Contents of RepFocus
Home - Taxonomy - Geography - Biodiversity - Literature - News & background - Recent updates - Contact - Purchase RepFocus www.repfocus.dk  





History of RepFocus

The first serious steps towards what has now become RepFocus was taken in 1992. It was initially intended to be published as a book, however, it soon became evident that a manuscript of this magnitude was much better suited for publication as an e-book rather than a printed book. Most importantly, an e-book can be updated and published in new editions much easier and less costly, which almost eliminates the major disadvantage of a printed book: - it soon becomes outdated!

The deadline for new information to be added to the manuscript of the 1st edition of RepFocus was December 31st, 2018.

RepFocus is written in html format, which makes it as easy to navigate through as a website, simply by clicking through the publication from page to page by the help of thousands of links. The html format also allows selected contents of the book to be easily uploaded to a parallel website
(www.repfocus.dk) without much additional editing.

It was decided to publish the book when the Taxonomy and Geography sections (see menu above) were completed. Initially, it was not the plan to include any distribution maps, but since many had already been prepared, these maps have been included. The plan is to produce maps for all species of the world, although fulfilling this objective will only partially be accomplished in time for the 2nd edition of RepFocus. In summary, RepFocus is an on-going project that hopefully will appear in frequent new editions, possibly one every year.

Editorial priorities in the preparation of the 2nd edition:
  • Adding all new species and genera described or revalidated between December 31st, 2018, and the deadline for the 2nd edition (date not set), as well as species that are revised or to which new information is added during the same period.

  • Producing more species distribution maps and updating or improving existing ones. The currently included maps may seem to have been chosen randomly at first glance, but most have been chosen by using some guidelines. The maps include all European species and most species described or revised during the period 2016-2018. A particularly high priority will be to add maps of all medically important species.

  • Adding more regional checklists and biodiversity statistics.



Click here to see the differences between the e-book and the online editions of RepFocus