The plant species entity contains taxonomic, morphological, and ecological ("ecomorphic") data for each species of plant. In addition to the Data-Entry Authorization section, each species entry must be associated with at least one reference (which requires the fields ref.author_1 and ref.date). See Reference Data Fields.
Required fields for a plant species consist of:
Genus psp.genus Species psp.species Unique field psp.unf Data Coordinator sau.coordinator Data Authorizer sau.authorizerHigher taxonomic information should be supplied for any genus that is new to the database. Later entries of congeneric species will be automatically supplied with the higher taxonomic information by the software, so it is not necessary to provide it in these cases. The taxonomic classifications used for plant species in the ETE database were obtained primarily from The Plant-Book (Mabberley, 1989).
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 4 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Existence and nature of observed anti-predation devices -- vertebrate, invertebrate, both, or none.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.anti_pred
ALLOWED VALUES
Explanation inv anti-invertebrate defenses none vert anti-vertebrate defenses v/i both kinds of defenses
DATA TYPE
A real number (with optional decimal point).
DESCRIPTION
The inferred average canopy height for the species, in meters.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.canopy_ht
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 30 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
The Linnean class to which the species belongs.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.class
ALLOWED VALUES
Anthocerotopsida Bryopsida Cladoxylopsida Cooksoniopsida Dicotyledons Lycopsida Marchantiopsida Monocotyledons Progymnospermopsida Psilopsida Pteropsida Rhyniopsida Spermatopsida Sphenopsida Trimerophytopsida Zosterophyllopsida
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 1 character in length.
DESCRIPTION
The existence or not of clonal growth for the species.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.clonal_grwth
ALLOWED VALUES
n y
DATA TYPE
Character field not exceeding 255 characters.
DESCRIPTION
Each time a species is added to the database, the Data-Entry Authorization section (see the Overview) must be filled out. The same thing occurs whenever the data for the species are updated. Included in this part of the data fields is a comment field. Include here reservations about certain data, explanations of what some inferences were based on, what references were used for what data, and other miscellaneous useful comments on your work in preparing the data for entry. Be brief!
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
sau.comment
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A real number (with optional decimal point).
DESCRIPTION
The estimate of conductivity capability for fossil wood, given by the formula below. Conductivity capability (C) describes the amount of water that can be transported, and represents the water needs of a plant. It is calculated as:
where r = the mean or average vessel radius and D = the mean or average number of vessels per mm2. See Wolfe and Upchurch (1987).
According to Wolfe and Upchurch, "the highest C values are typically found in large trees. Indeed, C values >200 are found almost exclusively in medium-sized or large trees, and C values >500 are known only in large trees. These relations prevail in woody plants of both humid and dry habitats."
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.conductance
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A character field not exceeding 25 characters. MANDATORY FIELD.
DESCRIPTION
The name of the member of a research group who authorizes the entry of information into the database. This may or may not be the same as the Data Coordinator. It is intended that the currently empowered Authorizers be a small and restricted set of research group members who work closely with the database. Their job is to certify that the data prepared by the Data Coordinator(s) meet the current standards for scientific accuracy and have been entered logically. They are also responsible for catching major errors of a scientific nature, inconsistencies, and misunderstandings on the part of whoever filled out the datasheet. No datasheet can be entered without an Authorizer.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
sau.authorizer
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A character string not exceeding 25 characters. MANDATORY FIELD.
DESCRIPTION
The data for each entity are prepared by or under the supervision of a particular researcher (or group of researchers). This (these) person(s) is designated the Data Coordinator, and is the primary source of the information and is responsible for its accuracy. Data Coordinators may or may not also be Data Authorizers. Data Coordinators possess such rights over the data as the Consortium has decided in its general policy on the subject. Briefly, for entities designated as "private", the Data Coordinator's data are treated as a collection that the Data Coordinator is actively working on. Thus, the Data Coordinator must be consulted/informed when other researchers use the data in some project intended for publication. The Data Coordinator may deny permission for such use. The Data Coordinator may initially or at a later time designate the status of a species or locality as "public". In this case, the data become "public domain" and can be used by anyone with access privileges to the database, for any purpose, without informing or obtaining permission from the Data Coordinator. The Consortium has established a time period (5 years from date of entry or last modification) after which data of a particular entity will convert to "public" status, unless there are compelling reasons to retain private status.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
sau.coordinator
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 9 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
The characteristic distribution of the remains of this species in the deposits in which it is found (not necessarily in the original plant community that the fossil record sampled). The usual mode of occurrence should be specified.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.distrib
ALLOWED VALUES
clumped dispersed
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 20 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
The Linnean division to which the species belongs. Divisions are listed below.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.division
ALLOWED VALUES
Explanation Angiosperms Bryophyta bryophyta Charophyta chara; CaCO3 secreting algae Chlorophyta green algae Chrysophyta diatoms Embryophyta Euglenophyta euglenoids Fungi Phaeophyta brown algae Polysporangiophyta Protracheophyta Pyrrophyta dinoflagellates Rhodophyta red algae Tracheophyta vascular plants
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 18 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
A field describing the morphological features of the species that indicate adaptations involving evapotranspiration.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.evapotrans
ALLOWED VALUES
dimorph_meso-hygro dimorph_xero-meso hygromorphic mesomorphic xeromorphic
DATA TYPE
A character field not exceeding 30 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
The Linnean family to which the species belongs. It should, as usual, begin with an upper-case letter.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.family
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A character field not exceeding 30 characters in length. MANDATORY FIELD.
DESCRIPTION
The generic name of the species. It should, as usual, begin with an upper-case letter. Exception: Generic names may also be given as "cf." followed by a generic name, or the entries "gen." or "indet."
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.genus
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 9 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Inferred growth rate of the species.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.growth_rate
ALLOWED VALUES
fast medium slow very_fast very_slow
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 15 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
A description of the nature of leaf dissection.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.leaf_dissect
ALLOWED VALUES
palmately_cmpd pinnately_cmpd pinnatifid simple simple_palmate simple_pinnate
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 8 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
A description of leaf-margin morphology.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.leaf_margin
ALLOWED VALUES
drip_tip entire lobed lobed+th toothed
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 10 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
The leaf-size class of the species.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.leaf_size
ALLOWED VALUES
macrophyll megaphyll mesophyll microphyll nanophyll notophyll
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 12 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Inferred life form of the species.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.life_form
ALLOWED VALUES
Explanation cespitose or tufted decumbent base parallel to ground, tip ascending emerg_aquat emergent aquatic epiphyte float_aqu ground_cover herb herb_liana parasite perenn_herb perennial herb procumbent aerial axes arising from a creeping axis, not rooted at nodes prostrate aerial axis arising from a creeping axis, rooted at nodes semi_self_su semi-self-supporting shrub small_tree tree <5 m tree woody_liana
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 21 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Inferred lifespan-class for the species.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.lifespan
ALLOWED VALUES
annual long_liv_perennial monocarpic short_liv_perennial
DATA TYPE
A real number (optional decimal point).
DESCRIPTION
The average diameter of the main axis of a plant in centimeters.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.axis
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A character field not exceeding 30 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
The Linnean order to which the species belongs. It should, as usual, begin with an upper-case letter.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.lorder
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 16 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Fossil plant taxa often refer only to one or more organs, rather than whole plants. In order to preserve this information we allow the listing of those organs to which a particular species name refers. Any or all of the choices below may be included as a list for the species.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
porg.organ
ALLOWED VALUES
axis b_cone b_inflorescence f_cone fertile_axis f_inflorescence flower fruit gametophyte infructescence leaf m_cone megasporangium megaspore microsporangium microspore m_inflorescence pollen root seed sporangium spore wood
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 9 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Inferred phenology.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.phenology
ALLOWED VALUES
deciduous evergreen
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 20 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Pollen attributes.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.pol_agg
ALLOWED VALUES
monad other
DATA TYPE
A real number (with optional decimal point).
DESCRIPTION
Pollen size in micrometers.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.pol_size
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 20 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Pollen attributes.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.pol_surf
ALLOWED VALUES
sculptured smooth
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 6 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Inferred pollen vector.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.pol_vector
ALLOWED VALUES
animal water wind
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 1 character in length.
DESCRIPTION
Is there evidence of predation? Details can be briefly entered in the Comment field.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.predation
ALLOWED VALUES
n y
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 11 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
The mechanism inferred for seed dispersal.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.seed_dispers
ALLOWED VALUES
endo-animal exo-animal none water wind
Mean seed size for the species, expressed in three fields -- length, width, and "height" as a third dimension.
DATA TYPE
A real number (with optional decimal point) in each field.
DESCRIPTION
Seed size, expressed as estimated mean seed length, seed width and seed height (mm). All three measures do not have to be specified; ultimately, the point of having the complete (orthogonal) three would be for calculation of estimated seed volume. However, only one or two measures may be available. The best convention would be to enter the longest seed dimension as length, and (if available) the second largest as width, and the third as height.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.sdl, psp.slw, psp.sdh
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
An integer.
DESCRIPTION
The average number of seeds per diaspore.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.sds_s_diasp
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
An integer.
DESCRIPTION
Seed size class to which the species' seeds belong. Size classes are those of Baker (1972).
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.sd_size_cl
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A character field not exceeding 30 characters in length. MANDATORY FIELD.
DESCRIPTION
The species name of the species. It is always entirely in lower case. Species may also be recorded as "sp.", "indet.", or preceded by "cf." to indicate different levels of uncertainty in assignment. These three strings are the only ones that the graphical interface recognizes as alternatives to Linnean names. "sp." implies that it is known that this is a new or separate species, but that it currently has no formal taxonomic name; use "indet." for a species that is not identifiable at the species level. "cf." is to indicate any of the many tentative assignments (including "aff.", "near", ? species, etc.). "cf." entries always are recorded as separate species, not as instances of the referred species.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.species
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 7 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
A measure of the relative cost of sporophyte production, or the proportion of energy put into reproduction. Its units are degrees of "r" or "K" - ness, with "r+" indicating a strong r-strategist and "K+" a strong K-strategist.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.sporophyte_s
ALLOWED VALUES
K+ K- r+ r- r-K unknown
DATA TYPE
A predefined character string not exceeding 15 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
Every species or locality record in the Database at any moment is assigned a status, which indicates the level of access permitted to that record. Currently, the value "public" indicates that the record is essentially "public domain" and will be made available without restriction in the public domain version of the ETE Database. The value "private" indicates that the record will be accessible only to those researchers who have access to the ongoing working database. Records will ordinarily be entered with "private" status until the members of the Project (q.v.) that has generated them releases them to the public. The Data Coordinator (q.v.) for each record is ultimately responsible for any changes of its status. Additional values for status may eventually be added if it becomes necessary to specify in finer detail the access level of an entity.
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.status
ALLOWED VALUES
private public
DATA TYPE
A character field not exceeding 30 characters in length.
DESCRIPTION
At times the occurrences of the same species at different localities will still differ in some ecologically meaningful way. For example, the same named species may be of substantially different size in different fossil localities. In order to record the size appropriate to each locality, one must somehow separate the two species occurrences -- as if they were two separate species. At other times, adequate identifications may be unavailable, or systematic work needs to be done, such that the best one can do is to identify to some higher taxon (e.g., Somegenus sp.). In such a case, "Somegenus sp." is what the computer will search on when a species list is entered. But there may be many undescribed species of Somegenus, each different in ecologically meaningful ways, and found in a variety of localities. Yet, they all have the same generic and specific name as far as the computer is concerned. They need to be treated individually.
The unique field is the way to do this. In addition to Genus and Species, this field is also searched when a species name is input as part of a species list. In effect, the ETE Database uses "trinomial" designations for its "species". Thus, to separate occurrences of Somegenus, all one has to do is to specify an entry in the unique field. It might be a letter or a number, or an abbreviation for a locality, or any string of 30 characters or fewer that will serve to identify it uniquely. Remember that other people might be working with Somegenus as well, so naming a species "Somegenus sp. A" (i.e., the unique field = "A") might inadvertently identify it incorrectly as another one already in the database. One fairly safe solution would be to include some kind of locality, regional, or temporal designations within the 30-character string -- increasing the probability that the unique field will really be unique.
Data Coordinators must keep track of their own usages and assignments using this field, and they should become aware of the ways in which the species (or close relatives) that they are working with may have already been entered by other workers. The computer cannot sort out a nomenclatural mess where two different things have been given the same name by mistake. On the other hand, excessive use of the unique field, resulting in a situation where all or most occurrences of a species are distinguished as unique, should also be avoided. This is surely unnecessary, takes up valuable storage space, and can also become confusing to other workers.
There are, however, a number of common situations that require the use of the unique field for a plant species. These include cases where some plant species lack a formal taxonomic name, although they can still be traced from locality to locality. In order to preserve this distribution information, it is recommended that information connoting the uniqueness of the species be entered into the unique field associated with the taxonomic data. The following unique field identifier is recommended as a standard to be used for the plant species unique field so that each will be given unique labels: [locality name][year of publication][first initial(s) of last name(s) of author(s)][plate and figure number(s)]. The format for denoting plate and figure numbers is p##f## where p=plate, f=figure and ##=numbers/letters of plate figure. It is important to remember that this unique designator should retain its significance for an unnamed species. Therefore, a person collecting information for the database should check other referenced localities for unnamed species to determine if a unique designator is needed or if the species has already been referenced with another unique name. (Note: When a specimen has not been published, the standard museum abbreviation and the specimen number substitute for the author name, year of publication, and plate and figure numbers.)
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.unf
ALLOWED VALUES
Any
DATA TYPE
An real number (optional decimal point).
DESCRIPTION
The vulnerability value for fossil wood. It is calculated as
where d = mean vessel diameter, and D = mean number of vessels/mm2. See Carlquist (1978), Wolfe and Upchurch (1987).
INTERNAL TABLE.FIELD NAMES
psp.vulnerable
ALLOWED VALUES
Any