We have just launched the ability to combine existing lists with each other on BUBO Listing. This means that if you have entered one or more country lists say, and wish to add records from these to update your World list, you can now do so.
Combining lists works across different taxonomies so you can add AOS records from a North America list into an IOC-based World list for example; because of taxonomy differences you are likely to find some records that cannot be automatically combined and you will be notified of these.
Combining lists works with lists that you have already created. If you wish to create an entirely new list based on records from an already existing one, Create New List already does exactly that. You can only combine lists one at a time, so if you want to combine your British list and your North American list into your World list for example, you could first combine the British list with your World list, then separately combine your North American list.
If a species does not exist on the list you are copying to, but is recognised by the authority, it will be added. If the species is already on the list then the details (date, location etc.) will be taken from the earlier of the two records from the lists being combined.
To combine a list with another:
- Select the Combine Lists option from the user menu when logged in.
- First select the primary list, i.e. the one to which you wish to add records, from the table.
- Then select the secondary list, i.e. the one which contains the records you wish to combine with the primary list, from the dropdown selection below the table.
- You will be asked to confirm before the combining is done. The operation is complicated and cannot be undone, so do check carefully (e.g. to see that you have primary and secondary lists the correct way round) before going ahead.
- You are also given the option to add a note to the location of each record. This is particularly useful when combining records with a World list since you can ensure that the country of the secondary list is carried across to the primary. For example, if I was combining a Norfolk county list into my World list I may have an existing species record with a location of "Cley". This location alone would be fairly meaningless on a World list, so I could add a location note of "Norfolk, England": the resulting World list entry would show as "Cley [Norfolk, England]".
- After combining you will be shown (and emailed) those species that have been copied. You may have some manual updates to make to the new primary list, particularly where taxonomies differ.
Note that if a species on the secondary list has been split or lumped on the primary list, it will not be copied. We recommend you process all taxonomic updates on the secondary list before combining lists.
If you encounter any problems at all then please Contact Us. As always we'd love to hear your feedback too - a posting in the forums is best for this so that other BUBO Listers can add their comments.