Ramírez Martín J, Coddington Jonathan A, Maddison Wayne P, Midford Peter E, Prendini Lorenzo, Miller Jeremy, Griswold Charles E, Hormiga Gustavo, Sierwald Petra, Scharff Nikolaj, Benjamin Suresh P, Wheeler Ward C
Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia - CONICET, Avenida Angel Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, C1405DJR, Argentina.
Syst Biol. 2007 Apr;56(2):283-94. doi: 10.1080/10635150701313848.
Images are paramount in documentation of morphological data. Production and reproduction costs have traditionally limited how many illustrations taxonomy could afford to publish, and much comparative knowledge continues to be lost as generations turn over. Now digital images are cheaply produced and easily disseminated electronically but pose problems in maintenance, curation, sharing, and use, particularly in long-term data sets involving multiple collaborators and institutions. We propose an efficient linkage of images to phylogenetic data sets via an ontology of morphological terms; an underlying, fine-grained database of specimens, images, and associated metadata; fixation of the meaning of morphological terms (homolog names) by ostensive references to particular taxa; and formalization of images as standard views. The ontology provides the intellectual structure and fundamental design of the relationships and enables intelligent queries to populate phylogenetic data sets with images. The database itself documents primary morphological observations, their vouchers, and associated metadata, rather than the conventional data set cell, and thereby facilitates data maintenance despite character redefinition or specimen reidentification. It minimizes reexamination of specimens, loss of information or data quality, and echoes the data models of web-based repositories for images, specimens, and taxonomic names. Confusion and ambiguity in the meanings of technical morphological terms are reduced by ostensive definitions pointing to features in particular taxa, which may serve as reference for globally unique identifiers of characters. Finally, the concept of standard views (an image illustrating one or more homologs in a specific sex and life stage, in a specific orientation, using a specific device and preparation technique) enables efficient, dynamic linkage of images to the data set and automatic population of matrix cells with images independently of scoring decisions.
图像在形态学数据记录中至关重要。传统上，制作和复制成本限制了分类学能够负担出版的插图数量，随着世代更替，许多比较知识不断遗失。如今，数字图像制作成本低廉且易于通过电子方式传播，但在维护、管理、共享和使用方面存在问题，尤其是在涉及多个合作者和机构的长期数据集中。我们提议通过形态学术语本体将图像与系统发育数据集进行有效关联；建立一个底层的、细粒度的标本、图像及相关元数据数据库；通过对特定分类群的明示引用确定形态学术语（同源名称）的含义；并将图像形式化为标准视图。该本体提供了关系的知识结构和基本设计，并使智能查询能够用图像填充系统发育数据集。数据库本身记录主要的形态学观察结果、其凭证及相关元数据，而非传统的数据集单元格，从而即使在特征重新定义或标本重新识别的情况下也便于数据维护。它将标本的重新检查、信息或数据质量的损失降至最低，并与基于网络的图像、标本和分类学名称存储库的数据模型相呼应。通过指向特定分类群特征的明示定义减少了技术形态学术语含义中的混淆和歧义，这些定义可作为字符全球唯一标识符的参考。最后，标准视图的概念（一幅在特定性别和生活阶段、特定方向、使用特定设备和制备技术展示一个或多个同源物的图像）实现了图像与数据集的高效、动态关联，并能独立于评分决策用图像自动填充矩阵单元格。
