The AnArchive Project
The project An Archive for Botanical Data uses open-source
software and is designed for institutions and individuals (both
professionals and amateurs) to archive, retrieve and publish botanical
data on the web or on a local network. At the first stage it was a
collaborative project between the herbaria of the Universities of
Perugia, Camerino and Siena.
The Project includes several inter-dependent sections and
supports applications that focus on:
- Taxonomy: A taxonomic master list can be managed; powerful
tools are provided to handle complex taxonomic nomenclature, including
synonymy (also pro parte cases), hybrids, etc. The master list is printable.
- Herbarium management: The system facilitates daily management
of a herbarium including bar coding of specimens, loans, online search
and the like, following the procedures described by The Herbarium
Handbook published by the Herbarium of the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens
(Bridson D. and Forman L., Eds., 1998, 3rd edition).
- Flora: Data on the distribution of floristic records linked
to herbaria and/or to published sources can be managed and
distribution maps produced in any of the pre-defined mapping schemes.
- VegItaly (vegetation): Phytosociological relevés and accompanying
topographical, ecologic and structural data can be stored and managed
by the system. The results of queries are returned in html or
text-file format with tab-delimited fields that can be exported for
further use in statistical or other data-exploration analyses and for
printing.
The system is based on open-source software (mainly Tomcat and PostgreSQL)
and standard XML technology. It can be installed
on any current UNIX, PC or Mac platform. Software such as archiver
(serving the management of taxonomic lists and archiving
data from registered users into personal or shared data bases) can be
used as well. the application is written in Java and run on various
platforms (Linux, Mac OSX, Windows), Access is free for public data and
any browser ( Mozilla, Safari, Chrome, Opera, Explorer...) can be used.
An Archive for Botanical Data is a collaborative Project.
Colleagues interested in the Project are encouraged to use the
software, and are invited to collaborate in testing the system,
developing software and providing comments.
Reference documentation:
Lucarini D., Gigante D., Landucci F., Panfili E., Venanzoni R. 2015.
The anArchive taxonomic Checklist for Italian botanical data banking and vegetation analysis: theoretical basis and advantages.
Plant Biosyst., 149(6): 958-965.
Gigante D., Acosta A.T.R., Agrillo E., Attorre F., Cambria V.E., Casavecchia S.,
Chiarucci A., Del Vico E., De Sanctis M., Facioni L., Geri F., Guarino R., Landi S.,
Landucci F., Lucarini D., Panfili E., Pesaresi S., Prisco I., Rosati L., Spada F., Venanzoni R., 2012.
VegItaly: Technical features, crucial issues and some solutions.
Plant Sociology, 49(2): 69-80.
Landucci F., Acosta A.T.R., Agrillo E., Attorre F., Biondi E., Cambria V.E.,
Chiarucci A., Del Vico E., De Sanctis M., Facioni L., Geri F., Gigante D., Guarino R.,
Landi S., Lucarini D., Panfili E., Pesaresi S., Prisco I., Rosati L., Spada F., Venanzoni R., 2012.
VegItaly: The Italian collaborative project for a national vegetation database.
Plant Biosystems, 146(4): 756-763.
Venanzoni R., Landucci F., Panfili E., Gigante D., 2012.
Toward an Italian national vegetation database: VegItaly.
In: Dengler J. et al. [Eds.]: Vegetation databases for the 21st century.
Biodiversity & Ecology, 4: 185-190.
