One of the goals of Edaphobase is to link soil-organism distribution data with trait and biological data regarding the taxa (or individuals) themselves as well as background information on the sites of occurrence. This allows more detailed biodiversity analyses.
This goal requires standardized vocabularies to allow data comparison from multiple sources. As opposed to free text input ‑ which is heterogeneous by nature and can therefore neither be compared nor be commonly analysed ‑ standardized vocabularies (“authority lists”) are provided for data input in specific information fields for categorical variables. These lists can be supplemented as needed. As a consequence, typing errors are also avoided and data is overall comparable and analysable.
Where possible, existing and established standards or quasi-standards are used. However, in most cases, lists needed to be created as necessitated by the specific organisms, experience of soil biologists or their use in data sources. The entries are either simple lists or hierarchical as required; and they can consist of several attributes (e.g., abbreviations, names or definitions).
As many of these selection lists can be very detailed and long, Edaphobase provides a small program (the “Edaphobase selection list browser”) to search the specific categorical variables, browse the associated selection lists, and even copy-and-paste specific terms into your data sheets. A Zip file of the software can be found here . After downloading the file, unpack the Zip file and follow the instructions in the “read me” file.
In the following, examples are given of such categorical variables and the sources of the lists of standardized vocabularies:
Data Sources
Name
Vocabulary Source
Source type
Edaphobase list
„Author“ role
Edaphobase list
Person type
Edaphobase list
Language
ISO 639 (Entries from ISO 639-1 given in the format of ISO 639-2 for flexibility)
(Museum) Collection
Name
Vocabulary Source
Type form
Edaphobase list
Acquisition type
Edaphobase list
Preparation type
Edaphobase list
Conservation / embedding agent
Edaphobase list
Sealing agent
Edaphobase list
Systematics
Name
Vocabulary Source
Taxonomic rank
Edaphobase list
Synonym
Edaphobase list, Zoological Nomenclatural Rules
Biology
Name
Vocabulary Source
Development stage
Edaphobase list
Activity type
Edaphobase list
Feeding type
Edaphobase list
Reproduction type
Edaphobase list
Gender
Edaphobase list
Life form
Edaphobase list
Dominance class
Engelmann (1978)
Many other traits
BETSI, EcoTaxonomy, Edaphobase list
Geography/Habitat Information
Name
Vocabulary Source
Language
ISO 639 (Entries from ISO 639-1 given in the format of ISO
Political region
ISO 3166 (ISO 3166 + first level of ISO 3166-2 for all European countries, Brazil and Mexico)
Natural region
German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Meynen & Schmithüsen (1953-1962))
Habitat type
EUNIS – European Environmental Agency; German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Riecken et al. (2006)
Land-use type
CORINE Land Cover (CLC) European Environmental Agency
Regional habitat type
Habitat type lists of the German federal states; other lists are also possible, e.g., those of the EU member state
Monitoring site type
Edaphobase list
(Anthropogenic) influence
Edaphobase list
Microhabitat
Edaphobase list
Topographic map
German Topographical maps: TK 25-TK 200 of the Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (2011) (www.geodatenzentrum.de); TK 5 und TK 10: compilation Edaphobase
Cardinal direction
16 point division (z.B: SSO = South South East)
Soil
Name
Vocabulary Source
Soil texture
German „Bodenkundlicher Kartieranleitung“ (5th ed., 2005); WRB (FAO AgroVoc) or EU Inspire vocabularies are currently being implemented
Soil type
German „Bodenkundlicher Kartieranleitung“ (5th ed., 2005); WRB (FAO AgroVoc) or EU Inspire vocabularies are currently being implemented
Humus form
German „Bodenkundlicher Kartieranleitung“ (5th ed., 2005); WRB (FAO AgroVoc) or EU Inspire vocabularies are currently being implemented
Soil horizont
German „Bodenkundlicher Kartieranleitung“ (5th ed., 2005); WRB (FAO AgroVoc) or EU Inspire vocabularies are currently being implemented