3.5 Outputs
- Past experience in operating the MPTS data base has shown that by far the most numerous information requests involve the identification of species which are likely to meet certain biophysical conditions and requirements in terms of uses obtainable from those species.
- In order to meet such demands from the data base a search is formulated in the form of a string of concurrent conditions which then produces a list of candidate species.
- The species so identified can then be described in the following two output forms:
(i) MPTS Species Profiles which in a standardized format provide a passport-type description of any species (see Appendix 2);
(ii) MPTS Species Summary Sheets which summarize all information, in- cluding non-standardized remarks, in a tabular form (e.g. Table 1 Geographic Distribution, Table 2 Climate, etc.).
- These summary sheets are more elaborate as compared to the species profiles as they allow us to relate, for example, phenological data to a location which is clearly identified by country, growing site, latitude, longitude and altitude (see Appendix 3).
- Apart from these two major outputs the data base can also respond to any other information request such as, for example, which species of the family Burseraceae are reported to provide exudates, or which species have been reported to grow on heavy clay.