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Bionomia

Link natural history specimens to the world's collectors
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Actions6

  • Occurrence Actions
  • Occurrence Search Actions
  • Parse Actions
  • Person Actions
  • People Search Actions
  • Speciman Actions

Overview

The node integrates with the Bionomia API to perform a "People Search" operation, specifically the "Get" action. It allows users to search for people (collectors or researchers) linked to natural history specimens based on a query string and optional filters such as date, taxonomic families collected or identified, pagination, and strict matching criteria.

This node is beneficial in scenarios where you want to find individuals associated with biodiversity data, for example:

  • Researchers looking for collectors who have contributed specimens within a certain date range.
  • Biodiversity informatics projects aiming to link specimen data to people.
  • Data enrichment workflows that require detailed information about people involved in natural history collections.

Practical example: Searching for all people related to the query "Smith" who collected specimens from specific taxonomic families during 2020, limiting results to 50 per page.

Properties

Name Meaning
Query The search query string used to find people.
Additional Fields A collection of optional filters and parameters:
- Date Filter by a date expressed as YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY.
- Families Collected Comma-separated list of taxonomic families collected by the people.
- Families Identified Comma-separated list of taxonomic families identified by the people.
- Strict Boolean flag controlling if matches must strictly meet the families collected, families identified, and date filters when provided.
- Page The page number of the results to retrieve (for pagination).
- Limit Maximum number of results to return (minimum value is 1).

Output

The output is a JSON array containing the search results returned by the Bionomia API's /users/search endpoint. Each item in the array represents a person matching the search criteria, including their associated metadata as provided by the API.

The node does not output binary data.

Dependencies

  • Requires internet access to call the Bionomia API endpoints.
  • No explicit API key or authentication is required according to the code; it uses public API endpoints.
  • No additional n8n credentials or environment variables are needed.

Troubleshooting

  • Empty Results: If the search returns no results, verify that the query string and filters are correctly set and that there are matching records in the Bionomia database.
  • Invalid Date Format: Ensure dates are formatted as YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, or YYYY. Incorrect formats may cause the API to ignore the filter or return errors.
  • Pagination Issues: If requesting pages beyond available results, the API may return empty arrays.
  • API Unreachable: Network issues or changes in the Bionomia API URL could cause request failures. Check network connectivity and API status.
  • Rate Limiting: Although not explicitly handled, excessive requests might be throttled by the API.

Links and References

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