Abstract Detail

Tropical Biology Section

Taylor, Charlotte M. [1], Zamora, Nelson [2], Vargas, Orlando [2], Castro, Enrique [2], Grayum, Michael [3], González, José [2], Hammel, Barry [3], Stone, Donald E. [4], Gómez, Luis Diego [2].

The Digital Flora of the La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica.

The La Selva Biological Station in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica has at least 1900 species of vascular plants growing in its 1600 ha of lowland wet tropical forest. The Digital Flora project, http://sloth.ots.ac.cr/local/florula2/index.htm, will present a bilingual flora (Spanish and English) comprising both traditional textual information and web-based resources, including digital images of living plants, digital images of authoritatively identified herbarium specimens, interactive keys, and a database of specimens. More than 40 families have been treated so far, and images of live plants of more than a third of species and more than 370 herbarium specimens are already available. The project is based at the La Selva Biological Station, Duke University, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Completion of this work is planned for 2007. This is one of very few floras for a well studied site in the Neotropics, and an important resource for research at the Station. Preparation of this flora has already led to the discovery of a number of plant species new to science, new species records for the La Selva Station, and new records for Costa Rica and Central America.

1 - Missouri Botanical Garden, Herbarium, Po Box 299, St Louis, Missouri, 63166-0299, USA
2 - Organization for Tropical Studies, Aptdo. 676-2050, San Pedro, , Costa Rica
3 - Missouri Botanical Garden, Po Box 299, St Louis, Missouri, 63166-0299, USA
4 - Duke University, Department of Botany, Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina, 27708-0338, USA

Keywords:
Neotropical flora
Costa Rica
digital flora.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 33-113
Location: Salon C, D & E - Gov Ballroom/Hilton
Date: Tuesday, August 16th, 2005
Time: 12:30 PM
Abstract ID:259