Querying the Database

Users wanting to query our database may prefer to use the query and data exploration tools provided by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) here.

Queries using our website are made from the Data tab and allow users to construct personalized queries. Users may include many database fields including geography (county, basin, HUC, natural region, partial locality descriptions), collection dates (as a year range), collector name, taxonomy (family, genus and/or species), donor institution and catalog number. Users can also limit their queries to only those records with georeferenced error radii under a certain distance - an important feature for users needing precisely georeferenced records only. We also allow users to search for text strings in all donor verbatim fields. We highly recommend users do this to find any records not found via queries constructed with our edited fields. Users can also search specifically for records with associated items in our digital library including field notes or images. Tool tips, which become visible when the cursor is scrolled over a "?" icon next to the menu title, offer explanations that are important for understanding details regarding the field and how it can affect a query.

There are a few basic things to keep in mind when designing queries:

• Users should understand that all records are associated with a collection date range, usually the same day, but in some extreme instances the range can be quite large spanning approximately 150 years (see how we process dates). Our date search requires users to enter a begin and end range and only retrieves records with ranges entirely within the queried range. For example, a record collected sometime between 1975 and 2006 will not be returned if the queried range is 1970 to 1976, while a record collected from 1975 to 1976 will be returned.
• Users should know that queries using our locality and geography fields (those on the right side of our query window) will only retrieve records that we have georeferenced (see our georeferencing methods). Many more records are contained in the database including records that we were not able to georeference, due to vague descriptions, internal conflicts, or being from locations outside of our scope. Users should also query the verbatim locality fields to retrieve all records of potential interest.
• Higher geographies and categorical geographic areas (those on the right side of our query window) were populated using GIS from on the coordinate-defined position. Since our occurrences are defined by a circle (coordinates and radius error) users can be confused when records defined by a circle covering more than one area do not show up in results.  See our georeferencing methods to learn more.
• It is not possible at this time to query the database for hybrids. See here for details on how to find these records.
• Query results may have apparent duplicates. See here to understand how that happens.
• Results include records that we've identified as suspect and/or for which specimens have been examined by us. These are identified in the query results according to our color coding methods.
• Read our documentation to best understand how to make effective queries, retrieve all the data you are looking for, and interpret your data properly.