Within this AIT system, an species object represents a single taxon, such as a black bear or a raccoon.  Observations in this system can only be tagged with animals that appear in the animal list, and therefore, if an animal isn't present or a change needs to be made, this tool provides a mechanism to handle it. This help page will take you through various steps or adding and editing animals, and provide a detailed description on the meaning of the various fields, including points of consideration.

Taxonomic Authority

Having a taxonomic authority helps ensure that the species that you are calling XYZ is the same species that someone on the other side of the globe when they refer to species XYZ.  This is why we include the ITIS TSN as an attribute of the animal object so we can help ensure its identity.  Visit https://itis.gov for details.

Adding a Species

1. Return to the site homepage and click "Add Animal".  Note you must be a data manager to perform this task.

2. Fill in the fields in the form provided.

3. Click "Save Animal" at the bottom of the page.

Editing a Species

1. From the Species List, find the animal and click the name to view the animal's page.

2. With permissions in place, you should see an Edit bottom near the top and click it to edit the animal.

3. Make the necessary changes and click "Save Animal" at the bottom of the page.

Field Definitions

Scientific Name: (Required) The scientific name as defined by the taxonomic authority.

Common Name(s): (Required) The common name(s) defined by the taxonomic authority.  Multiple common names can be added which can make it easier to find this species from a list.

Genus: (Optional) Enter the animal's genus.

Species: (Optional) Enter the animal's species name.

Subspecies: (Optional) Enter the animal's subspecies name, if you choose to go to the subspecies level.

Animal Category: (Required) Defines the major categories for the animals in the system, such as Birds, Amphibians, or Reptiles.  We designate Mammals into small, medium, and large species with this category too.  This category, along with the group designation below, allow for reports to summarize off of this category rather than the direct species.

Animal Group: (Optional) These animal groups provide 

IUCN Conservation Status: (Optional) This field is intended to assign the IUCN Conservation Status to the species.

Sort Order: (Required) With this field, the data manager can specify the sort order the animal will appear in the list.

ITIS TSN: (Optional) Taxonomic Serial Number.  This is the unique number given by ITIS (https://itis.gov) to identify that animal.

ITIS Parent TSN: (Optional) The Taxonomic Serial Number of the parent to this animal.

Taxon Author: (Optional) Credit the person who "discovered" this species.

CWHR Code: (Optional) California Wildlife Habitat Relationship code to be able to join the data to this identifier.  California only at the moment (since these animal data come from CROS).

Description: (Optional) There is a text area to optionally add information, such as identifying details for the biologist.