This page describes the vocabulary and interface relating to ecological and taphonomic information in this database.
The ecology and taphonomy information for a given taxon or occurrence is returned in the following output blocks, which you can select using the common parameter show. These are available when returning both occurrence records and taxa records.
| ecospace |
Returns a set of fields describing the ecospace occupied by the organism. |
| ttaph |
Returns a set of fields describing the taphonomy of the organism. |
| etbasis |
Returns a set of fields describing the base taxon for which the ecospace and taphonomy information for this organism was specified. This information is automatically propagated down the taxonomic tree, so that subtaxa inherit information from their parents. |
This section includes a list of fields and the vocabulary used by each one. In there are multiple values, they will be separated by commas.
| Field name | Block | Description | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pbdb | com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| taxon_environment | jev | ecospace |
The general environment or environments in which this life form is found. Values include:
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| motility | jmo | ecospace |
Whether the organism is motile, attached and/or epibiont, and its mode of locomotion if any. This field combines the values from the database columns locomotion, attached, epibiont. Values include:
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| life_habit | jlh | ecospace |
The general life mode and locality of this organism. This field combines the values from the database columns life_habit, grouping, clonal, polymorph, depth_habitat. Values include:
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| vision | jvs | ecospace |
The degree of vision possessed by this organism. Values include:
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| diet | jdt | ecospace |
The general diet or feeding mode of this organism. This field combines the values of the database columns diet1 and diet2. Values include:
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| reproduction | jre | ecospace |
The mode of reproduction of this organism. This field combines the values of the database columns reproduction, asexual, brooding, dispersal1, dispersal2. Values include:
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| ontogeny | jon | ecospace |
Briefly describes the ontogeny of this organism. Values include:
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| Field name | Block | Description | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pbdb | com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| composition | jco | ttaph |
The composition of the skeletal parts of this organism. This field combines the values of the database columns composition1, composition2. Values include:
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| architecture | jsa | ttaph |
An indication of the internal skeletal architecture. Values include:
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| thickness | jth | ttaph |
An indication of the relative thickness of the skeleton. Values include:
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| reinforcement | jsr | ttaph |
An indication of the skeletal reinforcement, if any. This field combines the values of the database fields folds, ribbing, spines, internal_reinforcement. Values include:
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The fields listed in this section document which taxon each part of the ecospace and taphanomic information is associated with. It may be either the taxon that was directly queried, or it may be one of its supertaxa. In general, this information is carried down the taxonomic hierarchy unless overridden for specific subtaxa.
| Field name | Block | Description | |
| pbdb | com | ||
| environment_basis | jec | ecospace |
This field reports the basis taxon for taxon_environment. |
| motility_basis | jmc | etbasis |
This field reports the basis taxon for motility. |
| life_habit_basis | jhc | etbasis |
This field reports the basis taxon for life_habit. |
| vision_basis | jvc | etbasis |
This field reports the basis taxon for vision_basis. |
| diet_basis | jdc | etbasis |
This field reports the basis taxon for diet. |
| reproduction_basis | jrc | etbasis |
This field reports the basis taxon for reproduction. |
| ontogeny_basis | joc | etbasis |
This field reports the basis taxon for ontogeny. |
| taphonomy_basis | jtc | etbasis |
This field reports the basis taxon for the fields composition, architecture, thickness, reinforcement. If these come from different basis taxa, the one that is lowest (closest to the taxon being queried) is reported. |
This service is provided by the Paleobiology Database, hosted by the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
If you have questions about this data service, or wish to report a bug, please contact the database administrator at admin@paleobiodb.org