Are there Different Types of Taxon Concepts?
Different databases or schema will be able to supply variable numbers of the attributes of a Taxonomic Concept as defined in the TDWG transfer schema. It may be possible to measure the ‘Quality’ of a Taxon Concept by the number of attributes specified. For example if only a name was supplied, even if this was a full ‘scientific’ name, the concept could be considered ‘poorly’ defined, as it would not capture any notion of meaning or usage attached to the bare name. If a usage of the name is captured, by reference, this would be a better quality representation of a concept as the citation detailing the usage could be examined. However the best quality representations of a concept would explicitly define the concept, by recording the circumscription of the concept by other concepts, character descriptions or biological specimens. Different user groups may wish or be constrained to using a certain quality of Concept representation. For example it may not be possible or valuable to record d
