Definition of GGBN Terms

This is an example of 6 material entities that are aggregated as three GGBN records (green [1], red [2] and blue [3]) through their relationships. Together they represent one occurrence. Each material entity is assigned to a stable GGBN identifier

Occurrence

Definition	An existence of a dwc:Organism at a particular place at a particular time. (Source https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#occurrence)
Comments	This term describes the top level of aggregated information. One ore more records can form an occurrence. Occurrences can be related to each other, e.g. collected tissue from the same organism at a different time or as parasite/host relationship. Related records that form together one occurrence are marked as such in GGBN.
Examples	two tissue samples and one specimen, the two tissue samples being derived from the same specimen 200 DNA samples, 200 cultures and one environmental sample, each of the DNA samples being derived from one of the 200 cultures, which are all derived from the same environmental sample

Record

Definition	A chain of material entities that are directly related to each other.
Comments	This terms describes the aggregated derived from information chain for directly related material entities. Records can be related to each other as one occurrence record. Records are the basis for search, display and counts/statistics within the GGBN Data Portal. The number of material entities for the same record can increase over time.
Examples	a DNA sample and a tissue sample, the DNA being directly derived from the tissue a tissue sample and a culture, the tissue being directly derived from the culture a DNA sample, a tissue sample and a specimen, the DNA being directly derived from the tissue sample, which is directly derived from the specimen an eDNA sample and an environmental sample, the eDNA sample bering directly derived from the environmental sample

Material entity

Definition	An entity that can be identified, exists for some period of time, and consists in whole or in part of physical matter while it exists. (Source https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#materialentity)
Comments	This term describes any kind of a physical DNA, tissue or environmental sample, preserved specimen, fossil, or exemplar from living collections. Material entities can be related to each other as one record. Each material entity has a GGBN stable identifier assigned to it and a dedicated landing page.
Examples	an instance of a herbarium sheet with its attached plant specimen an instance of a frozen tissue sample a specific water sample a particular wolf in a zoo a specific deep-frozen DNA sample

Taxon

Definition	A group of organisms (sensu http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/OBI_0100026) considered by taxonomists to form a homogeneous unit. (Source: https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#taxon)
Comments	In GGBN it is used to count the lowest available identifications. Counts for each taxonomic level can be retrieved through the GGBN API: https://www.ggbn.org/ggbn_portal/api/
Examples	Holochilus sciureus Wagner, 1842 Eschweilera Mart. ex DC. Acleris Hübner, [1825], 1816

Data provider

Definition	A GGBN member institution with core status, providing its biobank collection data to the GGBN data portal.
Comments	Some members share multiple datasets through GGBN which are merged together to one resource (data provider).
Examples	MSB, Albuquerque NHMO, Oslo INRAE, Paris

Document

Definition	An entry in the GGBN Document Library (https://library.ggbn.org).
Comments	The majority of documents is available as open access and can be accessed without login. The restricted access document require to login.
Examples	a research paper a slide deck from a presentation held at a GGBN meeting a GGBN information document (newsletter, annual report) a video (recorded presentation)