How to handle plant name synonyms in a botanical garden base?

[seanwhitcomb]

I asked this question in the past, but didn't get much of a response. I'm asking again in case anyone has new ideas.

In this table I have a list of plant names (taxa) plus other information about the plant's habitat, etc. Plant names frequently change, and the old name is considered a synonym, while the current name is the "accepted" name. Accepted names can have multiple synonyms because the names have changed several times.

I want to show only accepted names in the main Taxa Table view. If a name changes, the currently listed name will become a synonym. I want to be able to automatically separate synonyms into a different view or table once I have designated them as synonyms. BUT the new accepted name will need to have all the same associated information (habitat, etc.). The synonym view/table can just be a few fields with the old name and related information, but it will need to link back to the accepted name.

Example: Mariosousa willardiana is now Mariosousa heterophylla. How do I replace the new name with the old name but still keep a record of the old name as a synonym and remove it from the current view or table into a separate synonyms view or table? And how do I keep the new accepted name linked to all of its synonyms so they're easy to see? I want this to be as automatic a process as possible.

[TheTimeSavingCo]

How does this data get populated and what would you want your end result to look like?

If you're keying in data manually it seems fairly simple to add the old name into the "Synonyms" text field you have, and update the "Taxon Name" field with the new name, and so this leads me to believe that there's something about the way the data gets populated or you have a specific idea of what you'd like it to look like when it's done?

[catz]

hi there! 

I would create a new table called "Synonyms" in which the primary key is the synonym, and add a column of "Link to another record" type that links it back to the original plant that it came from.

This table will allow you to see all synonyms together, and you should be able to see all synonyms associated with a specific from the "Taxa" table.

hope this helps 🙂 are you looking to do these steps as an automation?