora of the Southeastern United States 12. Recent monographs and revisions (>2000)

6. Andropogon virginicus complex in the Carolinas 9 elemental units; 17 base concepts, 27 scientific names

7. Massive Import Scanned indices -- OCRScanned indices -- OCR Spreadsheets for preliminary concept documentationSpreadsheets for preliminary concept documentation Import into software tool for managing concepts and relationshipsImport into software tool for managing concepts and relationships

8. ConceptMapper Document and manage taxon concepts from multiple sourcesDocument and manage taxon concepts from multiple sources Document and manage concept relationships from multiple sourcesDocument and manage concept relationships from multiple sources Input data files as txt, xls, mdb, or TCS-XMLInput data files as txt, xls, mdb, or TCS-XML Export data as txt, mdb, or TCS-XMLExport data as txt, mdb, or TCS-XML http://152.2.14.231/conceptmapper/

9. Concept mapper

12. How have things changed? Concept relationships of Southeastern US plants treated in different floras. Based on > 50,000 concept relationships Based on > 50,000 concept relationships http://herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm http://herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm

13. Toward a new Atlas Carya carolinae-septentrionalis, Radford et al. 1968 How to integrate new sources of data?? http://herbarium.unc.edu/seflora/firstviewer.htm

14. Add dynamic access to NCU collection Carya carolinae-septentrionalis NCURAB

15. NCURABUSDACVS Add USDA PLANTS records & CVS vegetation plot data

16. But wait !! There is a concept issue According to Radford 1968, USDA PLANTS v 4.0, & Weakley 2005According to Radford 1968, USDA PLANTS v 4.0, & Weakley 2005 –Carya carolinae-septentrionalis –Carya ovata According to Stone 1997 in FNAAccording to Stone 1997 in FNA –Carya ovata var australis –Carya ovata var. ovata

17. How to merge records that may be based on different concepts?? Weakley 2005 – Reference conceptsWeakley 2005 – Reference concepts Radford 1968 – Concepts mappedRadford 1968 – Concepts mapped NC Heritage Program – Weakley conceptsNC Heritage Program – Weakley concepts CVS – Weakley concepts (mostly)CVS – Weakley concepts (mostly) USDA – Kartesz 1999 concepts (mostly)USDA – Kartesz 1999 concepts (mostly) NCU & NCSC – Nominal concepts onlyNCU & NCSC – Nominal concepts only Most museum collection identifications must be interpreted as nominal concepts!! To do otherwise would be to introduce false positives.

19. Carya carolinae-septentrionalis Some nominal occurrences might or might not represent the taxon

20. All specimens of Carya ovata must be identified to nominal concepts

21. Consider Cleistes Cleistes bifaria was split off C. divaricata after Radford et al. was published.Cleistes bifaria was split off C. divaricata after Radford et al. was published. Radford et al. records must be mapped as ambiguous.Radford et al. records must be mapped as ambiguous. Kartesz incorrectly maps all Cleistes in the Carolinas as C. divaricata owing to uncritical import of records from Radford.Kartesz incorrectly maps all Cleistes in the Carolinas as C. divaricata owing to uncritical import of records from Radford.

23. http://herbarium.unc.edu/seflora/firstviewer.htm

24. Other data are linked by name and concept

25. Specimens matching the name

26. ..\..\New Folder\Snap32.jpg Images matching the name

27. Community types with the concept

28. Link to Vegetation plots with the taxon

29. CategoryExplanation Original Appears in the reference where the new name/type association was established. Example: Andropogon virginicus L. sec. Linnaeus (1753). Revisional Appears in a comprehensive revision of an existing Taxonomic name and lineage, e.g. a monograph. Example: Andropogon virginicus L. sec. Campbell (1983). Relational Appears in a comprehensive compilation without descriptions); meaning may be inferred from the list of mutually exclusive concepts. Example: Andropogon virginicus L. sec. ITIS (2006). Informal Appears in a taxonomic treatment yet is poorly specified, being outside of the focal names and taxa. Example: Andropogon hallii Hackel sec. Weakley (2006). ( “ a Midwestern species ” ) Nominal Appears outside of the context of a particular source; indirectly links to all other concepts with the name. Example: Andropogon virginicus L. Types of Concepts

30. Objectives: Allow user to select date-specific version of Weakley.Allow user to select date-specific version of Weakley. Allow user to select a Weakley, PLANTS, or FNA perspective.Allow user to select a Weakley, PLANTS, or FNA perspective. Data needs: Map relationships to PLANTS v 4.0Map relationships to PLANTS v 4.0 Map relationships between PLANTS and FNAMap relationships between PLANTS and FNA Date-stamp changes in WeakleyDate-stamp changes in Weakley Next step? Multiple party perspectives

31. LinksConceptMapper http://152.2.14.231/conceptmapper/ Weakley flora http://herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm NCU Atlas of the SE flora http://herbarium.unc.edu/seflora/firstviewer.htmThanks NSF (SEEK, VegBank) & the NC Botanical Garden