Database & Website ‘Buffet’

1. ASU Lichen Herbarium Database

2. ASU Lichen Herbarium Website

3. ABLS Lichen Exchange

4. The Species Analyst (Kansas)

5. Collections Query Website

ASU Lichen Herbarium Database

• MS Access Front-end SQL Server Back-end

• 57,933 specimen records, ~ 90,000 estimated

• 216 type collections, 2459 exsiccati collections

• 7390 localities, most with coordinates

• collection dates from 1836 to present

• special collections from Europe and USA

Herbarium Database Outputs

http://www.speciesanalyst.net

Collections Query Website

• SIMPLE & EASY to use

• Audience: taxonomists

• Integration of fundamentally similar collections databases

• Preserve the identities of database owners

• Provide security for sensitive data

Images of Herbarium Specimens

Future Directions for Collections Query

• Mapping tool (prototype almost complete)

• More flexible queries (SQL vs. XPath, XQuery & XML)

• Different web applications for different audiences using the same set of query tools (JavaBeans)

• Thinking about scalability and interdisciplinary connectivity during design

• Integrate a universal taxonomy database to facilitate resolution of synonyms & higher order taxonomy

• Integrate character databases for ‘virtual floras’

• Integrate a spatial thesaurus