Persons referred to in a botanical database may include:
The basic structure of person names is comparatively simple. In botany, the de-facto standard is to use the European subdivision and sequence of personal names, i.e., first name(s) or initials followed by a prefix (if any) and the last name or last names. Data elements should be as atomized as possible to facilitate concatenation of strings adhering to specific formats required for example in reference lists of journals.
It was here decided to adopt the attribute structure of the electronic form of the "Authors of Plant Names" for all person names. The printed publication (Brummitt & Powell 1992) was adopted as a TDWG standard.
Different subtypes may be defined according to the role of the person. For example, a separate entity should be used to define the person abbreviations used in taxonomic short citations (according to the standards in Halliday & al. 1980, Brummitt & Powell 1992, and Stafleu & Cowan 1976 & seq.), or to store the addresses of persons (if needed).
Diagram 13: Person team
In any case, program developers have to observe local legislation regulating the use and storage of person-related information in databases.
For practical reasons, all persons are referred to as person teams in the model, albeit only one person may be in the team. "Seniority" refers to the sequence of persons in a team.
Diagram 14: Entity-Relation model of person teams and their role in references, plant names and taxa
Next chapter; Contents of this article; Complete entity list; References cited; Author information. Last updated: June 23, 1995