Taxon Concept Management To Do List

Last updated 3 days ago

EOL takes names and classifications from different content partners and organizes them into taxon concepts represented by EOL taxon pages. For example, have a look at the Names tab of the sperm whale page to see the names and classifications united in this taxon concept. The taxon concepts are created by an algorithm that tries to make sense of a huge amount of name and synonym data, taking into account various complications, e.g., variations in the spelling of author names. But sometimes things go horribly wrong, and EOL ends up with multiple pages for the same species, or several different taxa are inappropriately united in a common taxon concept.

We now have a new tool for master curators that makes it easier to manage taxon concepts on EOL. In this collection, we are keeping track of problematic taxon concepts that need to be either split (i.e., multiple taxa are inappropriately united on the same EOL page) or merged (i.e., there are multiple EOL pages for the same taxon). If you would like to add something to the collection, drop a note in the collection newsfeed below. We will then make you a manager of the collection, so you can add taxa that need to be split or merged. When adding items to this collection, please be sure to add detailed instructions in the annotation. If you request a taxon concept split, list the taxa that should be removed from the current concept and explain your request. Be sure to report both the name, including authority if available, and the provider ("Recognized by") of all taxa that should be moved to a new page. You can find this information in the Names tab of the page you want to split. If you request a taxon concept merge, add all the taxon pages to this collection that should be merged, then add a comment in the annotation of one of them explaining your merge request.

For a list of the taxon concepts that have already been fixed, see Taxon Concept Management Tasks Completed. Tasks that have been initiated by have not yet finished or did not execute properly are here: Taxon Concept Management Tasks With Pending Issues.