Databasing
Planetary Biodiversity Inventory: Plant Bugs

Systematic Catalog

The PBI project relies on the Catalog of Miridae of the World as the centerpiece for finding information from a taxonomic perspective. It serves as a respository of information available to all interested users of the Internet, and more particularly as a research tool for PBI investigators.

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Digital Library

The PBI Digital Library is designed to serve as a research tool for PBI research projects, and to allow access to many difficult to find publications by the research community worldwide. Potential candidate publications for inclusion in the digital library were selected from the bibliography of the Plant Bugs of the World systematic catalog. Permissions were requested from publishers of all volumes that are still under copyright protection. Volumes for which permissions were denied cannot be made available, which means that the library –although extensive– is not exhaustive in its coverage of the relevant literature. Approximately 25,000 pages are available through the PBI web site, including most original descriptions, many revisions, faunistic treatments, and articles on classification, morphology, host associations, and general biology. Among included articles are the two volumes from the Carvalho Catalog of the Miridae, allowing access to some references that are not included in the Plant Bugs of the World systematic catalog as it appears in print or on line. Some references dealing with the Miridae more broadly are also included, making the library more broadly useful, particularly in the areas of morphology, biology, and classification.

Creation of the digital library materials started with the capture of high resolution page images through the use of sheet fed and overhead scanners. These images were then used to create searchable PDF images in both bound and unbound formats for delivery on the web. Use of the digital library requires access to a PDF viewer, which can be downloaded free of charge.

Locality Database

The PBI specimen database is designed to allow for data entry and retrieval through a web-browser interface. Such an approach facilitates database management and gives far-flung PBI participants access to a common resource of specimen information. The database incorporates as part of its underlying conception use the of unique specimen identifiers, implemented through the use of labels bearing matrix codes. Codes can be read and entered through visual inspection or via the use of a scanner. The database allow for "batch loading" of unique specimen identifiers, a feature that expedites the entry of multiple specimen records for a single host for a given locality and collecting event.

Image Database

The Image Database for the PBI project includes high resolution digital images of authoritatively identified specimens, images derived from scanning of host-plant voucher specimens, habitat images from the field, and images of host plants in their natural environments

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