About - Manual

Browse - Taxon Hierarchy




In this option, users are placed at the top level of the taxonomic hierarchy to view all Kingdoms. By default the user will browse the taxon hierarchy through all available categories containing all available taxa. By selecting Only Major Categories the user will have the option to browse using only major hierarchy categories (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species). The Only valid/accepted taxa option will limit the browse to taxa that are ITIS accepted. By selecting the Only taxa with images, the resulting list will contain only the categories that are currently populated with images.


By left-clicking on the name of the Kingdom, the tree is expanded to reveal all levels below that Kingdom. To the right of each name is a number which indicates the approximate number of images in that category along with several icons. If images are available, the camera icon appears. To view information about the particular name, users can select the information icon which will display additional information. The icon allows users with certain log-in permissions to enter an annotation concerning a taxon name in the database.



Continuing to left-click on subsequent scientific names will expose progressively lower levels of the hierarchy tree. Each level will contain the same screen options as listed above. Selecting the right arrow on the Taxon Hierarchy screen advances the tree to the next taxon level. The open, right facing arrow signifies that the tree can be expanded further by selecting the desired scientific name. If the downward arrow that has lower hierarchy levels exposed is selected, the list is collapsed to that arrow which becomes a right facing arrow . Click the arrow again to return to the previous state.
Note: The number of images shown beside the taxon names may not be the actual count. Image counts are updated periodically. Values that remain constant over several hours can be assumed to be accurate. Images just submitted may take time to publish so image(s) may not be immediately viewable but may be listed in the count.

Example: Browse - Images Page

: From the above Browse - Taxon hierarchy page, a list of images is displayed when the camera icon next to Epinephelus tauvina is selected.



Tag descriptions.
  1. Taxonomic serial number assigned to Epinephelus tauvina
  2. Select to advance to hierarchy tree or to the alphabetical list of all taxonomic names in morphbank
  3. The list of images for the species. In this case there are 10 images. If > 10, they will be displayed on multiple pages.
  4. Annotation , edit and information icons
Screen Use Tips: Use the check boxes (located left of the image id) to select images to add to a collection.

The number of hits displayed on each page can be designated and a user can advance to a specific page number by listing that page and selecting the go button). Keep in mind that the quantity of information requested to display per page will affect the speed at which that screen loads (i.e. requesting 100 records per page will take longer to load than the screen that has only 10 records to load.)

Selecting the information icon will display detailed information about the specimen. Other options such as annotate and edit will be available only for those authorized through login permissions. Any thumbnail image can be reproduced in its original format by selecting the [jpg] or [tif] option (images with other formats will list that option). Selecting the tree of life symbol will list the taxonomic hierarchy of the Taxon name.

Example: Browse - Itis Report



Displayed from Information Icon , Browse - Taxon Hierarchy page.

This taxonomic classification page is provided by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) database maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ITIS was selected as the taxonomic name server for morphbank in 2004 because it represented the most complete comprehensive taxonomic name service available at the time. Also, the entire database could be downloaded locally making access to the data quick and efficient.

ITIS is a consistent service. It has a high level of stability and a rigid review system. Since ITIS is maintained by the USDA, the probability that the service will be persistent for several years is high. Taxonomic names are entered into the system and panel of experts periodically review the names for quality assurance.

When a taxonomic Id has a value greater than [999000000] it is considered a temporary id. Temporary Ids are assigned to taxon names that have not been officially entered into the ITIS database.



Example: Single Show - Image Record



Displayed from the information icon on the Browse Images page. This page displays information unique to this image. Morphbank Single Show is an efficient way to display large amounts of information. For complete documentation on single show refer to Morphbank Show in the Information Linking section of this manual.




Next
Contents