Presentation of Polytraits at the EMODnet Traits Vocabulary workshop in Paris. The presentation gives a short overview of the polytraits database and discusses its problems.

1. A database on biological traits of polychaetes
http://polytraits.lifewatchgreece.eu
Sarah Faulwetter
Hellenic Centre for Marine Research

2. http://polytraits.lifewatchgreece.eu
background
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first started in-house in 2006
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aim: collecting traits to perform BTA
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initially: dataset with 102 polychaete species from
Mediterranean lagoons
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manual text mining
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link to citation, original text snippet recorded
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data collection: purpose-driven, not systematic

3. background
~ 1000 species-level taxa
950 literature sources
~ 20,000 records
semantically described terms
current aim: data mobilisation

4. background

5. background
~ 1000 species-level taxa
950 literature sources
~ 20,000 records
semantically described terms
current aim: data mobilisation

6. background
~ 1000 species-level taxa
950 literature sources
~ 20,000 records
semantically described terms
current aim: data mobilisation

7. trait selection

8. trait selection
Consultation of existing
literature & databases
Creation of list of
traits & modalities
Adaptation for
polychaetes
Definitions &
ontology mapping
mainly: BIOTIC, papers by Bremner et al.,
Annelid reproduction (Rouse & Pleijel)
All traits are categorical
Each trait has several modalities
Each modality can be present or/and absent
Polychaete-specific traits, e.g. pharynx
structure, epitoky, range of body sizes...
Clear definition of traits, mapped to
existing ontology concepts where possible

9. trait selection

10. trait selection
21
17
9
adult traits
reproductive traits
larval traits
47 traits, 252 modalities
ca. 5 traits “unsuitable”

11. problems encountered
“Unsuitable” traits
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Trait not applicable for polychaetes:
“migration” → there is no significant migration in polychaetes

12. problems encountered
“Unsuitable” traits
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Trait not applicable for polychaetes:
“migration” → there is no significant migration in polychaetes
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Trait “wrongly” defined
e.g. “Sociability” should be either “solitary, gregarious...”
or “commensal of ..., parasite of..., ….”

13. problems encountered
Modalities too specialised

14. problems encountered
Modalities too specialised

15. problems encountered
Modalities too specialised

16. problems encountered
Modalities too specialised
needs
hierarchy

17. problems encountered
Traits with “endless” modalities

18. problems encountered
Traits with “endless” modalities

19. problems encountered
Traits with “endless” modalities

20. problems encountered
Overlap / Correlation of traits & modalities

21. problems encountered
Missing traits ( & modalities)
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Larval & adult dispersal potential
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Additional morphology traits, e.g. sensory organs
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Resistance to physical disturbance
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Environmental position (infauna, epifauna,...)
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Socio-economic traits

22. If I could do it again...

23. Wishlist
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Clearly define each trait and modality from the
beginning, incl. examples
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Introduce hierarchy of traits
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Avoid conversion of numerical values into categories
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Weighting mechanism (e.g. “usually found on sand,
rarely on mud”)
Add flags for uncertainty
Add geo-coding of origin of information (same species
does different things in different areas)
Introduce species interactions