Use of Independent Tables or How to use Relationships

[Danae]

Hello. I am new in Specify and its community. I am trying to migrate a collection from Access to Specify. The version we are using is v7.10.2.3.

We have a collection of vertebrate bones (Collection Object = Bones) which come from pellets (undigested material regurgitated by birds). The pellets are not exactly treated as collection objects in our Institute since they get destroyed sooner or later after proccessing but they do have some data on their own (measurments, species of the bird, agent who proccessed the pellet and extracted the bones etc). I need to somehow connect the bones to the pellet they were derived from.

I`m not sure which is the best way to do this. Should we create 2 different Collections which are related to each other? Should be create 2 different Object Types in 1 collection (but how would they then connect)? Is it maybe possible to make a custom Independent Table within the Bone Collection with the information of the pellets and then make a relationship between this Table with the bones? Do you maybe have another more suitable suggestion?

All the best,

Danae

[bhumikagupta]

Hello @Danae,

Thank you for reaching out and welcome to Specify! That’s an excellent question, and there are a couple of great ways to model this relationship in Specify.

Within A Single Collection

For most situations, the most straightforward approach is to manage everything within a single collection using a combination of Collection Object Types and Collection Object Groups (COGs).

This method is designed for exactly this kind of situation, where you have multiple discrete items (the bones) that originate from a single source (the pellet).

Here’s how it would work in practice:

1. Define Your Object Types: First, create two Collection Object Types: “Pellet” and “Bone”. This helps categorize your records for searching and data entry.
   • Collection Object Types Documentation
2. Group the Objects: Create a single Collection Object record for the pellet itself, where you can store all of its unique data. Then, use a Collection Object Group (COG) to link that one pellet record to all the individual bone records derived from it.

Collection Object Groups

Introduction When research specimens and samples are itemized in a Specify database, they are represented as Specify “Collection Objects” or “COs”. It is not uncommon in collections to have discrete Collection Objects that have, or have had, some type of physical relationship that needs to be recorded in data. For example, two different Collection Objects might have been part of the same physical object or biological organism in the field. Or perhaps specimens that were independent entities in …

It would look like this on the data entry form:

You can click the (pencil) icon to open a dialog to see the other items in the group:

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With Two Separate Collections

If the pellets and bones have very different data management needs, another powerful option is to manage the vertebrate bones in an entirely separate collection.

You could add a new “Vertebrate Bones” collection to your database and then use Specify’s Collection Relationship system to link it to your original collection containing the pellets.

What this would look like:
You would configure a formal relationship where the pellet collection is the “Source” and the bone collection is the “Destination.” On the data entry form for each bone, you would have a field to look up and link it back to the specific pellet record it came from in the other collection. This creates a clear, one-to-many link between the two distinct datasets.

It would look like this on your data entry form:

Bird (Left/Source):

Bones (Right/Destination):

Collection Relationships

Collection Relationships Collection relationships in Specify allow specimens to be associated with either specimens in another collection or with a taxonomic name in another collection. Some examples of these types of relationships are tissue and voucher, plant and pollinator and host parasite, etc. Specify allows collection objects in two different collections to be related to one another for the purpose of documenting these types of relationships. The collections may be in different discipline…

Note that you can use a Collection Relationship within the same collection if that is desired as well. While keeping everything in one collection is often simpler, the two-collection approach offers more administrative separation if your workflow requires it.

I hope this helps!

Best,

Bhumika