EOL Dynamic Hierarchy version 3

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL, eol.org) aggregates biodiversity information from more than 400 sources and provides access to the data through taxon pages, visual query and application programming interfaces. Scientific names are essential elements of the data integration infrastructure, but their shortcomings as key identifiers are well documented. Complex automated workflows and continuous manual curation are required to address idiosyncrasies of source taxonomies, variation in data quality, and conflicting taxonomic opinions. To achieve a harmonized taxonomic view of EOL content, names from data sources are mapped to a dynamic reference hierarchy (see current version here) using an algorithm that leverages canonical name strings, hierarchical information (ancestry, descendants), taxonomic ranks, synonym data, and author strings. Names that cannot be associated with a reference taxon are still accessible, but their unmapped status excludes them and any associated content from certain core EOL functions. For more information about the EOL taxonomy, see EOL Dynamic Hierarchy.生命百科全书（Encyclopedia of Life，简称EOL，官网为eol.org）整合了来自400余个数据源的生物多样性信息，并通过分类单元（taxon）页面、可视化查询工具以及应用程序编程接口（Application Programming Interface，API）提供数据访问渠道。生物分类学名（scientific name）是数据整合基础设施的核心要素，但学界已充分记录了其作为关键标识符的局限性。为解决源分类体系的特异性、数据质量参差不齐以及分类学观点冲突等问题，需要依托复杂的自动化工作流（automated workflow）与持续的人工编校（manual curation）工作。为实现EOL内容的统一分类学视图，研究人员通过算法将数据源中的分类名称映射至动态参考层级（dynamic reference hierarchy，当前版本详见此处），该算法利用了规范名称字符串、层级信息（祖先谱系、后代类群）、分类阶元（taxonomic rank）、异名数据（synonym data）以及命名者字符串等特征。无法关联至参考分类单元（reference taxon）的名称仍可被访问，但因其未完成映射，这类名称及其关联内容将无法使用EOL的部分核心功能。如需了解EOL分类体系的更多信息，请参阅《EOL动态层级体系（EOL Dynamic Hierarchy）》。