# Adding stratigraphy trees to established disciplines **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Created:** [August 20, 2026, 12:10pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/adding-stratigraphy-trees-to-established-disciplines/4057 "2026-08-20T12:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fedoras](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/fedoras/32/455_2.png) [@fedoras](https://speciforum.org/u/fedoras)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:10pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/adding-stratigraphy-trees-to-established-disciplines/4057/1 "2026-08-20T12:10:03Z")
Is there any way to add stratigraphy trees to collections, or rather, disciplines that are already established? ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/grant/32/4255_2.png) [@Grant](https://speciforum.org/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 4:39pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/adding-stratigraphy-trees-to-established-disciplines/4057/2 "2026-08-20T16:39:17Z")
Hi @fedoras, Thanks for your question! At the moment, you can only see the Lithostrat, Chronostrat, and Tectonic Unit trees if your discipline is of the type `vertpaleo`, `invertpaleo`, or `geology`. There is currently no way to enable these additional trees without changing the discipline type, which would also cause the default forms and app resources to be sourced from those of the newly selected discipline. These trees exist _even if_ the original discipline was outside this list (for example, `ichthyology`), but application-level restrictions make them invisible. Updating the `type` field in the `discipline` table will unlock these additional trees in the interface after you restart the Specify 7 app. Please note that you may need to add ranks beyond root to the trees and provide your own data to fill them in, since they are empty shells that were never expected to be used. ---
**Author:** ![fedoras](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/fedoras/32/455_2.png) [@fedoras](https://speciforum.org/u/fedoras)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 8:06am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/adding-stratigraphy-trees-to-established-disciplines/4057/3 "2026-08-21T08:06:53Z")
Hi Grant! Thanks for the quick reply. The discipline in question was originally set as bird, but later expanded to cover vertebrates in general (without changing the type) and now they want to include quarternary subfossil materials too, so the need for Paleo Context arose. I orignally advised to have a new discipline created, but they wanted otherwise. I was hoping that Collection Object Types could be an option, but those only enable multiple _taxon_ trees. I could still add a boilerplate chronostratigraphy directly to the database, so to make it accessible. Then they just won’t be able to edit it themselves in tree format, but it could work still. ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/grant/32/4255_2.png) [@Grant](https://speciforum.org/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/adding-stratigraphy-trees-to-established-disciplines/4057/4 "2026-08-21T20:05:01Z")
Hi Fedor, If you change the type from `bird` to `vertpaleo` in the `discipline` table, those additional options should appear. If this is done, they should be able to then edit the tree format from there, but Chronostratigraphy would still only be accessible via the Trees menu or from `PaleoContext` or `RelativeAge`. The default Chronostratigraphy is available and can be downloaded here: > ---
**Author:** ![fedoras](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/fedoras/32/455_2.png) [@fedoras](https://speciforum.org/u/fedoras)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 7:48am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/adding-stratigraphy-trees-to-established-disciplines/4057/5 "2026-08-24T07:48:01Z")
Ah, thanks! I did not know I could change the type after the fact. With some effort, I know transferred some of the more fine-grained geological time periods, just for quaternary, from the NHMD database and it already works well. I will try change the discipline type and see the results. | Era | Period | Epoch | Age | Subage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Preboreal | Early Preboreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Preboreal | Middle Preboreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Preboreal | Late Preboreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Boreal | Early Boreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Boreal | Middle Boreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Boreal | Late Boreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Atlantic | Early Atlantic | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Atlantic | Middle Atlantic | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Atlantic | Late Atlantic | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Subboreal | Early Subboreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Subboreal | Middle Subboreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Subboreal | Late Subboreal | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Subatlantic | Early Subatlantic | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Subatlantic | Middle Subatlantic | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Subatlantic | Late Subatlantic | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene | Subatlantic | Youngest Subatlantic | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Cromerian | Interglacial II | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Late Weichsel | Allerød | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Late Weichsel | Bølling | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Late Weichsel | Older Dryas | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Late Weichsel | Bølling–Allerød | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Late Weichsel | Oldest Dryas | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Late Weichsel | Younger Dryas | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Weichsel | Younger Dryas | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Weichsel | Allerød | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Weichsel | Bølling–Allerød | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Weichsel | Older Dryas | | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene | Weichsel | Bølling | ---
**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/specifysoftware/original/2X/1/18a843c97bc32b40e8ad0e035755bc88ffaacaf7.svg) [@system](https://speciforum.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 7:48am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/adding-stratigraphy-trees-to-established-disciplines/4057/6 "2026-08-31T07:48:35Z")
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