Diversity Collection

Scope of DiversityCollection within the Diversity Workbench

DiversityCollection is part of the database framework DiversityWorkbench. Within this framework the application DiversityCollection is confined to the management of specimens in scientific collections. In this context it is designed to document any action concerning the collection, storage, exchange and treatment of specimens in a collection and is also appropriate to store observation data. DiversityCollection is distinguished from other collection management systems by its focus on biological relations between organisms collected together as one or more specimens (e.g. host, parasite and hyperparasite, symbionts etc.). Any module within the Diversity Workbench is focused on a specific data domain. DiversityCollection keeps only data connected with the handling of collection specimens and observations. Data of other realms like e.g. taxonomy are handled in separate modules. For an overview of the available modules see the image below. DiversityCollection might also be used as a stand-alone application.

Outline

The central entity in DiversityCollection is the Specimen. It represents the observed or collected ’thing’ which my be e.g. a plant, an animal, a fossil or a mineral. The gathering of an specimen happens in an event. For each specimen detailed descriptions of place can be recorded. For most specimens only a part. The specimen is or contains one or more objects which are organisms, minerals, etc. and are called units or organisms in DiversityCollection. The taxonomic identification is based on the unit-level. A unit can strech over several parts and a part can contain serveral units.

Data managment sectors of the application

Sector	Description
Series	An expedition, monitoring or similar that include the collection event or observations at single spots
Event	The site of e.g. an observation or the spot where specimen had been collected during e.g. an expedition.
Localisation	Localisation of an observation or collection site
Site Property	Properties of e.g. a collection site like the type of the habitat
Collecting Method	Methods used for the observation or collection of specimen
Specimen	Observed or collected specimen like those collected during a collection event
Collector	The observers or collectors of specimen
Objects	The objects like taxa or minerals observed or collected
Identification	Identifications of the organisms, minerals etc.
Analysis	Any analysis applied to characterize the objects
Analysis methods	The methods that have been used to analyze the objects
Part	The parts of a collected specimen that are stored e.g. as herbarium sheets in a collection
Collection	The collection where the collected objects are stored
Processing	Processing applied to the parts of a specimen
Processing methods	Methods that have been used for the processing
Transaction	Actions like sending specimen as a loan to another collection
Project	The projects that a specimen is a part of
Images	Can be taken for the EventSeries, the CollectionEvent, the CollectionSpecimen as well as organisms and parts of a specimen.
References	The references related to a specimen, organism, identification or part of a specimen.

Usage example

The image below gives an overview of some typical data depicted in DiversityCollection together with the symbols used throughout the program. In this example a herbarium sheet, which contains a plant collected during a expedition, is identifed and analysed. The herbarium sheet is lend to another collection where a DNA sample is extracted. All this information about the specimen, the storage, treatment and derived information is stored in DiversityCollection:

A typical specimen may have been collected at a CollectionEvent during an expedition. . The site of the CollectionEvent may be localized and characterized and methods have been used. The collectors collected twigs of the plant and fungi growing on the plants.
The organisms on the specimen were identified several times and analysed where methods have been used.
The collected samples are stored as herbarium sheets and specimens in a collection. .
The manager sent some of the samples for which he had a request from a requester to another collection.
The samples were collected as part of a project .
Certain parts were cultivated and DNA extracted which was processed where methods have been used.
Images were taken for the EventSeries, the CollectionEvent, the CollectionSpecimen as well as organisms and part of this specimen.