19.10.2016 change 19.10.2016

Epic botanical project in the Arctic

A database gathering information on the distribution of plants across the Arctic will be created. "This is the first project of this type and on this scale carried out in the Arctic" - emphasised the initiator and leader of the project, a botanist with the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Dr. Paweł Wąsowicz.

The first pan-Arctic database containing information on the geographical distribution of all plant species in the Arctic will be created in the project Arctic Flora Inventory.

"Why is it needed? At the moment there are no sources from which we could draw information about the geographical distribution of plants in the Arctic. The existing websites pages and portals, for example wonderfully described flora of Svalbard, give access to fragmentary information on this subject. But there are no sources of data that would offer access to biogeographical information, and that would treat the Arctic as a whole" - noted Dr Wąsowicz.

Meanwhile, complex data are needed today more than ever. "Huge changes occur in the Arctic before our eyes. We expect that climate change will result in profound changes in the geographical distribution of organisms, including plants. But we are not able to tell too much about these changes before we document the initial state, which is one of the goals of our project" - explained the botanist.

Today there are many analytical techniques (such as computer modelling) that allow to predict changes in species distribution, and thus - also the environmental changes. For thus obtained results to be reliable, these models require a lot of data. "It is also one of our goals - to give researchers working in the Arctic access to large amounts of reliable data" - said the project leader.

The Arctic Flora Inventory will serve also as a management tool for conservation of wildlife in the Arctic, because making any decision in this regard and the preparation of management plans, also requires access to data.

Dr. Wąsowicz emphasised that for scientists the creation of such a database is a challenge in many respects. "Firstly, we collect data from a huge area. The area of the Arctic is more than 30 million km2 - to compare, Europe is a little over 10 million km2" - he said.

Another challenge is identifying and involving research centres and institutions in many countries, which have interesting data. "We have already been able to involve such institutions as the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Central Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, University of Helsinki, the Swedish Species Information Centre (ArtDatabanken), University of Aarhus (Denmark), Yukon Conservation Data Centre of Canada and others. The Arctic Flora Inventory is a large international project. The steering group in this project consists of scientists from Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Canada. We hope that a representative of the United States will join us in the near future" - said the project leader.

He added that ensuring data reliability is also a scientific challenge.

Full, public version of the database may be launched around 2019-2020. Its resources will be available to all users without any restrictions - said Dr. Wąsowicz.

International project Arctic Flora Inventory http://www.caff.is/flora-cfg/arctic-flora-inventory-afi is carried out under the auspices of the Conservation of Arctic Flora & Fauna (CAFF). CAFF is a working group of the Arctic Council, dealing with the planning and coordination of activities aimed at protecting biodiversity and the environment of the Arctic.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Anna Ślązak

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