The MoReTax project is a basic research project in Biodiversity Informatics. MoReTax is concerned with the modelling of rule-based functions for a computerized system to link complex taxonomic concepts with factual data of relevance to nature conservation. The Berlin Taxonomic Information Model is used by MoReTax for the database storing concept-related taxonomic information. MoReTax is a  research and development project, funded by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. MoReTax extensions to the Berlin Model are the following:

ConfigGeneral, ConfigRelSource and ConfigWeight
The general configuration i.e. the global parameters for the rules are stored in the ConfigGeneral table.  This set of parameters indicates how the weight of paths are calculated (attributes OperationForWeights and StandardSetOperator), which paths are allowed and under which category of applicability facts will not at all be released for output (attributes ApplicabilityFk and ShowDoubtfulFactFlag). The ConfigRelSource table stipulates for each source/expert that established relationships between potential taxa how these relationships are to be weighted. If other set operations and other criteria - when excluding paths in the calculations - as those stipulated in the ConfigGeneral table are wished, this can be done through the definition of special parameter values in the ConfigWeight table.

ConfigUser and ConfigFactSource
The output for the user queries results depend on the one side from the general configuration but also from the kind of user (UserRole table) in combination with the fact restriction access or in combination with the quality of the source for facts . In the MT_Fact table each fact can be characterized with an "access restriction" and a "scope". The parameters, which regulate the output depending on the user role (attribute UserRoleFk) and on the fact restriction access (attribute AccessRestrictionFk) are stored in the ConfigUser table. Those which regulate the output depending on the source (attribute SourceRefFk) and on the user role (attribute UserRoleFk)  are stored in the ConfigFactSource table. So user role, access restriction and fact source determine the lowest applicability and the comment for output.

RelAuthor
The RelAuthor table is used to express directed binary relations between any two entries of the Author table. The category of the relation is specified in the table RelAuthorQualifier (as indicated with RelAuthorQualifierFk). The source of the relationship is indicated by the attribute RefDetailFk.  Holding all kinds of binary relations in a single table provides a convenient way to build an author thesaurus, but it can also be used for other purposes. 

MoReTax home | Berlin Taxonomic Information Model