ACCESS NUMBER: 30951-16801 

STUDY TITLE: Assessment and Reduction of Taxonomic Error in Benthic Surveys 

REPORT TITLE: Preparation of an Interactive Key for Northern Gulf of Mexico Polychaete 

Taxonomy Employing the DELTA/INTKEY System

CONTRACT NUMBER: 14-35-0001-99-CA-30951-16801 

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Gulf of Mexico 

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Western, Central, and Eastern Gulf of Mexico 

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 1999-2002 

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: October 2003 

COST(S); FY1999 $29,511; FY 2000 $29,511; FY 2001 $29,511; FY 2002 $29,511: 

CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST $188,044 

PROJECT MANAGERS: Robert S. Carney 

AFFILIATION: Louisiana State University 

ADDRESS: Coastal Studies Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Robert S. Carney 

KEY WORDS: taxonomic quality control, polychaete, database, DELTA/INTKEY

BACKGROUND: An accurate inventory of fauna at the species level is a prerequisite for the 

development of regional-size and longer time-scale syntheses of how benthic fauna varies 

naturally and in response to human perturbations. Without a consistent means of correct 

identification across separate projects, any attempt at synthesis may be plagued by errors in 

identification. Minerals Management Service has previously addressed this problem by 

supporting the compilation of faunal keys for the polychaete worms in the Gulf of Mexico and 

general invertebrate fauna in the Santa Barbara basin region. Over the past 20 years taxonomy 

has made increasing use of computer databases to record and study organism traits. 

Dedicated taxonomic software has been developed that allows for progressive improvement of 

these databases and the creation of interactive keys. 

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of computer aided 

identification by a careful examination of previously published traditional keys to Gulf of Mexico 

polychaetes and the creation of an interactive key.

DESCRIPTION: As an assessment of how difficult identification of polychaetes using traditional 

keys is a trial was conducted using preserved specimens and undergraduate students. 

Following this exercise, the information on traits contained in Uebelacker and Johnson's 

Taxonomic guide to the polychaetes of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Was restructured and 

coded into a database using Descriptive Language for Taxonomic Analysis (DELTA) software. 

An interactive key was then created using the associated program INTKEY.
ACCESS NUMBER: 30951-16801 

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: Computer-Aided Identification systems such as 

DELTA/INTKEY afford ecologists an effective means of identifying invertebrate specimens. For 

a program manager, the creation and updating of a trait database provides a highly effective 

means of capturing the scientific output of experts whose current product is limited to 

identifications. 

STUDY RESULTS: Identification of polychaetes to family by untrained students using a 

traditional key was hindered most by compound questions dealing with parapodia and chaetae. 

A trait database and interactive key were produced that broke these compound questions into 

simpler statements that can be answered in any order the user prefers. The interactive key 

produced was quite complex. Taxa were limited to 476 families and genera and 185 traits 

needed for full resolution.

STUDY PRODUCT(S): Carney, R.S. 2003. Preparation of an interactive key for the northern 

Gulf of Mexico polychaetes taxonomy employing the DELTA/INTKEY system. U.S. Dept. of the 

Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS, New Orleans, La. 46 pages, OCS 

Study MMS 2003-065 

Carney, R.S. 2003. A DELTA/INTKEY interactive key to the polychaetes of the northern Gulf of Mexico. 

Available online at: http://biodiversity.bio.uno.edu/delta/www/data.htm.