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 for storing observation data. DiversityCollection is distinguished from other collection management systems by focusing on the biological relationships between organisms collected together as one or more specimens (e.g. host, parasite and hyperparasite, symbionts, etc.). Each module within the Diversity Workbench is focused on a specific data domain. DiversityCollection stores only data connected with the handling of collection specimens and observations. Data from other realms, such as taxonomy, are handled in separate modules. For an overview of the available modules, see the image below. DiversityCollection can 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 may be, for example, a plant, an animal, a fossil, or a mineral. The gathering of a specimen takes place 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 that are organisms, minerals, etc. and are called units or organisms in DiversityCollection. Taxonomic identification is based on the unit level. A unit can stretch over several parts, and a part can contain several units.

Data management sectors of the application

Sector	Description
Series	An expedition, monitoring or similar that involves the collection event or observations at single spots
Event	The location of an observation or the spot where a specimen was collected during, for example, 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 characterise the objects
Analysis methods	The methods that have been used to analyse the objects
Part	The parts of a collected specimen that are stored in a collection, e.g. as herbarium sheets
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 represented in DiversityCollection, along with the symbols used throughout the program. In this example, a herbarium sheet containing a plant collected during an expedition is identified and analysed. The herbarium sheet is loaned to another collection where a DNA sample is extracted. All this information about the specimen, its 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 can be localised and characterised 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 parts of this specimen.