1. Why a TNRS?

Why would an ecologist or comparative biologists use at TNRS?  I think we envisioned two
generic but likely the typical use cases.

(from Brian Enquist's summary notes of breakout group discussion)

Use case #1 – User obtains a list of taxa or a taxon (usually just genus and species but
may contain family information).  The source of this list or name may vary – it may come
from the old or new literature or from the users own recent studies.  User wants to take
their list or name and ensure that the names are “good names”.  User generally has
minimal knowledge about taxonomy and only wants to use “the right name”.  User only
wants good names to put in their publication and/or to learn about what names they
should be using for their work.

Use case #2 – User has two lists of names. User wants to compare these lists of names.
For example, the user wants to compare the lists say something about change or
similarity of diversity (compare spatial or temporal changes in diversity).  Lists may
come from different time periods or different geographic regions.   In this case the
user just wants to “standardize” each list of names so that he or she can then analyze
the data using “accepted” names.

Use case #3 – - A more knowledgeable user for use case #1 or #2 but will want the most
accepted name informed by the geographic region where these lists are coming from

Use case #4 - A more knowledgeable user for use case #1 or #2 who will want not only an
output of accepted names but also (a) a list of all of the synonyms and taxonomic
references associated with those cases

Use case #5 - The taxonomically savvy ecologist or the taxonomist who is looking for the
most up to date information on taxonomy and synonymy and will want as much of this
information as possible.

Use case #6 – Any of the above but with batch processing capabilities.
 

**Step-by-step applications of increasing complexity.

(1)  A website with GUI where user can paste in his or her list of names.
a.     Data input is highly regulated where at minimum user must return genus and
species separated by spaces, or family, genus, and species (if they don’t do this then
submitted request barfs, i.e. the user input is highly constrained and unforgiving).

(2)   TNRS will then take submitted list and then output to the user
a.      a list of matched names and flagged unmatched names. 
b.     These matched names are the “taxonomically accepted names” with the authority.
The user will then use these accepted names for their analyses.
c.     Accepted names would then have a ‘time stamp’ of when request was approved (such
as TROPICOS_3_23_2010).

(3)  TNRS will output references associated with the “accepted name” such as the Flora
of Ecuador etc.
a.     Should this include just the oldest reference, the most recent reference? Both?
b.     This will allow user to have information to gain access to relevant taxonomic
literature without being overwhelmed.

(4)  Option to have TNRS provide a returned list of accepted names plus synonymies.
Plus additional names associated with the “accepted” name
a.     This will allow the taxonomically savvy user to access all associated names

(5)  Option to have TNRS add Family names to returned synonymies.
a.     This will help the user  names to help interpret applicability of the returned
synonymies.
b.     Note – would it be possible to add a geographic scope to returned synonomies?
Levels of priority decisions – The next sort of steps will involve taxonomic
intelligence on the returned taxonomic strings that do not match

(6)     The TNRS will return, for each submitted string a more detailed return if
submitted Family, genus, and species is accepted or not.

For example, the submitted string may have an acceptable family and genus name but not species.  The output would
then indicate that the Family and genus names are acceptable but species is not.

(7)  The same as #6 but the user will submit a taxonomic string followed by an author.
The output would then parse the string and the author and TNRS would return if the
submitted author is accepted or not.
Increasingly complicated. If the names don’t match then user will want the TNRS to
provide recommendations.

(8)  If the family and/or genus and/or species do not fit then:
a.     TNRS will assess if the ‘bad name’ is due to simple spelling mistake (switching i
and e, etc.). If such a switch results in an accepted name then the TNRS will return the
corrected name
b.     If simple spelling correction does not work then TNRS will perform increasingly
complex spelling variants