What the hell is NSL?
Anna Monro & Anne Fuchs
ANBG Staff Awareness, 8 April 2015
Plant names: they’re everywhere
and they’re important...
Plant names: follow rules
Governed by internationallyagreed Codes
Plant names: follow rules
Governed by internationallyagreed Codes
Codes follow principles of:
 priority
- the earliest name should generally
be used
 stability
- limit disadvantageous name
changes
Process to name a new taxon or to provide a new name for
an existing taxon is via publication (hard-copy only until
2011; hard-copy or electronic until 2012)
Plant names: have structure & hierarchy
Achilleopsis densiflora Turcz., Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou 22(2): 10 (1849)
Genus
species
author
binomial
full scientific name
(includes author details)
1849
published reference
Plant names: change through time
Rulingia densiflora (Turcz.) Benth., Fl. Austral. 1: 241 (1863)
Genus
species
binomial
original
author
full scientific name
(includes author details)
1849
1863
combining
author
published reference
Plant names: change through time
Commersonia densiflora (Turcz.) F.Muell., Fragm. 10(82): 21 (1876)
Genus
species
binomial
original
author
full scientific name
(includes author details)
1849
1863
1876
combining
author
published reference
Plant names: change through time
Restiaria densiflora (Turcz.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 81 (1891)
Genus
species
binomial
original
author
combining
author
full scientific name
(includes author details)
1849
1863
1876
1891
Plant names: change through time
Achilleopsis densiflora Turcz. (1849)
Rulingia densiflora (Turcz.) Benth. (1863)
Commersonia densiflora (Turcz.) F.Muell. (1876)
Restiaria densiflora (Turcz.) Kuntze (1891)
One plant: four names, four authors, four references...
Plant names: change through time
One plant: four names, four authors, four references...
• How do I find out the full “history” of a taxon?
• How do I find out the currently-accepted
name of a taxon?
How do I find out the full “history” of a taxon?
The Australian Plant Name Index: a nomenclator
The Australian botanical community is well-served by access to the
Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), first published in hard-copy in
1991 and available online soon afterward.
APNI’s aim is to capture all the scientific names ever applied to Australian
plants, including native and naturalised taxa, and the details of the associated
references.
More recently APNI has begun to include other information, such as names
registered by the Australian Cultivar Registration Authority (ACRA).
How do I find out the currently-accepted name
of a taxon?
The Australian Plant Census: an agreed taxonomy
The Australian Plant Census (APC) project began in 2005
in response to the recognised need for a list of accepted
names for Australian plants.
APC’s aim is to organise all the scientific names ever
applied to Australian plants into a definitive and nationallyendorsed list of accepted names for native and
naturalised taxa.
Commersonia densiflora (Turcz.) F.Muell. (1876)
Achilleopsis densiflora Turcz. (1849)
Rulingia densiflora (Turcz.) Benth. (1863)
Restiaria densiflora (Turcz.) Kuntze (1891)
How do I find out the currently-accepted name
of a taxon?
The Australian Plant Census: an agreed classification
Plantae Haeckel
[kingdom]
Malvaceae Juss.
[family]
Commersonia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
[genus]
Commersonia densiflora (Turcz.) F.Muell. [species]
Achilleopsis densiflora Turcz.
Rulingia densiflora (Turcz.) Benth.
Restiaria densiflora (Turcz.) Kuntze
[synonyms]
The National Species Lists Project
(NSL)
The NSL project is concerned with capturing,
managing and presenting scientific and common
names for the Australian fauna and flora in all their
complexity.
NSL provides:
• An editing interface to allow capture of new data
and revision of existing data
• Web services to allow a single point of access to the
names in APNI, the Australian Faunal Directory
(AFD) and other existing nomenclators
AusMoss
data
ABRS
lichen data
APNI data
(vascular plants,
liverworts, hornworts)
Web Services and
Output
Editing Interface
Interactive
Catalogue of
Australian Fungi
data
Australian
Faunal
Directory
data (copy)
AMANI
(Australian
Marine Algal
Name Index)
And many
more...
Using the NSL/ANHSIR/LC/APII
https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services
Rulingia densiflora as an example
If you have old links bookmarked they will automatically transfer
you to the new web pages
(if they don’t work report them to the NSL team…)
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Search – uses type ahead
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Results of APNI search for Rulingia densiflora
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Results of APC search for Rulingia densiflora
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Following link to Commersonia densiflora …
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
How does this relate to the Living Collection and ANHSIR…
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
See the linkage between ANHSIR and LC
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
There is also stock as Commersonia densiflora
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
APNI search result for Commersonia densiflora
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Following the link to APII
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
… and to APII details
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
And back into the Living Collection
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
NSL – ANHSIR – LC - APII
Rulingia densiflora
Commersonia densiflora
Names are
adopted into each
system in their
own timeframe
APNI/APC/NSL
ANHSIR
Living Collection
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
APII
How can you use the NSL?
To get a list of species in a genus
To find literature about a name
Cite or link to a name
To get the results for a list of names
Get the results in different formats ie. xml, json – these
are formats that can be used by other programs
Embed links into web pages and have results display
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
List of species in a genus
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Copy/paste the link to cite/use this instance
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Check a list of names – type or copy/paste them in
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Getting results in a different format
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
There are more services available and ways of
using the NSL
so if you are interested then see the NSL team……
Kirsten, Anna – editing and data
Peter McNeil, Anne – system stuff
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Future
• Currently working :
• Australian Plant Name Index – editor and services working
• Australian Plant Census – editor and services working
• Australian Faunal Directory – data imported into NSL periodically
• Yet to be integrated:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Interactive Catalogue of Australian Fungi
Australian Moss Catalogue
Checklist of Lichens
Australian Marine Algae Index
Fresh Water Algae
More Services, documentation
PLANT_NAME to use NSL data
Integration/use by other projects – ALA, eFlora etc.
Collaborative editing (check out/check in)
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
So what the hell is the NSL?
• A single point of access to published names for
Australian biota:
• Vascular plants, fungi, mosses, liverworts, hornworts lichens,
algae, fauna
• comprised of
• an editor for:
• Names, Publications, References
• Classification (putting names into a tree eg. APC)
• and services for:
• Making a request – searching
• Returning results – formatted outputs
• that will always return the same results over time
for a specific link
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS
Project bought to you by
• ALA, CHAH, ABRS and IBIS funding
• IT Project team
• Peter McNeil, Greg Clarke, Paul Murray
• APNI team
• Kirsten, Anna and many more
• ABRS support
• Helen, Pam, Alice, Robyn and many more
• IBIS team
• Greg, Anne, John
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS