The Darwin Core

Overview

Natural history collections and observation data sets represent sets of observations, with each record detailing the observation of an organism, ideally at a specific geo-temporal location. In the case of collections, the observation is permanent in that the organism was collected from the field and preserved in a curated collection intended to last indefinitely. Collected specimens can be prepared in various ways, and several preparations from a single organism are not unusual (skin, skeleton, and perhaps microscope slides), thus there may be several records for a single organism, each representing the organism prepared using different techniques, but all records refering to a single observation event. Conversely, some collection records may represent a collection object that contains many organisms. For example, in icthyology, where the contents of a trawl may be sorted by taxon and lumped into a single collection container. Observation data sets catalog the observation of an organism, also at a specific geo-temporal location, but in this case the organism observed is not collected, and hence the observation record is the only information recorded about the organism. In both cases a taxonomic identification of the organism is attempted, with obvious consequences for accuracy of identification (a specimen available for identification to several experts compared with a potentially fleeting glimpse of an organism in the field).