Botanic gardens' vast knowledge remains untapped due to fragmented data systems, say researchers (phys.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago by solo@slrpnk.net to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz

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In a new report published in Nature Plants, researchers based at more than 50 botanic gardens and living plant collections warn that a patchwork of incompatible, or even absent, data systems is undermining global science and conservation at a critical moment.

They call for a unified and equitable global data system for living collections to transform how the world's botanic gardens manage and share information. This would enable them to work together as a 'meta-collection' to strengthen scientific research and conservation efforts.

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[-] flora_explora@beehaw.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

Yes please!! Even the aggregated information online is spread through various sites by different institutions (like Tropicos, POWO, etc). Each site has a bit of information and you have to do a lot of digging to find any information. There are so many local institutions like botanical gardens but also research stations or herbariums where it is often hard to find and access any information. I guess the problem might be related to competition though, as many of these institutions have to showcase themselves and how their funding is related to their publicity.

[-] tyr0sine@mander.xyz 2 points 2 weeks ago

I focus on cacti and succulents, and it sure is tough to find unified and reliable information!

I find a lot of good cultivation info like natural habitat and sun/frost tolerance on LLIFLE, for example. I'm always looking for more databases, do you know of any others?

[-] flora_explora@beehaw.org 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I nowadays only identify plants on iNaturalist, so I only use morphological and taxonomic data. And I hardly ID any plants that are cultivated. So I cannot really help you with physiological or cultivation information.

For identification purposes I mostly use POWO (plants of the world online), where there is more information for the plant group I work with. It seems like the information on POWO is more sparse for Cactaceae (here is the entry for the same species you linked to, notably Morawetzia sericata is a synonyme of this species). It's also very dependent on what plant family you work with. There are more popular ones that have dedicated sites for them, while less popular ones have hardly any information available. Sometimes I'm happy to even find information what distribution a species may have or to find even one herbarium voucher of it. Also, there are some local herbarium databases where they have digitalized entries. But this is of course very localized information :/

this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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