ABOUT THIS SOFTWARE
===================

The Symbiota Software Project is building a library of webtools to 
aid biologists in establishing specimen based virtual floras and 
faunas. This project developed from the realization that complex, 
information rich biodiversity portals are best built through 
collaborative efforts between software developers, biologist, 
wildlife managers, and citizen scientist. The central premise 
of this open source software project is that through a partnership 
between software engineers and scientific community, higher quality 
and more publicly useful biodiversity portals can be built. An 
open source software framework allows the technicians to create 
the tools, thus freeing the biologist to concentrate their efforts 
on the curation of quality datasets. In this manor, we can create 
something far greater than a single entity is capable of doing on 
their own.

More information about this project can be accessed through:

http://symbiota.org/


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
================ 

Symbiota has been generously funded by the National Science 
Foundation (DBI-0743827) from 15 July 2008 to 30 June 2011 
(Estimated). The Global Institute of Sustainability 
(GIOS) at Arizona State University has also been a major 
supporters of the Symbiota initiative since the very beginning. 
Arizona State University Vascular Plant and Lichen Herbarium have 
been intricately involved in the development from the start. 
Sky Island Alliance and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum have both 
been long-term participants in the development of this product.


NOTES
=====


FEATURES
========

* Specimen Search Engine
   * Taxonomic Thesaurus for querying taxonomic synonyms
   * Google Map and Google Earth mapping capabilities
   * Dynamic species list generated from specimens records
* Flora/Fauna Management System
   * Static species list (local floras/faunas) 
* Interactive Identification Keys
   * Key generation for are species list within system
   * Key generator based on a point locality
* Image Library 


LIMITATIONS
===========

* Only tested on Linux and Window (XP, Vista) operating systems
* Should work with an PHP enabled web server though only 
  tested with Apache HTTP Server


INSTALLATION
============

Please read the INSTALL.txt file for installation instructions.


TROUBLESHOOTING
===============




DEVELOPER GUIDELINES
====================

Anyone willing to collaborate is welcome. Please contact the author 
about your plans and for SVN access:
egbot at asu dot edu


The following guidelines are adopted:

* Each class has its own file with the same name.
* Class properties are always manipulated through accessors and mutators.
* Give preference to longer and clearer variable, function and class 
  names.