On the representation of observational data used for classification and identification of natural objects

Starting from an analysis of the qualities of descriptions and of the observational mechanisms, this paper illustrates the interest of using a “naturally” structured representation of observational data. A particular attention is given to the formalization of descriptive concepts and their corresponding representation from a biological point of view. The main goal is to build classification (class definition) and identification systems that take into account diversity, inter-dependancy and variability of observed characters and to handle incomplete information.