Demonstration of the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN)

VASCAN demonstration Peter Desmet & Luc BrouilletConsortium of Northeastern Herbaria meeting - June 2011

About VASCAN• VASCAN is the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada – A checklist of all vascular plants from Canada, Greenland & Saint Pierre and Miquelon – Mainly literature-based• Content – Scientific names – English & French vernacular names – Distribution & distribution status – Classification & hybrid parents – Habit – Sources• Officially launched on December 10, 2010

About VASCAN• Pioneered the use of Darwin Core Archives using the GBIF GNA Profile.• Test case for peer reviewed publication of data papers through GBIF IPT and Pensoft (PhytoKeys).• Published under Creative Commons (CC-BY-SA) – You are free to use, share & remix – You must attribute us & share under the same/similar license• Brouillet, L., F. Coursol, M. Favreau, M. Anions, P. Bélisle & P. Desmet. 2010+ VASCAN, the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada.• data.canadensys.net/vascan

Names• Scientific names (21942) – 9891 accepted – 12051 synonyms• English vernacular names (20490) – 6895 accepted – 13595 alternatives• French vernacular names (10044) – 6212 accepted – 3832 alternatives• Sources

Name URL• data.canadensys.net/vascan/name/yourname – Accepted scientific name → accepted taxon – Synonym scientific name → accepted taxon + redirect message – Vernacular name→ accepted taxon + redirect message – Non-unique name → disambiguation page• Can be used to link from your DB / Spreadsheet (concatenate)

Distribution• 16 regions• 7 distribution statuses – Native – Introduced – Ephemeral – Excluded – Extirpated – Doubtful – Absent• Sources• Stored for lowest taxa (6507) and calculated for higher taxa

Classification• Classification – APG III, 2009 (flowering plants) – Smith et al., 2006 (ferns) – Chase & Reveal, 2009 (higher taxonomy)• Hybrid parents• Sources

Habit• Habit in Canada – Herb – Shrub – Tree – Vine• Primary & secondary habit• Stored for lowest taxa (6507) and calculated for higher taxa

Name search• Search for scientific and vernacular names• Dropdown menu → quick link to a name page• Full search → all results for a search string

Checklist builder• Create your own checklist• Selection criteria: – Groups – Habit – Regions – Combination – Distribution status• Display criteria: – Ranks – Display hybrids – Sort

Download• Darwin Core Archive – For checklists & entire dataset – Taxa – Distribution – Vernacular names – Habit• Text file – Checklist as a tab-delimited file• Print page – Checklist & taxon page without clutter• We encourage you to use the data!

Feedback• Click the feedback button from any page• Enter a data or interface issue – All issues are tracked with Google Code (Google account required to enter an issue, but not to view them) – code.google.com/p/canadensys/issues/• Updates and news regarding VASCAN: – Twitter: @canadensys – Canadensys group: groups.google.ca/group/canadensys

Explore data.canadensys.net/vascan

Demonstration examples• Name search – Hybrid parents (Acer – Full search (maple) ×freemanii) – Dropdown (maple white) • Checklist builder• Name page – Selection criteria: Acer + in all off + Central + – Disambiguation Native – Name URL (Acer negundo – Display criteria: species + var. negundo) alphabetical – Redirect to accepted – Download as text file• Taxon page • About – Distribution (list view) – Classification (Acer) – Calculated distribution

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Demonstration of the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN)

by Peter Desmet on Nov 02, 2011

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Demonstration of the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN) — Presentation Transcript