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| − | A taxonomic rank ontology allows particular taxa to be treated as historical individuals instead of as universal types.
| + | This page is obsolete. Its contents have been transferred to [[Taxonomy ontology#Alternative Designs]]. |
| − | | + | If you are looking documentation for the Vocabulary of Ranks developed by Phenoscape, you will find it [[Taxonomic Rank Vocabulary | here]]. |
| − | [[Image:TaxonomicRankDiagram.png|750px|thumb|Taxonomic rank ontology and sample instance data. The ontology terms are surrounded by a grey background. The "Continuant" term would reside in an upper ontology such as [http://www.ifomis.org/bfo BFO]. The instance data constitute a particular taxonomy.]] | |
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| − | Previous attempts to represent taxonomy using ontology usually include taxonomic groups as classes in the ontology. Individual organisms are seen as instances of those universal types. There could be an ontology term Mammal, such that Primates and Rodents are more particular types of Mammals (''is_a'' descendants). Taxonomies are even often used as examples to help explain ontology inheritance to new users. This scheme fails to represent reality in several ways and is even misleading.
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| − | ===Problems with the "traditional" view===
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| − | * The only criterion for inclusion within a taxonomic group is physical descent from a member of that group (we are assuming a taxonomy consistent with phylogeny). There aren't any universal properties one could ascribe to members of "Mammalia", besides things the members happen to share at this moment. "Hair" is often used an example of a Mammalian property; but of course its commonality is the result of its presence in the common ancestor of all mammals, and many mammals lack hair almost entirely. A mammal species that had no hair at all would nevertheless still be a mammal.
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| − | ===Advantages===
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| − | * Taxa are modeled as individuals.
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| | [[Category:Ontology]] | | [[Category:Ontology]] |
| | + | [[Category:Taxonomy]] |
| | + | [[Category:Informatics]] |
Latest revision as of 16:59, 31 August 2010
This page is obsolete. Its contents have been transferred to Taxonomy ontology#Alternative Designs.
If you are looking documentation for the Vocabulary of Ranks developed by Phenoscape, you will find it here.
