Species checklist needs to be a taxon checklist (incl. subsp., var., f. etc.)

[ryonen]

This issue concerns the species checklist download, which is a fantastic summary of the species in an area, but fails to deliver the data that is needed – i.e. all the TAXA in the area. There is a massive loss of information in stripping the names back to Genus + species, and discarding subspecies and varieties. These are actual taxa and should be listed. In many cases there will be more than one infrataxon in the area that is being explored, and in some cases one of those infrataxa will be listed as Threatened while the other will not have a conservation listing. By not including both names in the download, this hugely important information is lost to people who use ALA and AVH to prepare for on-ground surveys.

Here’s an example:

In avh-test I performed a search on the Coolgardie IBRA region, which brought up 60,826 records: http://avh-test.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=cl1048%3ACoolgardie

Among these are X records of Eucalyptus crucis subsp. crucis (Threatened Flora) and Y records of E. crucis subsp. lanceolata (not conservation listed). The species checklist (attached) just lists E. crucis. Within just this IBRA region are another two examples of there being a rare and a not rare pair of infrataxa (in Cyphanthera odgersii and Verticordia plumosa).

Surely a checklist should contain all the taxa? Why isn’t it populated with Scientific names (that include the full infraspecific classification) instead of Species names?

Cheers!

[adam-collins]

The download url facets parameter be changed from species_guid to taxon_concept_lsid to achieve this. Also use count instead of counts.

http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/occurrences/facets/download?file=taxon_concept_lsid&q=cl1048%3ACoolgardie&qc=data_hub_uid:dh9&facets=taxon_concept_lsid&lookup=true&count=true&lists=true

[ryonen]

Thanks Adam - so, will that change be implemented by you guys?

[ryonen]

Hi - could someone please let me know the outcome of this? Is this a change that ALA is making, or is it expected that the user modifies the URL (which is outside most user's skill set)? I noted yesterday that both the Species checklist and the Field guide I generated both still return only species-level taxa, which was problematic because a number of species had >1 subspecies occurring in the polygon area and this was not being shown in the data download. Related to: AtlasOfLivingAustralia/biocache-service#740 where the issue is expanded, because individual subspp./vars. that have a conservation status are not being shown as separate entities. That issue also updated today.