Digital Flora of La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica
Donald
E. Stone, Dept. of
Biology, Duke University.
This work is in collaboration with
Charlotte
Taylor of the Missouri
Botanical Garden (MO),
Luís Diego Gómez of the Organization
for Tropical Studies (OTS) and
Nelson Zamora of the Costa
Rican National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio).
Research is supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Costa Rica-United States of America (CRUSA) foundation in Costa Rica.
La
Selva, which is owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies, is
a prime site for training U.S. graduate students in tropical ecology and one of
the world's premier field stations promoting research ranging from studies on
biodiversity to global warming. As such, knowledge of the nearly 2,000 species
of vascular plants is critical to understanding the forest dynamics of this tropical
lowland rainforest ecosystem.
This project is developing a master database of digital images, descriptions, ecology and natural history observations (e.g., habitat, phenology, pollination, dispersal), and interactive keys based in part on some 20,000-plus Duke herbarium specimens and fresh material that is geo-referenced.
The results of this research are being posted to the public access website as draft descriptions are completed. Ultimately there will be an accompanying printed version of the flora that incorporates information appropriate to a classical taxonomic treatment.
COLLECTIONS | Vascular Plants | Algae | Bryophytes | Fungi | Lichens
Duke University Herbarium