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The Morpho User Guide is provided to assist with the use of the Morpho application. This User Guide contains information on getting started, creating metadata, opening and editing data and metadata, synchronizing Morpho with network servers for metadata and/or data sharing, and locating data of interest.

If you cannot find the information you are looking for, be sure to check the Frequently Asked Questions section. If you are still having trouble using Morpho, then contact morpho-dev@ecoinformatics.org.

Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB)

The KNB is an international data repository dedicated to facilitating ecological and environmental research on biocomplexity. It enables the efficient discovery, access, and interpretation of ecological data ranging from individual researcher efforts to highly distributed field stations, research sites, and laboratories.
The three main components of the KNB are Morpho, Metacat and EML. Morpho is a framework for storing and serving data and metadata. Metacat is a metadata catalog server and EML is a formal specification for ecological metadata language. Source code for all the products developed under the KNB are available for downloading at http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/.

Morpho

Morpho is a data management tool for ecologists. It was created to provide an easy-to-use, cross-platform application for accessing and manipulating metadata (e.g. documentation) and data (both locally and on the network). Morpho allows ecologists to create metadata, (i.e. describe their data in a standardized format), and create a catalog of data and metadata upon which to query, edit and view data collections. In addition, Morpho provides the means to access network servers, in order to query, view and retrieve relevant, public ecological data!

• Create and Edit Metadata
• Search and Query Metadata Collections
• View Data and Data Collections
• Verify and Edit Data
• Provide Access Control

Many types of "data" can be used with Morpho, including data tables and images.

Metacat

Metacat stands for "Metadata Catalog". Metacat servers allow ecologists to share their data and metadata via the Internet. A Metacat is essentially a server from which ecologists (through using Morpho) can upload, download, store, query and view relevant metadata and data on the KNB (Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity). Metacat servers can also be accessed independently of Morpho, such as via a Web browser, or calls from a database, but this requires some specialized programming. Morpho is the easiest way for most ecologists to immediately access and store metadata and data on a Metacat server. Among other things, the KNB supports a network of Metacat servers.

Ecological Metadata Language (EML)

Ecological Metadata Language (EML) is a metadata specification developed by and for the ecology discipline. It is based on prior work done by the Ecological Society of America and associated efforts (Michener et al., 1997, Ecological Applications 7: 330-342). EML is implemented as a series of XML schema and document types, that can be used in a modular and extensible manner to document ecological data. Each EML module is designed to describe one logical part of the total metadata that should be included with any ecological data set.

Help Index