Two primary use cases were considered during this series of meetings on the proposed DwC DNA and Tissue Extension: 1) barcoding, producing a 1:1 mapping between sample read this and taxonomy, and 2) metagenomics / molecular community ecology that employs next-generation sequencing methods where there is typically a 1-to-many mapping between sample and taxonomy. An important distinction made over both workshops was to consider ��sample�� exclusive of the DwC term ��occurrence��. Samples can potentially contain many discrete organisms, while occurrence is generally regarded as an instance of one organism, known generally by a single taxonomic name or operation identifier. Thus, while occurrence is suitable for representing use case #1, it fails in representing use case #2, especially in the context of reference implementations.

In the interests of timing the first release of a DwC DNA and Tissue Extension, and working with GBIF developers on the follow-up conference call in December of 2012, the group decided to solve use case #1 (1:1 mapping between sample and taxonomy) now by using occurrence as an organizing concept, and then solve use case #2 (bulk sampling) later in 2013. This allows the DwC DNA and Tissue Extension to be immediately useful in linking occurrence data to tissues for single taxon instances, which works seamlessly for GBIF��s harvesting tools. The 1:many case for bulk sampling will be implemented when we can officially recognize samples as a different conceptual unit than occurrence. Advocating proposed changes to DwC vocabulary items to reflect this distinction is part of RCN4GSC��s continuing work in 2013.

BiSciCol: Tracking identifiers and content inbBiological sciences collections BiSciCol is building an infrastructure for tracking biological science collections objects and their derivatives. Developing this infrastructure in practice has led to two significant challenges: 1) implementing stable, globally unique, resolvable Batimastat identifiers, and 2) classifying and linking information across multiple domains and information standards. The ontological approach undertaken in the workshops has significantly helped BiSciCol address the second challenge. BiSciCol is concerned with tracking objects and their derivatives, regardless of the database source or standards alignment.