[eml-dev] taxonRankValue for species names

[Wade Sheldon]

Hi folks,

I've been working on an XSL that extracts selected content from an EML document to annotate parsed data sets in MATLAB, and I came across some inconsistencies in encoding of taxonomicCoverage elements for species names from different EML implementers. Specifically, some authors use the species binomial, and some do not, i.e.

with binomial:

<taxonomicClassification>
    <taxonRankName>Genus</taxonRankName>
    <taxonRankValue>Spartina</taxonRankValue>
    <taxonomicClassification>
       <taxonRankName>Species</taxonRankName>
       <taxonRankValue>Spartina alterniflora</taxonRankValue>
    </taxonomicClassification>
</taxonomicClassification>

vs.

without binomial:

<taxonomicClassification>
    <taxonRankName>Genus</taxonRankName>
    <taxonRankValue>Spartina</taxonRankValue>
    <taxonomicClassification>
       <taxonRankName>Species</taxonRankName>
       <taxonRankValue>alterniflora</taxonRankValue>
    </taxonomicClassification>
</taxonomicClassification>


When I first started producing EML back in 2003 I used the species name without genus, but Matt Jones and Dan Higgins suggested I use the species binomial instead. We also included that recommendation in the LTER EML best practices (http://im.lternet.edu/sites/im.lternet.edu/files/emlbestpractices-2.0-FINAL-20110801_0.pdf).

However, the normative docs for EML 2.1.1 (http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/eml-2.1.1/eml-coverage.html) seem to suggest the opposite approach:

"The name representing the taxonomic rank of the taxon being described. The values included may be referenced from an authoritative source such as the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)in the U.S. (http://www/itis.usda.gov) and in Canada (http://sis.agr.gc.ca/pls/itisca/taxaget). Also, Species2000 is another source of taxonomic information, found at (http://www.sp2000.org)
Example(s):
Acer would be an example of a genus rank value, and rubrum would be an example of a species rank value, together indicating the common name of red maple. It is recommended to start with Kingdom and include ranks down to the most detailed level possible."

For now I'm revising the XSL to check for species-only using a contains node test on a space character, but handling both cases is a pain considering the nesting, so it would be better to standardize on one approach.

Thoughts?

Wade Sheldon
GCE-LTER