basisOfRecord

Status

!! UNREVIEWED DRAFT TEXT !! Do not cite or reference until marked as reviewed.

Identifier [URI]

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/basisOfRecord

Comments

The Darwin Core terms dcterms:type and basisOfRecord together work to define the type of Occurrence recorded.

The Darwin Core recommended best practice is to use as a value one of the Darwin Core categories such as LivingSpecimen, FossilSpecimen, PreservedSpecimen, HumanObservation, MaterialSample.

The Darwin Core Paleo recommended best practice follows Darwin Core, but with the expectation that LivingSpecimen will be seldom applied.

FossilSpecimen is expected to be the most common value entered for basisOfRecord when recording collected fossil specimens.

PreservedSpecimen may also be an appropriate entry for paleobiological Occurrence records referencing unfossilized skeletal material from zooarchaeological or taphonomic reference collections.

MaterialSample is appropriate for Occurrence records referring to samples derived from a fossil specimen such as samples for stable isotope analysis, carbon dating etc.

HumanObservation is an appropriate entry for paleobiological occurrences that are observed and recorded but not collected and instead left in the field.

MachineObservation may be appropriate in circumstances similar to HumanObservation but where the recording is automated.