Extending Darwin Core to incorporate data about material condition and absolute deep time

Darwin Core, the data standard used for sharing modern biodiversity and paleodiversity occurrence records, has previously lacked proper mechanisms for reporting what is known about the estimated age range of specimens from deep time. This has led to data providers putting these data in fields where they cannot easily be found by users, which impedes the reuse and improvement of these data by other researchers. Here we describe the development of the Chronometric Age Extension to Darwin Core, a ratified, community-developed extension that enables the reporting of ages of specimens from deeper time and the evidence supporting these estimates. The extension standardizes reporting about the methods or assays used to determine an age and other critical information like uncertainty. It gives data providers flexibility about the level of detail reported, focusing on the minimum information needed for reuse while still allowing for significant detail if providers have it. Providing a standardized format for reporting these data will make them easier to find and search and enable researchers to pinpoint specimens of interest for data improvement or accumulate more data for broad temporal studies. The Chronometric Age Extension was also the first community-managed vocabulary to undergo the new Biodiversity Informatics Standards (TDWG) review and ratification process, thus providing a blueprint for future Darwin Core extension development.

Download Full-text

Published examples using the new Chronometric extension to Darwin Core

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards ◽

10.3897/biss.2.25694 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. e25694

Author(s):

Laura Brenskelle ◽

Michelle LeFebvre ◽

John Wieczorek ◽

Robert Guralnick ◽

Kitty Emery

Keyword(s):

Research Process ◽

Deep Time ◽

Darwin Core ◽

Geological Context

The temporality of specimens is an often overlooked but quintessential part of using aggregated biodiversity occurrences for research, especially when millions of these occurrences exist in deep time. Presently in Darwin Core, there are terms for describing the geological context of specimens, which is needed for paleontological specimens. However, information about the contextual absolute date associated with a specimen, and how that date was generated is not supported in Darwin Core, but would strongly enhance usability for research. Providers do occasionally try provisioning this information, but it is currently hidden in a few different Darwin Core fields, making it hard to discover and nearly impossible to search for in biodiversity portals. Here we provide an overview of where absolute date content for paleontological and archaeological specimens are currently found in published specimens records. We will then introduce a working Darwin Core extension that focuses on chronometric content, and demonstrate the use of this extension with published datasets from the zooarchaeological and paleontological communities. This new advancement will allow providers to make these crucial data available, researchers to easily find the temporal range associated with an occurrence, evaluate how this range was determined, and compile occurrences based on their shared ages to help streamline the research process.

Download Full-text