A TAXONOMIC INFORMATION MODEL FOR BOTANICAL DATABASES - THE IOPI MODEL

A comprehensive information model for the recording of taxonomic data from literature and other sources is presented, which was devised for the Global Plant Checklist database project of the International Organ isation of Plant Information (IOPI). The model is based on an approach using hierarchical decomposition of data areas into atomic data eleme nts and - in parallel - abstraction into an entity relationship model. It encompasses taxa of all ranks, nothotaxa and hybrid formulae, ''un named taxa'', cultivars, full synonymy, misapplied names, basionyms, n omenclatural data, and differing taxonomic concepts (potential taxa) a s well as alternative taxonomies to any extent desired. The model was developed together with related models using a CASE (Computer Aided So ftware Engineering) tool. It can help designers of biological informat ion systems to avoid the widely made error of over-simplification of t axonomic data and the resulting loss in data accuracy and quality.