Description
Rapid ongoing loss of biodiversity mediated by anthropogenic factors calls for efficient, fast and up-to-date methods for documenting species diversity and distribution. Cross-linked mapping data available to scientists and key stakeholders allows for making informed decisions and implementing effective conservation measures. Due to its geographic position in the Adriatic Sea W of the Greek mainland linking the W and E Mediterranean flora, its orography and climate, the Ionian Islands exhibit a exceptionally high plant biodiversity. The islands were long since of interest to botanists with first observations dating back to the 16th century. Continuous and intensive field work mapping the vascular flora on a 1 × 1 km basis as well as assessment of historic data (literature, herbarium vouchers) started in the 80ies of the 20th century. All records were initially stored in a dbase database and just recently transferred to a MariaDB database to allow for further development and online accessibility. Currently more than 110,000 own distribution data sets documented by more than 12,000 own herbarium vouchers and more than 52,000 data sets retrieved from literature are available. Herbarium research in W and WU yielded more than 5,000 vouchers from the Ionian Islands, which were made available via the international Virtual Herbaria JACQ online database. At this point the distribution data for each taxon is displayed in 10 × 10 km resolution. Georeferenced in situ photographs of plants and habitats are continuously added with a total of more than 7,000 pictures of more than 1,200 taxa (approx. 60% of the entire flora) already available online. Corresponding herbarium vouchers stored in W and WU are continuously photographed and databased in JACQ and linked to the Flora Ionica website. Ongoing field work is performed with mapping apps using aligned taxa lists to increase the geographic resolution and to gain data which can directly be imported in the Flora Ionica database. Based on this data herbarium labels and import lists for herbarium databases can be generated on the fly. Due to its manifold features Flora Ionica database allows for fast and efficient mapping and Flora Ionica website offers valuable information for both scholars, naturalists as well as policy makers.| Period | 5 Oct 2019 |
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| Event title | XVI OPTIMA Meeting |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Athen, GreeceShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |