EDIT

Here what Quentin said in his email

"

One important feature is that distributions are not dated (except for the publication date of the linked reference). The only way we can record that a species was present on a particular date is by recording an observation. However, this is not really the most suitable data type for information taken from floras. Observations are also not suitable for absence data, but we will need to record when it was absent."

For example, you extract data from a flora (book). There can be information concerning the distribution at different time periods- for example: "until 1900 : unknown"; "from 1900 to 1920: present"; "from 1920 to 1960: absent"

I think startEndYear is the more appropriate.

Replying to p.kelbert:

Here what Quentin said in his email

"

One important feature is that distributions are not dated (except for the publication date of the linked reference). The only way we can record that a species was present on a particular date is by recording an observation. However, this is not really the most suitable data type for information taken from floras. Observations are also not suitable for absence data, but we will need to record when it was absent."

For example, you extract data from a flora (book). There can be information concerning the distribution at different time periods- for example: "until 1900 : unknown"; "from 1900 to 1920: present"; "from 1920 to 1960: absent"

I think startEndYear is the more appropriate.

So this is more a temporal scope on the status rather then a scope on the area.

Generally we will need more generic scopes on DescriptionElementBase. At least a spatial and a temporal one.

Replying to a.mueller:

Replying to p.kelbert:

Here what Quentin said in his email

"

One important feature is that distributions are not dated (except for the publication date of the linked reference). The only way we can record that a species was present on a particular date is by recording an observation. However, this is not really the most suitable data type for information taken from floras. Observations are also not suitable for absence data, but we will need to record when it was absent."

For example, you extract data from a flora (book). There can be information concerning the distribution at different time periods- for example: "until 1900 : unknown"; "from 1900 to 1920: present"; "from 1920 to 1960: absent"

I think startEndYear is the more appropriate.

So this is more a temporal scope on the status rather then a scope on the area.

Generally we will need more generic scopes on DescriptionElementBase. At least a spatial and a temporal one.

This is actually what we mean and need. The given example is not the limit, but rather a use case of many other. So it doesn't matter if the scope is bound to a status or an area.