BRAHMS, CRIA and speciesLink

 Denis Filer, Senior Research Associate

Department of Biology, University of Oxford

The BRAHMS project has worked with CRIA for many years, facilitating the transfer of data between BRAHMS and speciesLink. This CRIA website has grown into a tremendous national repository of online biodiversity data, a hugely valuable resource for curators and researchers across Brazil and elsewhere.

Logging into the Portuguese version of Brahms

BRAHMS v7 included a function to export specimen data in a format suitable for speciesLink uploads. This older version of BRAHMS, while still widely used in Brazil, has now been superseded by a modernised technology system, v8. With this new version, we are actively working with CRIA to make sure all data transfers are further streamlined and simplified.

Another handy new feature in BRAHMS v8 is the ability to configure the Web Links toolbar. You can now register any website you wish and add search parameters as appropriate. The example provided here is for speciesLink. Search links can be based on a number of parameters, typically the Genus and Species name or the catalogue number for the current record. In either of these cases, the result is a dynamic link to speciesLink, with listings for the current species or specimen being displayed and updated as you browse through your data grid.

The Web Links toolbar is configured to include a direct link to speciesLink

The data grid here has a single filter applied for the genus Virola. The Web Link connection uses the genus + species names - but could equally use the specimen catalogue number.

The Web Links editor on the BRAHMS Management menu includes options to select icons and toolbar text; add the URL with search parameters using any data fields from the relevant table; set whether the link is personal or shared; and choose the tables the Web Link is associated with. Any text inside "< >" is converted to an actual data value, for example, Virola%20multinervia.

The new BRAHMS v8 system is now licensed by Oxford University Innovation (OUI). OUI are aware that many herbaria including those of Brazil have limited budgets and often no budget for software. While the system still has to be licensed and paid for, OUI have developed a perpetual license scheme to avoid recurring fees.

Data migration from v7 to the new system is automated. If you would like to see the new BRAHMS in action with your own data updated from v7, you can email BRAHMS@biology.ox.ac.uk. 

Further information about recent developments can be found on

https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/brahms/News and in the newsletter article ‘Innovations and project

news with BRAHMS’ found on https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/Content/Projects/oxford/ops/ops28.pdf.