o_19ko2dt161ng2j4e1tgnoqv1s45a.pdf

APPLICATION OF GIS TO CONSERVATION ASSESSMENTS AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW
Mt Jaya and Vogelkop (New Guinea), and the Maliau Basin, Danum Valley and Imbak Valley
in Sabah. Kew is also working on World Checklists of various groups: Monocots, Labiates,
Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae, Conifers, Araliaceae, Sapotaceae, Fagales and Magnoliaceae have
been completed to date.
Kew is also active in bioinformatics, and several computer-based interactive keys have been
produced or are being worked on, including Rattans of Borneo, Rattans of Laos and an
interactive key to the families of the Flora Malesiana region (Malesian Key Group 2004).
Projects can include the production of field guides, which are an invaluable identification aid
and educational tool: current projects include the production of a Field Guide to the Forest
Trees of Southern Thailand, and a project to assess and conserve plant diversity in commercially
managed tropical rainforests in eastern Sabah, both with funding from the UK Darwin Initiative.
Kew offers a wide range of training opportunities, from informal courses and support to
international courses in Herbarium Techniques, Botanic Garden Management, Plant
Conservation Strategies and Tropical Plant Identification.
The herbarium at Kew also contains a dedicated GIS unit, which provides GIS and Remote
Sensing support for Kew, and works on various projects around the world. GIS is a useful tool
for speeding up conservation assessments, by automating initial IUCN ratings based on
herbarium specimen data, and by using analysis of plant distribution patterns combined with
other geographical data to inform conservation planning. This paper looks at some of the
ways in which GIS has been used to help with conservation assessments, looking at examples
of past and current projects the unit is working on.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is a more powerful version of a conventional printed
map, with the advantage that different sets of information can be extracted from the map, as
required. In addition, databases can be linked to the geographical information stored in the
map, and this data can be analyzed and modeled spatially using computer software. GIS has
many applications, and can be put to use in the field of plant conservation in two main ways:
using herbarium specimen data, and vegetation mapping using data from remote sensing.
Point Distribution Maps
GIS AND HERBARIUM SPECIMEN DATA
The information contained in herbarium specimen labels provides a large and useful database,
which includes spatial data (locality information) and temporal data (collection dates), which
is ideal for analysis by GIS. Research into plant taxonomy at Kew has generated a large body
of information in plant systematics as well as accumulating one of the largest and most complete
herbarium collections in the world. This information, especially when combined with data
from other herbaria, can be put to use developing advice for biodiversity conservation planning
(e.g., Schatz 2002).
Many families with particular expertise at Kew, for example Palms and Rubiaceae, have been
studied in depth and large databases have been created for these families using data from the
Kew Herbarium and other herbaria around the world; the locality information recorded on
these specimens has been looked up in atlases and gazetteers and translated into numerical
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