Published reviews of Biota

Systematic Biology, Volume 46 (3), pages 574-575 (1997), reviewed by David Cannatella.

"...systematists, ecologists, and conservation biologists have muddled along without an effective tool for managing precious data. Rob Colwell has crafted Biota, a powerful and easy-to-use information management system that fills that need more than adequately....Biota is an extremely useful and perhaps unparalleled software tool for any biologist who manages biodiversity information."

Ecology, Volume 78 (8), pages 2641-2642 (1997), reviewed by David Inouye.

"The Biota program appears to achieve all that is implied by its subtitle, The Biodiversity Database Manager. It is relatively inexpensive given all that it will do, it is easy to learn how to use, and it is flexible enough to be of use in a variety of applications. I expect that it may be widely adopted, and serve as a model for how a working ecologist can develop a software solution for a particular application, and then generalize it for an appreciative audience."

Public Garden, Volume 13 (4), page 26 (1998), reviewed by Richard V. Piacentini.

"Biota is easy to install and to get up and running. The tutorial program is excellent, and quickly takes you through most of the important features of the program….Probably the most important feature in the program is that users can customize Biota by adding an unlimited number of user-defined auxiliary fields….Biota is a powerful program. It was designed to record collection data on biological specimens and this is where the program excels. Biota has a lot to recommend it, including price. At $125 a copy for the single-user version, one would be hard pressed to find a program that does as much as this one….While Biota could be made to work effectively most gardens, its strongest application would be in those gardens that record and track wild collected data on their collections."

Cimbebasia, Volume 15, pages 168-170 (1999), reviewed by Eugène Marais, National Museum of Namibia.

"Database development is even more difficult in developing countries with limited resources… This is the advantage of Biota--it is an "off-the-shelf," stand-alone application with comprehensive information management tools, costs appreciably less than other patented database applications, and addresses most biological information needs…Even better, it has an extensive and detailed manual…which facilitates training and troubleshooting during rather than before data capture…These features--"plug and play," a detailed manual, truly relational and continuous improvements--are the real strengths of Biota…Biota is comprehensive, available, and allows full data-capture implementation within a couple of days after minimal training. Answers to questions are only a website or an e-mail away, which is more than can be said for most other products. Biota, as a full working database, costs less than general database application software, and arrives with a comprehensive manual to boot."

What does Biota do and who is it for?

Biota helps you manage specimen-based biodiversity and collections data by providing an easy-to-use graphical interface to a fully relational database structure.

With a comprehensive, profusely illustrated Manual (plus a Supplement for Version 1.2) to back up intuitive menus and screens, Biota offers a rich array of user-tested tools for rapid data input, update, maintenance, analysis, and reporting. Biota's capable Import Editor helps you convert your existing data sets to Biota's relational structure, and a wide array of text and image file export tools provides easy access to your data for analysis and publication using other applications.

For ecologists, conservation biologists, reserve managers, and biogeographers, Biota offers efficient and flexible tools for recording and analyzing locality- or sample-based survey data, including full geographic and taxonomic information and images. Export options include species-by-collection abundance or incidence matrices based on any selection of records, ready for statistical analysis; hierarchical taxonomic files in HTML, ready to post on a Web server; and many options for text files.

For taxonomists, systematists, and collections managers, Biota offers rigorous tools for recording data and images for specimen determinations as well as for revisions and evolutionary studies. You can export species-by-character matrices in NEXUS format and virtually journal-ready Specimens Examined lists, from any selection of records. Managers of institutional or personal collections and data managers for biodiversity surveys will welcome Biota's straightforward specimen loan management system, label-printing and label text export facilities (for pinned, fluid-preserved, slide-mounted, or herbarium specimens), and Biota's client-server readiness (TCP/IP based).

Biota's features include unlimited user-definable fields; recursive specimen relations (e.g., herbivore-plant, parasite-host, DNA-specimen); automatic maintenance of a specimen determination "audit-trail"; flexible barcode/manual input for record entry, record retrieval, and loan management; and a password security system with multiple privilege levels.

Formats and Platforms. Biota is available in two formats. BiotaApp is a stand-alone, single-user application with an integrated database engine (4D Engine). You need no additional software to run BiotaApp.

The alternative format, Biota4D, intended for multiuser, networked environments, runs in true client/server mode under 4D Server^TM (ACI, Inc.). Biota4D also runs under 4th Dimension^TM in single-user mode. You must purchase 4D Server^TM or 4th Dimension^TM separately from a commercial vendor to run Biota4D. Other than client/server readiness, Biota4D is functionally identical with BiotaApp.

Biota data files can be used interchangeably with either BiotaApp or Biota4D, and are fully transportable between Macintosh and Windows operating systems.