Electronic Field Guide: An Object Oriented WWW Database to Identify Species and Record Ecological Observations

电子实地指南(EFG)项目将提供一个可通过网络访问的面向对象的分布式数据库，用于从实地观察中鉴定生物标本。这些数据，包括分类学和环境或生态数据，将通过为每一次观察建立上下文来帮助识别。该数据库还将支持记录多个观测数据，以便能够利用这些数据进行更大规模的生态研究。该项目将补充传统的图书版式实地指南，并通过解决版式固有的某些问题来扩大它们的用途。这些问题包括准备工作的长时间滞后、生产费用以及通常出于经济考虑而需要的广泛的地理范围。EFG利用了电子格式固有的灵活性和更新的简易性。该项目将补充传统的图书版式实地指南，并通过解决版式固有的某些问题来扩大其用途。这些问题包括准备工作的长期滞后、生产费用以及通常出于经济考虑而需要的广阔的地理范围。EFG利用了电子格式固有的更新的灵活性和易用性。EFG将使用面向对象的数据库技术来提供机制，通过这些机制，生物学家可以扩展数据本身的描述，以包括他们认为适合于他们希望在数据库中的特定物种集合的生态和分类属性。基本描述将在《美国计算机协会生物采集参考模型》中规定。这些描述将允许多个EFG彼此连接或使用将被开发、测试和发布的协议连接到其他数据库。EFG软件设计严格地将数据模型与数据库和用户界面分开，从而支持用于不同研究和教育目的的数据的多种视图。演示这种分离是该项目的一个关键目标。最初，EFG将部署在哥斯达黎加蒙特韦尔德，记录其环境中的700种白蚁和3000种植物。将对照传统的以图书为基础的身份识别来评价检索数据库的效用。

The Electronic Field Guide (EFG) project will provide a web- accessible distributed object oriented database for the identification of biological specimens from field observations. The data, including both taxonomic and environmental or ecological data, wi ll aid in iden- tification by building a context for each observation. The database will also support the recording of multiple observations, so that larger-scale ecological studies can be carried o ut using the data. This project will complement the traditional book format field guides, and extend their utility by addressing certain problems inherent to the format. These prob-lems include long time lags in preparation, expense of production, and the broad geo-graphic scope usually necessitated by economic considerations. EFG exploits the flexibility and the ease of updating inherent to the electronic format. This project will complement the traditional book format field guides, and extend their utili ty by addressing certain problems inherent to the format. These problems include long time lags in preparation, expense of production, and the broad geographic scope usually necessitated by economic considerations. EFG exploits the flexibility and the eas e of updating inherent to the electronic format. EFG will use Object Oriented Database technology to provide mechanisms by which biol-ogists can extend the description of the data itself to include the ecological and taxonomic attributes they deem appropri ate to the particular collection of species they wish in the database. The underlying descriptions will be specified in the ACS Reference Model for Biological Collections. These descriptions will allow multiple EFGs to connect to one another or to other d atabases, using protocols which will be developed, tested and pub-lished. The EFG software design rigorously separates the data models from the database and from the user interface, thereby supporting multiple views of the data for differing research and e ducational purposes. Demonstration of this separation is a key goal of the project. Ini-tially, EFG will be deployed in Monteverde, Costa Rica, to record the 700 species of but- terflies and 3000 species of plants in their environment. The utility of the r esulting database will be evaluated in relation to traditional book-based identification.