Dynamic Species Lists

A typical problem with printed floras that cover extensive geographic regions is that their large species coverage leads to a resource that is difficult to navigate, with dichotomous keys so complex, they are useful to only well-trained botanists. It would be extremely beneficial to be able to rip apart a printed flora and quickly rearrange the text to cover only the immediate area of interest. Virtual flora environments have the benefit of being able to geographically subdivide flora into numerous smaller floras. These more manageable local floras usually succeed at reducing the overall complexity of the resource, though coverage can be limited when only a small portion of the greater area is covered by the floristic research. Due to the wealth of georeferenced specimen data that has become available over the last decade, we now have the ability to create species lists for any well-collected geographic area. The user can use specimen distribution data to exclude species that have never been collected within the area of interest and create a custom virtual flora that is far more manageable to navigate even for those lacking the extensive botanical training that the larger floras require.

Custom species lists are created using the specimen search engine and rendering the results in the checklist format. To exemplify this, the first link below will dynamically open the search engine in the checklist display mode for Tumamoc Hill located near downtown Tucson, AZ. Note that as the default, the taxonomy of these lists are not immediately resolved. If two specimens are filed within the collections under synonyms of the same species (e.g. Berberis repens, Mahonia repens), both names will occur on the list. Selecting a taxonomic filter from the pulldown will resolve these taxonomic discrepancies and present the results as a unique list.

The Dynamic Key Builder uses the same concept to dynamically build an identification key for any specific locality as chosen by the user. Upon panning, zooming and clicking a on a point within a Google map, specimen data is analyzed to generate an identification key for the species collected within that immediate area. If the area is determined to be poorly collected, a larger radius will be sampled in an effort to generate as complete list as possible. Use the link below to gain firsthand experience on how this identification key works within SEINet region.

Dynamic species for Tumamoc Hill
SEINet Dynamic Key Builder

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