Table: `ndb.synonyms`#

Description#

This table lists common synonyms for taxa in the Taxa table. No effort has been made to provide a complete taxonomic synonymy, but rather to list synonyms commonly used in recent literature. This table is not the same as the Synonomy table, also present in Neotoma, which links a specific synonymy to a dataset

TODO: Expand this description with: - What data does this table store? - What is the business/research purpose? - How is this data collected or generated? - Are there any important caveats or data quality issues?

Table Structure#

Schema: ndb | Table Comment: This table lists common synonyms for taxa in the Taxa table. No effort has been made to provide a complete taxonomic synonymy, but rather to list synonyms commonly used in recent literature. This table is not the same as the Synonomy table, also present in Neotoma, which links a specific synonymy to a dataset

Statistics#

Metric	Value
Row Count	2,881
Total Size	872 kB
Table Size	176 kB
Indexes Size	672 kB

Relationships#

Primary Key: synonymid

Foreign Keys:

invalidtaxonid → taxa.taxonid
synonymtypeid → synonymtypes.synonymtypeid
validtaxonid → taxa.taxonid

Referenced By:

TODO: Document which tables reference this table (will be auto-detected in validation).

Data Dictionary#

Column	Type	Nullable	Default	Constraints	Description
`synonymid`	integer	✗	`nextval('ndb.seq_synonyms_s...`	PRIMARY KEY	An arbitrary synonym identification number.
`invalidtaxonid`	integer	✗	`-`	-
`validtaxonid`	integer	✗	`-`	-
`synonymtypeid`	integer	✓	`-`	FOREIGN KEY	Type of synonym. Field links to the SynonymTypes lookup table.
`recdatecreated`	timestamp without time zone	✗	`timezone('UTC'::text, now())`	-
`recdatemodified`	timestamp without time zone	✗	`-`	-

TODO: Review column descriptions and add comments where missing.

Usage Examples#

Example 1: Basic Selection#

-- Get recent records from synonyms
SELECT *
FROM synonyms
ORDER BY synonymid DESC
LIMIT 10;

Purpose: Retrieve the 10 most recent records from synonyms

Example 2: Count Records#

-- Count total records
SELECT COUNT(*) as total_records
FROM synonyms;

Purpose: Get the total number of records in synonyms

Example 3: Filter by Date Range#

-- Get records within a date range
SELECT *
FROM synonyms
WHERE recdatecreated >= '2024-01-01'
  AND recdatecreated < '2025-01-01'
ORDER BY recdatecreated DESC;

Purpose: Retrieve records from synonyms within a specific date range

Example 4: Join with taxa#

-- Join with related table
SELECT 
    t1.*,
    t2.*
FROM synonyms t1
INNER JOIN taxa t2 
    ON t1.invalidtaxonid = t2.taxonid
LIMIT 100;

Purpose: Retrieve synonyms records with related data from taxa

Example 5: Aggregate Data#

-- Aggregate records by invalidtaxonid
SELECT 
    invalidtaxonid,
    COUNT(*) as count
FROM synonyms
GROUP BY invalidtaxonid
ORDER BY count DESC
LIMIT 10;

Purpose: Count records grouped by invalidtaxonid

TODO: Add more specific examples relevant to common research questions or operational tasks.

Data Quality Notes#

TODO: Document: - Known data quality issues - Validation rules - Expected data ranges - Update frequency and mechanisms - Any ETL processes that populate this table

Maintenance#

Data Owner: TODO: Assign owner
Update Frequency: TODO: Document frequency
Last Major Schema Change: TODO: Document when schema last changed

Table: ndb.synonyms#