Establishment Means Controlled Vocabulary List of Terms
- Title
- Establishment Means Controlled Vocabulary List of Terms
- Namespace URI
- http://rs.tdwg.org/dwcem/values/
- Preferred namespace abbreviation
- dwcem:
- Date version issued
- 2025-06-12
- Date created
- 2020-10-13
- Part of TDWG Standard
- http://www.tdwg.org/standards/450
- This document version
- http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/doc/em/2025-06-12
- Latest version of document
- http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/doc/em/
- Previous version
- http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/doc/em/2021-09-01
- Abstract
- The Darwin Core term
establishmentMeans
provides information about whether an organism or organisms have been introduced to a given place and time through the direct or indirect activity of modern humans. The Establishment Means Controlled Vocabulary provides terms that should be used as values for dwc:establishmentMeans
and dwciri:establishmentMeans
.
- Contributors
- Quentin Groom, Peter Desmet, Lien Reyserhove, Tim Adriaens, Damiano Oldoni, Sonia Vanderhoeven, Steven J Baskauf, Arthur Chapman, Melodie McGeoch, Ramona Walls, John Wieczorek, John R.U. Wilson, Paula F Zermoglio, Annie Simpson
- Creator
- TDWG Darwin Core Maintenance Group
- Bibliographic citation
- Darwin Core Maintenance Group. 2025. Establishment Means Controlled Vocabulary List of Terms. Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG). http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/doc/em/2025-06-12
1 Introduction
This document includes terms intended to be used as a controlled value for Darwin Core terms with local name establishmentMeans
. For details and rationale, see Groom et al. 2019. Improving Darwin Core for research and management of alien species. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.38084
1.1 Status of the content of this document
In Section 4, the values of the Term IRI
, Definition
, and Controlled value
are normative. The value of Usage
(if it exists for a given term) is normative. The values of Term Name
are non-normative, although one can expect that the namespace abbreviation prefix is one commonly used for the term namespace. Label
and the values of all other properties (such as Notes
) are non-normative.
1.2 RFC 2119 key words
The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
2 Use of Terms
Due to the requirements of Section 1.4.3 of the Darwin Core RDF Guide, term IRIs MUST be used as values of dwciri:establishmentMeans
. Controlled value strings MUST be used as values of dwc:establishmentMeans
.
3 Term index
establishmentMeans controlled concept scheme |
introduced (alien, exotic, non-native, nonindigenous) |
introduced: assisted colonisation |
native (indigenous) |
native: endemic |
native: reintroduced |
uncertain (unknown, cryptogenic) |
vagrant (casual)
4 Vocabulary
Term Name dwcem:e003 |
Term IRI |
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwcem/values/e003 |
Modified |
2021-09-01 |
Term version IRI |
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwcem/values/version/e003-2021-09-01 |
Label |
introduced (alien, exotic, non-native, nonindigenous) |
Definition |
Establishment of a taxon by human agency into an area that is not part of its natural range. |
Notes |
Organisms can be introduced to novel areas and habitats by human activity, either on purpose or by accident. Humans can also inadvertently create corridors that break down natural barriers to dispersal and allow organisms to spread beyond their natural range. |
Controlled value |
introduced |
Type |
Concept |
Executive Committee decision |
http://rs.tdwg.org/decisions/decision-2020-10-13_24 |
Term Name dwcem:e007 |
Term IRI |
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwcem/values/e007 |
Modified |
2025-06-12 |
Term version IRI |
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwcem/values/version/e007-2025-06-12 |
Label |
native: endemic |
Definition |
A taxon with a natural distribution restricted to a single geographical area. |
Notes |
The term endemic is a subcategory of native and relates to geography, such as "areas of endemism", bioregions, and sometimes administrative boundaries. While a native taxon can naturally occur in several geographical areas an endemic taxon only occurs in one. In Darwin Core terms this would mean, "A dwc:Organism referred to is recognized as a member of a dwc:Taxon endemic to the dcterms:Location at the time of the dwc:Occurrence." |
Controlled value |
nativeEndemic |
Type |
Concept |
Executive Committee decision |
http://rs.tdwg.org/decisions/decision-2025-06-12_47 |