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https://github.com/joelnitta/taxastand

Standardize taxonomy across different data sources
https://github.com/joelnitta/taxastand

database r r-package rstats taxonomy

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Standardize taxonomy across different data sources

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README 

        
---

output: github_document

---



```{r, include = FALSE}

knitr::opts_chunk$set(

  collapse = TRUE,

  comment = "#>",

  fig.path = "man/figures/"

)

```

# taxastand 



[![Project Status: WIP – Initial development is in progress, but there has not yet been a stable, usable release suitable for the public.](https://www.repostatus.org/badges/latest/wip.svg)](https://www.repostatus.org/#wip)

[![DOI](https://zenodo.org/badge/192684959.svg)](https://zenodo.org/badge/latestdoi/192684959)



The goal of `taxastand` is to standardize species names from different sources, a common task in biology. 



Very often different biologists use different synonyms to refer to the same species. If we want to join data from different sources, their taxonomic names must be standardized first. This is what `taxastand` seeks to do in a reproducible and efficient manner.



## Important note



**This package is in early development.** There may be major, breaking changes to functionality in the near future. If you use this package, I highly recommend using a package manager like [renv](https://rstudio.github.io/renv/articles/renv.html) so that later updates won't break your code.



## Taxonomic standard



`taxastand` is based on matching names to a single **taxonomic standard**, that is, a database of accepted names and synonyms. As long as a single taxonomic standard is used, we can confidently resolve names from disparate sources.



The taxonomic standard must conform to [Darwin Core standards](https://dwc.tdwg.org/). The user must provide this database (as a dataframe). There are many sources of taxonomic data online, including [GBIF](https://www.gbif.org/en/dataset/d7dddbf4-2cf0-4f39-9b2a-bb099caae36c), [Catalog of Life](http://www.catalogueoflife.org/), and [ITIS](https://www.itis.gov/) to name a few. The [taxadb](https://github.com/ropensci/taxadb) package provides convenient functions for downloading various taxonomic databases that use Darwin Core.



## Installation



`taxastand` can be installed from [r-universe](https://joelnitta.r-universe.dev) or [github](https://github.com/joelnitta).



``` r

install.packages("taxastand", repos = 'https://joelnitta.r-universe.dev')

```



OR



``` r

# install.packages("remotes")

remotes::install_github("joelnitta/taxastand")

```



## Dependencies



`taxastand` depends on [taxon-tools](https://github.com/camwebb/taxon-tools) for taxonomic name matching.



There are two options for using this dependency.



- Install [docker](https://www.docker.com/) and set `docker = TRUE` when using `taxastand` functions.



OR



- Install the two programs included in [taxon-tools](https://github.com/camwebb/taxon-tools), `parsenames` and `matchnames`.



## Similar work



- [ROpenSci](https://ropensci.org/) has a [task view](https://github.com/ropensci/taxonomy) summarizing many tools available for taxonomy.



- [taxize](https://github.com/ropensci/taxize) is the "granddaddy" of taxonomy packages in R. It can search around 20 different taxonomic databases for names and retrieve taxonomic information.



- [TNRS](http://tnrs.iplantcollaborative.org/), the Taxonomic Name Resolution Service, is a web application that resolves taxonomic names of plants according to one of six databases.



- [taxizedb](https://github.com/ropensci/taxizedb) downloads taxonomic databases and provides tools to interface with them through SQL.



- [taxadb](https://github.com/ropensci/taxadb) also downloads and searches taxonomic databases. It can interface with them either through SQL or in-memory in R.



- [taxonstand](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/Taxonstand/index.html) has a very similar goal to `taxastand`, but only uses [The Plant List (TPL)](http://www.theplantlist.org

) as its taxonomic standard and does not allow the user to provide their own. Note that TPL is no longer being updated as of 2013.



## Motivation



Although existing web-based solutions for taxonomic name resolution are very useful, they may not be ideal for all situations: the choice of reference database to use for standardization is limited, they may not be able to handle very large queries, and the user has no guarantee that the same input will yield the same output at a later date due to changes in the remote database. 



Furthermore, matching of taxonomic names is not straightforward, since they are complex data structures including multiple components (e.g., genus, specific epithet, basionym author, combination author, etc). [Of the tools mentioned above](#similar-work) only [TNRS](http://tnrs.iplantcollaborative.org/) can fuzzily match taxonomic names based on their parsed components, but it does not allow for use of a local reference database.



The motivation for `taxastand` is to provide greater flexibility and reproducibility by allowing for complete version control of the code and database used for name resolution, while implementing fuzzy matching of parsed taxonomic names.



## Example



Here is an example of fuzzy matching followed by resolution of synonyms using the dataset included with the package.



```{r filmy-example-show, eval = FALSE}

library(taxastand)



# Load example reference taxonomy in Darwin Core format

data(filmy_taxonomy)



# Take a look at the columns used by taxastand

head(filmy_taxonomy[c(

  "taxonID", "acceptedNameUsageID", "taxonomicStatus", "scientificName")])



# As a test, resolve a misspelled name

ts_resolve_names("Gonocormus minutum", filmy_taxonomy)



# We can now use the `resolved_name` column of this result for downstream

# analyses joining on other datasets that have been resolved to the same

# reference taxonomy.

```



```{r filmy-example-hide, echo = FALSE}

library(taxastand)



# Load example reference taxonomy in Darwin Core format

data(filmy_taxonomy)



# Take a look at the columns used by taxastand

head(filmy_taxonomy[c(

  "taxonID", "acceptedNameUsageID", "taxonomicStatus", "scientificName")])



# As a test, resolve a misspelled name

ts_resolve_names("Gonocormus minutum", filmy_taxonomy, docker = TRUE)



# We can now use the `resolved_name` column of this result for downstream

# analyses joining on other datasets that have been resolved to the same

# reference taxonomy.

```



## Citing this package



If you use this package, please cite it! Here is an example:



    Nitta, JH (2021) taxastand: Taxonomic name standardization in R. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5726390



The example DOI above is for the overall package.



Here is the latest DOI, which you should use if you are using the latest

version of the package:



[![DOI](https://zenodo.org/badge/192684959.svg)](https://zenodo.org/badge/latestdoi/192684959)



You can find DOIs for older versions by viewing the “Releases” menu on

the right.



You should also cite the software that `taxastand` relies on, `taxon-tools`: https://github.com/camwebb/taxon-tools