Scientific Names and Descriptions for Organisms on the Semantic Web
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Authors
Wilson, Nathan
Wang, Han
McGuinness, Deborah L.
Issue Date
2012-11-12
Type
Language
Keywords
Semantic Vernaculars for Fungi
Alternative Title
Abstract
An efficient process for creating precise, accurate, machine-interpretable morpho- logical descriptions of groups of organisms is needed to more effectively gather observations of the world’s biodiversity. While morphological descriptions are required for the publication of modern scientific names, it is common for these descriptions to get revised after the initial pub- lication which can lead to data loss. A system for creating and naming machine-interpretable descriptions of groups of organisms, the Semantic Vernacular System, is proposed as a solu- tion for creating such descriptions and managing their relationship to formal scientific names while improving the collection of observational data.