LSIDs for Taxon Names: The ZooBank Experience
Richard Pyle
Abstract
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) has, for the past 112 years, set the rules by which scientific names for animals are established, as described in the ICZN Code of Nomenclature. In 2005, the ICZN Secretariat and Commissioners announced “ZooBank”, a proposed registry of zoological names and nomenclatural acts. The intention of ZooBank is to serve as a mechanism for making information about new and historical scientific animal names more available and accessible than by traditional means of information dissemination through paper-based publications. The complete implementation details of the ZooBank registry are currently being discussed, developed, and tested. The first step of the implementation process involves the creation of a prototype web site that will eventually mature into the full-blown ZooBank registration service.
The Bishop Museum in Honolulu has agreed to host the initial implementation of the ZooBank prototype. With financial support from TDWG/GBIF through ICZN, in partnership with Landcare Research (New Zealand), Bishop was able to establish a functioning resolver for Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs) and a content provider following the TDWG Access Protocol for Information Retrieval (TAPIR). LSIDs were assigned to a sample dataset of verified taxon names and literature citations from the Catalog of Fishes database. An LSID resolver service was set up on a Windows/IIS server using VB.NET code developed by Kevin Richards of Landcare Research. A TAPIR provider service was also implemented to return metadata associated with these LSIDs. LSIDs assigned to taxon names return metadata in accordance with the TDWG Taxon Name LSID Ontology, and LSIDs assigned to publication citations return metadata in accordance with the TDWG Publication Citation LSID Ontology.
A discussion of the implementation of these services, including alternate strategies for defining “taxon name objects” and associated implications, and the role of nomenclators for providing taxonomic services, will be provided.
The Bishop Museum in Honolulu has agreed to host the initial implementation of the ZooBank prototype. With financial support from TDWG/GBIF through ICZN, in partnership with Landcare Research (New Zealand), Bishop was able to establish a functioning resolver for Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs) and a content provider following the TDWG Access Protocol for Information Retrieval (TAPIR). LSIDs were assigned to a sample dataset of verified taxon names and literature citations from the Catalog of Fishes database. An LSID resolver service was set up on a Windows/IIS server using VB.NET code developed by Kevin Richards of Landcare Research. A TAPIR provider service was also implemented to return metadata associated with these LSIDs. LSIDs assigned to taxon names return metadata in accordance with the TDWG Taxon Name LSID Ontology, and LSIDs assigned to publication citations return metadata in accordance with the TDWG Publication Citation LSID Ontology.
A discussion of the implementation of these services, including alternate strategies for defining “taxon name objects” and associated implications, and the role of nomenclators for providing taxonomic services, will be provided.