THE IBIS FLORA PORTAL

THE IBIS FLORA PORTAL

A hundred years after the publication of “The Flora of British India”, the time has arrived to compile and update the data on floral biodiversity of India with the knowledge that we have gleaned in the last century. Digital technologies provide us with various tools which enable us to cater to the exacting and varied demands of scientists, naturalists, students, researchers and interested members of the public. Photographs of morphological features, herbarium specimens, distribution maps with point locations, data on vernacular names, synonyms, ecological details, threats to the species, conservation status of the species, list of publications and lots of other related information have been compiled, in a IBIS-Flora portal, which is freely accessible to everyone.

IBIS-Flora is a platform for all those who are interested in plants, irrespective of their level of expertise and experience. It is geography independent and allows anyone with an internet connection to access the information and also to contribute to the continued development of the portal. We are aware that there are thousands of scientists, naturalists, students and interested amateurs working in different areas of plant science, and have thus developed separate spaces and applications for each of them.

Launch of IBIS-Flora Beta version

We have launched the Beta version of IBIS-Flora for review at the 24^th IAAT Conference (inaugurated by Dr. M.Sanjappa), Tiruchirapalli on 31^st Oct, 2014. We request you to critically review and provide your feedback on the portal. You can visit the latest version of the portal at flora.biota.in

What is IBIS?

IBIS is a group of web-based, modular and searchable, biodiversity portals, designed to aggregate authentic information on Indian flora and fauna. IBIS strives to serve information in a readily accessible, free, and user friendly format on a common platform. Currently AVIS-IBIS http://www.indianbiodiversity.org/about-avis-ibis/ and IBIS-Mammals http://www.indianbiodiversity.org/about-ibis-mammals/ are online and the Beta version of IBIS-Flora http://flora.biota.in/ has been launched to provide a baseline compilation and checklist of the angiosperm flora of India.

IBIS-Flora has:

A working checklist for about 21,765 species, 515 subspecies, 2515 varieties, 4 sub-varieties and 58 formas belonging to 3667 genera, 271 families and 50 orders been prepared and available. Approximately 95,160 synonyms have been compiled.

Categories used in IBIS-Flora

Accepted: This name is generally in use currently as per The Plant List (18,181 names).

Synonym: Another name for the presently accepted name (95,161 names).

Provisionally Accepted: It is accepted on the basis of available literature but not yet included in The Plant List (1906 names).

Provisional/Unresolved: We have not yet concluded about the status of these taxa (4687 names).

Why edit or share data on IBIS-Flora?

1) Your portal, your citation, your copyright

The advantage of editing and contributing data on this portal is that on sharing a photograph, description, Point locations or data you will become a part of the IBIS-Flora team with your name reflected on the citation module of that content page.Thus you will be the author of the content you share.

2) Technical Infrastructure

Scratchpads are an easy and effective way to present your data online. Whether you just want to publish on the web, construct a database or assemble a formal manuscript, Scratchpads always helps you. It connects you with your community. All Scratchpads sites are search engine friendly. Scratchpads sites usually rank on top in Google search results when relevant taxa and keywords are used. Scratchpads let you create your content online. One can submit original data present in your scratchpad directly to peer-reviewed journals for publication (eg. Biodiversity data journals).

3) Worldwide acceptance

Virtual Biodiversity Research and Access Network for Taxonomy (ViBRANT), e-Infrastructures, Natural History Museum, eMonocots (An online resource for monocot plants) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) are the authorities, who have developed Scratchpads.

4) Data standards

From inception, IBIS-Flora adheres to International standards, be it in using correct orthography, abbreviations of authors (according to R.K. Brummitt & C.E.Powell (Eds.)), Authors of plant names, 1992 and references according to IPNI. References of regional floras or journals from where the names have been taken are also provided. Circumscription of taxa upto the family level has been followed according to APG III system.

5) Filters at many level

A valid question to ask is, how will the data uploaded on the portal be authenticated? A panel of credible and independent reviewers will be established and they will review each submission and ensure accuracy and authenticity of the information.

Easy steps to take part

1. Go to IBIS-Flora portal

2. Click on the login button

3. Send us a user request

4. You will get your user-name and Password in a short duration

5. Now you may start sharing, uploading your data in the portal

Please feel free to contact

Arpit Deomurari

Deputy Manager – GIS & Biodiversity Informatics,

Foundation for Ecological Security (FES),

Post Box No.- 29, At – Jahangirpura,

PO- Gopalpura, Vadod – Hadgud – 388 370.

Dist.Anand -Gujarat – India.

Official URL: http://www.fes.org.in/ ; IBIS : http://www.indianbiodiversity.org/

Minal Jani

Senior Project Officer,

Foundation for Ecological Security (FES),

Post Box No.- 29, At – Jahangirpura,

PO- Gopalpura, Vadod – Hadgud – 388 370.

Dist.Anand -Gujarat – India.

Official URL: http://www.fes.org.in/ ; IBIS : http://www.indianbiodiversity.org/