Towards a thesaurus of plant characteristics: an ecological contribution

The context of Open Biological Ontologies; (ii) whenever possible, the Entities and Qualities aretaken from existing terminology standards, mainly the Plant Ontology (PO) and Phenotypic QualityOntology (PATO) ontologies; and (iii) whenever a characteristic already has a definition, if appropriate,it is reused and referenced. The development of TOP, which complies with semantic web principles,was carried out through the involvement of experts from both the ecology and the semanticsresearch communities. Regular updates of TOP are planned, based on community feedback andinvolvement.3. TOP provides names, definitions, units, synonyms and related terms for about 850 plant characteristics.TOP is available online (www.top-thesaurus.org), and can be browsed using an alphabeticallist of characteristics, a hierarchical tree of characteristics, a faceted and a free-text search, andthrough an Application Programming Interface.4. Synthesis. Harmonizing definitions of concepts, as proposed by TOP, forms the basis for betterintegration of data across heterogeneous data sets and terminologies, thereby increasing the potentialfor data reuse. It also allows enhanced scientific synthesis. TOP therefore has the potential toimprove research and communication not only within the field of ecology, but also in related fieldswith interest in plant functioning and distribution

Fil: Garnier, Eric. Université de Montpellier. Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia

Fil: Stahl, Ulrike. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania. Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry; Alemania. Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Alemania

Fil: Laporte, Marie-Angelique. Université de Montpellier. Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive; Francia. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania. Bioversity International; Italia

Fil: Kattge, Jens. Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry; Alemania. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania

Fil: Mougenot, Isabelle. Maison de la Télédétection; Francia

Fil: Kuhn, Ingolf. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania

Fil: Laporte, Baptiste. Centre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity; Francia

Fil: Amiaud, Bernard. Université de Lorraine; Francia

Fil: Ahrestani, Farshid S.. Columbia University; Estados Unidos

Fil: Bonisch, Gerhard. Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry; Alemania

Fil: Bunker, Daniel E.. New Jersey Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados Unidos

Fil: Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.. Vrije Universteit; Países Bajos

Fil: Díaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Fil: Enquist, Brian J.. University of Arizona; Estados Unidos

Fil: Gachet, Sophie. Avignon Université Avignon Université. Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale; Francia

Fil: Jaureguiberry, Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Fil: Kleyer, Michael. University of Oldenburg. Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences; Alemania

Fil: Lavorel, Sandra. Université Joseph Fourier; Francia

Fil: Maicher, Lutz. Universitat Jena; Alemania

Fil: Pérez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina

Fil: Poorter, Hendrik. Forschungszentrum Jülich; Alemania

Fil: Schildhauer, Mark. University of California. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis; Estados Unidos

Fil: Shipley, Bill. Université de Sherbrooke; Canadá

Fil: Violle, Cyrille. Université de Montpellier; Francia

Fil: Weiher, Evan. University of Wisconsin; Estados Unidos

Fil: Wirth, Christian. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; Alemania

Fil: Wright, Ian J.. Macquarie University; Australia

Fil: Klotz, Stefan. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Alemania