OSUC Database Structure: Collecting-Unit Cluster
For the original ASC model, devoted to natural history collections,
the collecting-unit naturally formed the fundamental item of interest. This
idea has been somewhat expanded so as to incorporate more intangible constructs
such as observations. One way to look at this is that a Collecting_Unit (to
turn to the terminology subsequently used in our database) is something that
is capable of being completely defined. A specimen is a unique physical
entity. A more intellectual construct, such as a cladogram, could also fall
into this category since it can also be completely and uniquely defined
(presumably two identical cladograms are, in some sense, the same thing).
Our concept of an Unvouchered_Record is an item that involves more uncertainty.
For example, a beetle specimen may bear a label stating that it was collected
as it fed
upon sugar maple. The sugar maple tree is probably not in the herbarium (if
it were, it would be another Collecting_Unit with which the beetle specimen would
be associated); hence there is some uncertainty: it may, in fact have been
a red maple. The label data is a kind of unpublished document, but published
literature records fall into the same category if no voucher specimens exist.
Tables in Collecting-Unit Cluster
Last updated: 20 November, 1997 by nfj.