Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/38489

KEYWORDS : Biodiversity;Character matrix;Database;Multiple-entry key;Species identification

The Biological Classification and Identification System (BioCIS) as a basic, general-purpose database system, though still under construction, will provide taxonomists with a very useful tool to construct multiple-entry keys based on character matrices. In turn, such multiple-entry keys give various end-users, non-specialists in taxonomy, a great deal of freedom and ease in species identification. The system is designed to be applicable to any group of organisms and to grow through interactions between taxonomists and end-users, in the prospect of developing a hierarchical system of keys for all taxonomic levels of organisms on earth, as a "hub" database system for biological classification and identification.