EPIDENDRA, the taxonomic databases by Jardín Botánico Lankester

Abstract

t may seem somehow out of line to present a new system of botanical databases in the context of a meeting on orchid conservation, for two main rea- sons. Even though botanists have been rather slow in upgrading to the use of electronic databases (with some early controversy regarding the desirability of the application of electronic data processing methods to taxonomic problems as a whole, see i.e. Shetler 1974), the dissemination of plant information via the web has grown steadily in recent years.

Orchids without borders: studying the hotspot of costa rica and Panama

“…15, 18). The development of electronic documentation techniques and the free flow of information through the Internet have contributed positively to increase scientific research (Pupulin 2007(Pupulin , 2009). Botanical exploration activities conducted in the past decade in Costa Rica, far from complete, yielded more than 100 orchid species new to science and several new records.…”

Toward a global orchid taxonomic network

“…In this sense, the electronic tools for the retrieval of botanical information presuppose direct access to the sources through libraries and herbaria services. This is often not the case in tropical countries, where facilities are often insufficient and where the lack of historical libraries and the relatively modernity of the existing herbaria represent a major obstacle for botanic research when concerned with the retrieval of historical information (Gómez-Pompa & Nevling 1988;Pupulin & Warner 2005;Pupulin 2007).…”

“…Botanists working in tropical areas have an opportunity to improve our knowledge of orchid diversity and to provide a bridge between systematic research and the general public, incorporating in their floristic databases other data that are not accessible to their colleagues in the developed nations, such as visual databases of specimens, slides, drawings, etc. Systematically associated with preserved vouchers, and often with their respective pollinaria, the photographs of flowers included in EPidEndra are not representative of the species but instead a faithful depiction of individual characteristics and a tool to understand the natural variation of living organisms and improve our appreciation of specific circumscriptions (Pupulin 2009). Today, the database includes over 15,000 photographs and illustrations of orchid species.…”

Las orquídeas del Parque Nacional Barra Honda, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

“…A pesar de esto, el aporte de los estudios florísticos al conocimiento de las especies de orquídeas que habitan en dichas áreas ha sido escazo y los inventarios respaldados por especímenes en herbarios son una excepción (Atwood 1987, Pupulin 1998, Gómez-Laurito & R. Ortiz 2004. La mayoría de las áreas protegidas en Costa Rica carecen de esta información, la cual se encuentra muchas veces dispersa en registros de herbarios locales o extranjeros (Jiménez & Grayum 2002, Pupulin 2003.…”