| Abstract |
The vegetation database software BIOTABase has been developed to cope with the structured storage of vegetation monitoring data and related environmental data. The database architecture facilitates specific environmental monitoring requirements like the handling of time series, nested plots, and individual-based monitoring plots.
Many routines provide a quick input and consistency check of empirical data - digitalisation, as well as the import of already existing data sources. A variety of functions helps the user to search through the records, to find answers and to understand the findings. The user can compile lists and cross tables, calculate indices and also export data to statistical software for enhanced analyses, or to geographical information systems for displaying items on a map, or to spreadsheet software for special calculations.
BIOTABase facilitates direct linkages between observation data, collection data and bibliographical reference data. The process of taxonomic identification of specimens and nomenclatural changes can be easily applied and documented by controlled update routines. Finally, the BIOTABase package comprises splitting and merging tools and multiple export procedures, which allow easy data exchange and thus satisfy the requirements of single users, large database projects and decentralised research projects.
BIOTABase has been developed by the SASSCAL IT Team University of Hamburg. The development of BIOTABase was funded by BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research).
BIOTABase and its components are freeware. |
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