Versions and How to Cite

CITATION:

Hendrickson, Dean A., & Cohen, Adam E. (2015). Fishes of Texas Project Database (version 2.0). Texas Advanced Computing Center, University of Texas at Austin. http://doi.org/10.17603/C3WC70. Accessed (insert date of data access).

NOTES (needs work): This is a major revision of the database and website that introduces the track 3 dataset, which is our largest addition to the database so far (771,355 records). Many coming from our effort to add new types of data that are not specimen-based, including photo-vouchers, human observations etc. (433,805) and new specimen-vouchered records (337,550) across a now larger geographic scope that includes those parts of Texas’ drainages that are also in neighboring states including those in Mexico. 895,855 of these new records are provided with geographical coordinates mostly from our data donors directly (see here) so they can be queried on geographic parameters and mapped. In order to display these data and integrate Mexican records into the website we had to integrate hydrologic units for the Rio Grande in Mexico, which we acquired from Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), into our map and checklists. Adding so many new records over a larger area caused us to add many new species to our taxonomy and we made taxonomic changes based on recent literature as well (see here).

We also improved our older data. Using written historical accounts and maps, we researched and refined dates (xx records) and georeferences (xx records), focusing largely on our oldest records with large spatial and temporal errors. We provide 952 updated determinations from our ongoing effort to examine specimens.

With all of the new records and an updated understanding about species distributions from examination of specimens from earlier data tracks, it was clear we needed to reassess our flagging of records as suspect and to be examined, as indicated by our record color coding (see here). By visualizing the data, species by species, we re-determined the color coding of all records in the database. We also redefined native ranges for all species in the database that have at least one georeferenced record in our study area and in the process expanded native ranges beyond our state boundaries into our full study area (see here) .

Other improvements include the following: We identified which records are likely from captive populations and added a captive flag and filter. We improved the dashboards under the Stats & Conservation tab. We added xx specimen images. Due to the large number of new records with variously constructed unique identifiers and sometimes no unique identifier we changed the way that we construct record identifiers (see here).

CITATION: Hendrickson, Dean A., & Cohen, Adam E. (2015). Fishes of Texas Project Database (version 2.0). Texas Advanced Computing Center, University of Texas at Austin. http://doi.org/10.17603/C3WC70. Accessed (insert date of data access).

NOTES: This version introduces track 2 data to the database, which has now been quality controlled and georeferenced. The update includes many new specimen determinations by FoTX staff based on specimen examinations to both track 1 and 2 datasets. Identified additional suspicious records and identified others that are no longer suspect. We've increased the number of taxa we are recognizing including several subspecies and species that are not formally described and justified those decisions in our documentation. The data have been restructured into collecting events by using an algorithm based on our georeferenced localities and edited dates. Now users can search for all specimen records tied to a single collection event. Event level attachments (locality images, fieldnotes) are now possible. Improved user feedback for user submissions. Fixed several bugs related to mapping tab. Uploaded numerous specimen images and fieldnotes from museum archives. Provide character matrices useful for specimen identification in our "sandbox" experimental area. Edited documentation.

CITATION: Hendrickson, Dean A. and Adam E. Cohen. 2013. Fishes of Texas Project and Online Database (version 1.10) (http://fishesoftexas.org). Published by the Ichthyology Collection of The University of Texas at Austin. Accessed (insert date of data access).

NOTES: It was unofficially available to select users for some months prior to this date. Track 1 data are still not finalized, and lack extensive results from our re-determinations of many species identifications, as well as many locality corrections and additional refinements of georeferencing for many records yet to be incorporated into the online database. Only data records from our own Texas Natural History Collection (TNHC) are available to the general public as data release permissions are pending from all other data donors. CITATION: Hendrickson, Dean A. and Adam E. Cohen. 2015. Fishes of Texas Project and Online Database (version 2.0) (http://fishesoftexas.org). Published by the Ichthyology Collection of The University of Texas at Austin. Accessed (insert date of data access).

CITATION: Hendrickson, Dean A. and Adam E. Cohen. 2011. Fishes of Texas Project and Online Database (version 1.0) (http://fishesoftexas.org). Published by the Ichthyology Collection of The University of Texas at Austin. Accessed (insert date of data access).

NOTES: It was unofficially available to select users for some months prior to this date. Track 1 data are still not finalized, and lack extensive results from our re-determinations of many species identifications, as well as many locality corrections and additional refinements of georeferencing for many records yet to be incorporated into the online database. Only data records from our own Texas Natural History Collection (TNHC) are available to the general public as data release permissions are pending from all other data donors.