eMonocot, the eMonocot Portal and Consensus Classification Paul Wilkin

Hedychium densiflorum

Presentation structure

  eMonocot project update

  the eMonocot portal

  Consensus classification and

biodiversity informatics

  Summary

Ceroxylon quindiense. Photo R. Bernal

eMonocot Core Team

Aims of eMonocot

When complete, eMonocot will:

1.  Enable the identification of monocot plants anywhere in the world

2.  Provide a wealth of information about monocot species, genera and families

3.  Address separately the needs of different users

4.  Link together monocot taxonomists to enhance their productivity

5.  Provide a model for web taxonomy Watsonia

confusa

eMonocot: a distributed information system

Existing eTaxonomic resources CATE-Araceae (www.cate-araceae.org)   104 genera, ca 4000 species Palmweb (www.palmweb.org)   190 genera, ca 2600 species Grassbase (www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html)   Ca 700 genera, 11611 species Monocot checklist (www.kew.org/wcsp/monocots)   Ca 70000 monocot species

eMonocot community scratchpads: 15 http://e-monocot.org/list-emonocot-scratchpads

eMonocot content progress

~2000/130/1500 spp 8 families/2100 genera (~75% of monocot diversity) Araceae (CATE-Araceae) Arecaceae (Palmweb) Poaceae (Grassbase)

72 families

eMonocot Scratchpads: Cypripedioideae

eMonocot Scratchpads: Dioscoreaceae

eMonocot Portal: home page

Names: 270,936 Taxon descriptions: 14,349 (16% of accepted taxa) Images: 4,364 (< 2% of accepted taxa) Keys: Monocot families & Dioscoreaceae

eMonocot Portal: taxon pages

Basic taxon page content:   Accepted name   Synonymy   Nomenclature   Distribution maps   References e.g. Pothos taxon page

Other planned content   Habitat   Life form   Conservation status   Common names   Specimens   Protected/Invasive species   Habitat type information   WWF Biomes   Climatic data

eMonocot portal: classification

  Classification tree

  Checklist Validation*

  Phylogeny browser*

eMonocot portal: identification

  Multi-access keys

  Image galleries

  Dichotomous keys*

  Glossary*

eMonocot portal: searching and downloading

Search & Facet

  Geographical search

(Gazetter-based)

  Map search

  Explore/analyse data*

  Download content*

What is consensus classification?

Consensus: Agreement in opinion; the collective unanimous opinion of a number of persons Consensus classification: a single taxonomy that is subscribed to by all specialists for a given taxon

Chlorophytum sp.

Why is consensus classification important?

Collective Vision ....in order for policy makers or big funding agencies to take us seriously we need to have a common vision - a big plan, not a robotic repetition of the same words (Knapp 2008) Meeting user requirements

Tulipa sp. Photo M. Zarrei

Existing consensus classification: passive consensus

Existing consensus classification: active consensus

WCM :   ~1/3 of familes with multiple contributors   84 inputs by monocot taxonomists

Consensus classification and biodiversity informatics

“The taxonomy of a particular group could reside in one place and be administered by a single organization. It could be self-contained and require reference to no other sources..... a number of things would then follow. First, the only logical way to organize a unitary taxonomy and to make it widely available is on the web” (Godfray 2002) Haemanthus puniceus

Why has consensus classification been controversial? (1)

“Names must both represent a volatile hypothesis and provide a key to lasting information.....A solution must adequately recognize these dual roles and decouple the system that allows maximum freedom of hypothesis-generation from the system that provides names for users” (Thiele & Yeates 2002).

Kniphofia sp.

Why has consensus classification been controversial? (2)

“The ‘cybertaxonomic solution’.... reveals a traditional misunderstanding that regularly emanates from the more ‘applied’ side of biology - that the only significant data taxonomists provide are the species name, diagnosis, and distribution for the purposes of identification by non-taxonomic end-users (de Carvalho et al 2007)” Dendrobium cuthbertsonii. Photo W. Baker

Consensus classification in CATE

“CATE....consensus taxonomy is intended to retain alternative views....so that they can, potentially, be revived. Good revisionary taxonomy, whether Web or paper based, explains differences of opinion but still proposes a recommendation. Consensus, therefore, is neither intended to stifle dissent nor does it imply immutability. It is needed to help users outside the taxonomic community” (Clark et al 2009)

Lysichiton americanum. Photo I. Kitching

Community consensus classification in eMonocot

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1

1

2

Helping producer communities to work towards consensus classification in scratchpads

Presenting consensus in the portal

Summary

  Distributed information system established

  Content capture on track

  15 new Scratchpads launched

  Portal released to users October 2012

  Will benefit both taxonomic producer and

user communities   Lessons learned to date:

• Interconnectivity • Users • Communities

Triticum aestivum