Digitizing and Databasing of the La Selva Flora

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A grant has been awarded to Duke University and the Organization for Tropical Studies to digitize, image and geo-reference 20,000-plus plant specimens from the La Selva Herbarium collection, the Duke Herbarium, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) and the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. Station. The database generated by these collections will be served to the Internet, thus providing students and the research community with a globally accessible, comprehensive coverage of plant species found at the La Selva Biological Station and representing Caribbean lowland tropical rainforest diversity. The Digital Flora of La Selva will contain taxonomic information, have the ability to create diagnostic species descriptions and drive interactive multiple entry electronic keys from taxon x character matrices. The impacts of the tropical flora project will benefit the research and educational activities of the La Selva Biological Station. The station is a prime site for training U.S. graduate students participating in the field courses in tropical ecology and tropical plant systematics. The wealth of knowledge about plant species that has been accumulated at the La Selva Biological Station over the past 50 years touches on a broad range of issues that have global implications, for example, in conserving and protecting biodiversity, resource management, and in trying to understand the role of tropical forests in global climate change.