Do any of you have hierarchical, multi-field database displays?

I was trying to make my own CMS until I got hung up on a problem that I can’t solve. It involves PHP, MySQL and Apache mod_rewrite, and I think the only way I’ll ever conquer it is to find someone who already has a similar script up and running that they can share with me.

So I thought maybe I’d try to make my site with WordPress. Anyway, let me describe what I’m trying to do.

I’m working on a website focusing on the animal kingdom, currently powered by a single table that lists every animal taxon (order, family, species, etc.) in a child-parent relationship.

You can see a working model at https://www.geozoo.org/stacks/

Type in https://www.geozoo.org/stacks/Mammalia/ and https://www.geozoo.org/stacks/Canis/ , watching the navigation links at the top of the page and the list of names in the column of the right.

It works perfectly, as long as the final segment in the URL consists of just one word drawm from one database table field – AND that one word is unique.

But if the URL happens to be https://www.geozoo.org/stacks/leo/, then my script doesn’t know if the parent is Panthera leo (the lion) or Antechinus leo (a marsupial).

In fact, I want to display species as proper species name, e.g. https://www.geozoo.org/stacks/Panthera_leo/, rather than https://www.geozoo.org/stacks/leo/

Here, too, I run into problems. Panthera and leo are drawn from two different fields, and I have to deal with the space between them. Nothing seems to work.

I have a similar problem on my Topics page at https://www.geozoo.org/topics/ This works: https://www.geozoo.org/topics/tundra/ But this doesn’t: https://www.geozoo.org/topics/Temperate-Conifer-Forests/

Although this seems very complex for me, I think it would be pretty simple for someone who has worked with this kind of stuff before. So I just wondered if there are any WordPress fans out there who have database tables, PHP scripts and mod_rewrite rules that do this sort of thing which you’d be willing to share with me.

I’ve been asking advice on several forums for days, but I can’t make any of the suggestions I’ve been given work. I need to see the big picture – the whole picture – in order to understand how it works.

Thanks.