GENUS & SPECIES in same field of a database:
 
I can see the arguments for each side of your debate, but I agree with Eric.
In the end, you'll probably want them in separate fields.
 
Why?
 
1) Although my own work is in the cataloguing of plants, I imagine that you
face the same issues.  I occasionally want to select all of the records which
pertain to a certain genus (or family, etc), and this is easy if the genus
name is isolated in a distinct field.
 
2) Some database programs allow substring-matching.  That is, you can select
a record if a given field contains a given string anywhere in the field.
This would allow you, for instance, to match the genus name within a field
which contained both the genus and species name.  However, it would also match
any species name which _contained_ the genus name.
        e.g. if both were in the same field, and I searched for substrings:
                A search for the genus "Cineraria" could turn up
                        "Senecio cineraria", which is not what I wanted
                or a search for the genus "Campanula" could include
                        "Agapanthus campanulatus", also not what I want.
 
Again, it's better to keep the two names in separate fields.
 
3) Say you want to change the database design or move the data to a different
platform or database program some day.  It's easier for a database programmer
to join two fields together into one than to split one field in half.
 
4) Your report-generating software can write out [GENUS] [SPECIES] pretty
easily if the words are in separate fields, but may have a more difficult
time if both words are in the same field and you want a report that looks like
"Genus: [GENUS]  Species: [SPECIES]".
 
 
This is just my humble opinion.
 
 
Bob Wildfong                                       [log in to unmask]
Waterloo, Ontario                                  [log in to unmask]