The value of Cybertaxonomy

IF YOU want to acquire information regarding a particular plant, taxonomy is the appropriate field. It is the list of plants organized or catalogued in an accepted format. A well-known but traditional taxonomy of plants was the 4-volume Enumeration of Philippine Flowering Plants seed taxonomy of Merill (1923-1926).

However, activities in traditional taxonomy such as visiting far flung areas, gathering species, photographs including information from old folks who are familiar with the plants, topographical information and other related environmental factors, among others are very tiring for new aspiring botanist. Botanist are scientist who study plants. Taxonomy is very important specially, if biodiversity is declining. Webb et al. (2010) considered the Philippines as a Biodiversity hotspot.

Considering the recent advancements in science and technology however, taxonomical tasks are becoming easier. That’s true for cyber taxonomist. Cyber taxonomy is the use of the internet as an aid in the catalogued of various plants. One of the wellknown cyber taxonomy sites is the CDFP or known as Co’s Digital Flora of the Philippines. It is a well-illustrated site where one can see information of the various vascular plants located in the Philippines. The information consists of photographs, description, known characteristics and locations of the plants. The site was launched by Pelser, Barcelona and Nickrent (2011).

Leonardo L. Co (2010) in his lifetime research of the flora in the Philippines collected and organized the taxonomy of Merill into Microsoft files. But the official publication has not succeeded due to the untimely death of the author. Hence, the creation of this cyber taxonomy in honor of Co came into existence. Aside from this, facebook pages in honor of the scientist was also organized. The CDFP is capable of quad media. Meaning, one can derive data in text, image, audio and video format. As a result mentoring and other forms of training in botany can be done online, regardless of the location as long as there is an internet connection.