Abstract

Biodiversity is a multi-dimensional concept that is represented by a large variety of measures. This complexity and lack of consistency limits the development of a coherent scientific understanding of biodiversity and how properties, such as ecosystem services, may depend on it. Here, I demonstrate that the formal discipline of creating a relational database (RDB) for information about biodiversity and its measures, is a useful tool in organising such knowledge into coherent sense. Following steps of the logical database design and data normalization to build a RDB, results in a formal definition of biodiversity within a well defined concept structure; mapping rules between the concepts of biodiversity and entities of RDB and a consistent information structure - all in one place. I show how this is then used to support evidence-based objective statements about biodiversity.

Highlights

  • A database of measures of biodiversity will be constructed

  • I demonstrate that the formal discipline of creating a relational database (RDB) for information about biodiversity and its measures, is a useful tool in organising such knowledge into coherent sense

  • Fundamental biodiversity is the set of differences in measures M among a set of biological systems (i,j) whose component measures are strictly orthogonal

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Summary

Concept definition

A database of measures of biodiversity will be constructed. It will be used to answer the following question: ’To what extent does existing knowledge describe the information content (=fundamental biodiversity) of biological systems?’. Fundamental biodiversity is the set of differences in measures M among a set of biological systems (i,j) whose component measures are strictly orthogonal. Measure MDL ≡ (D|L) is a scalar combination of one descriptor D at one level L specifying a component of biodiversity. The matrix measure M is the set of all possible combinations MDL(∀D, L). A relational database of measures of biodiversity biodivDB is running on a remote server. It can be accessed via both command line and phpMyAdmin. Tbl_relto_msr msr_id INT(11) msr_id INT(11) rel_id INT(11) Indexes PRIMARY rel_id msr_id msr_id. Tbl_lvl lvl_id INT(11) lvl_child VARCHAR(45) lvl_parent VARCHAR(45) Indexes PRIMARY. The database will help to reveal patterns among biological systems and imply the minimum set of orthogonal measures

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