# Data provenance and reuse status

Inputs originate in the user-supplied quercus-v0.15 archive. The metadata below describes the supplied snapshot's attribution; it is not a newly granted license. Public method and species pages include source links. Do not apply a blanket code license to third-party datasets.

| Input | Source / supplied attribution | Status |
|---|---|---|
| NC_Vascular_Flora_20260901.csv | Vascular Plants of North Carolina; LeGrand, Sorrie & Howard | Source-specific redistribution permission not established in the archive |
| invasive_nc.json | NC Native Plant Society / NC Invasive Plant Council list | Source-specific redistribution permission not established in the archive |
| lep_hosts_nc.json | Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, ZooKeys; ODbL | Preserve attribution and applicable derived-database obligations |
| globi_bees_nc.json | Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026 curated GloBI data; CC BY 4.0 | Preserve attribution |
| specialist_bees_nc.json | Big-Bee specialization study / Fowler table; CC BY 4.0 | Preserve attribution and transformation details |
| avian_diet_nc.json | Hurlbert et al., Avian Diet Database; CC0 | Attribution retained |
| usda_fit_nc.json, usda_habit_nc.json | USDA PLANTS, federal data | `usda_fit_nc.json` is the active characteristics/county snapshot; `usda_habit_nc.json` supplies complementary habit data |
| usda_characteristics_subset.json | USDA PLANTS, federal data; queried 2026-09-23 | Retained as input evidence. The loader merges its subset-only rows, then prefers fields in the newer full snapshot; it is not an independent current source |
| niinemets_tolerance.json | Niinemets & Valladares 2006 appendix; supplied as CC0 | Attribution retained |
| nwpl_emp.json | USACE National Wetland Plant List, Eastern Mountains & Piedmont | Occurrence proxy; missing matches remain unknown |
| cvalues_nc.json | NC DWR coefficient-of-conservatism data | Retained for experimental backend research only; excluded from public pages and records. Supplied metadata requests permission; not independently verified. Conservation fidelity does not establish garden tolerance |
| caterpillarscount_nc.json | Caterpillars Count!, UNC Chapel Hill; CC0 | Retain contributor acknowledgment; not part of score |
| nc_counties.json | Census adjacency and hand-built province mapping | Occurrences and province assignment are not proof of indigenous range |
| harm_nc.json | Per-entry research references in the data | References and claim wording verified for the two current entries; penalties remain Quercus policy choices, not measured effect sizes |
| species_seed.json | Hand-entered development fixtures | Unverified traits never justify a confident fit verdict |
| nonbee_evidence.json and raw/nonbee | Robertson 1929 via GloBI contributor mirror; Web of Life taxonomy; Penn & Crist 2018 ant-seed supplement (CC BY 4.0 article) | Species-matched evidence earns provisional credit: one point per documented insect group, capped at +5 before rarity adjustment. Robertson/Web of Life reuse terms and historical taxonomy remain unresolved. See the private repository report reports/nonbee-assessment.md for geographic filters, duplicates, and scoring trials |

Full citation URLs are maintained centrally in `quercus/site.py`. Build inputs remain versioned with the source so results can be traced to a release commit. Personal yard records and raw examples are excluded from the repository and generated website. The source audit and reproducible hash-difference workflow are in the private repository report reports/source-audit-2026-09-24.md.

The USDA shade-class interpretation is based on an inverse association in 193 exact-name woody-species matches: High=2.009, Medium=2.723, Low=3.469 on the independent 1–5 shade-tolerance scale. It does not identify the upstream cause or establish universal correctness for herbaceous plants.

## Caterpillar derived-data notice

Contains information from Shropshire & Tallamy (2025), [ZooKeys 1261](https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1261.160796), made available under the [Open Database License 1.0](https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/). Quercus filters host records to its NC reference cohort, consolidates genus names and counts recorded caterpillar species. The resulting caterpillar host-count data are made available under that same license in each public plant JSON record (the caterpillars factor). This notice does not apply a blanket license to other datasets or establish permission for sources whose terms remain unresolved.