Occurrence

FLOTROP, a massive contribution to plant diversity data for open ecosystems in Tropical Africa.

Latest version published by CIRAD SELMET on 28 August 2019 CIRAD SELMET
Publication date:
28 August 2019
Published by:
CIRAD SELMET
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 342,698 records in English (5 MB) - Update frequency: unknown
Metadata as an EML file download in English (10 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (9 KB)

Description

The FLOTROP dataset contains numerous plant observations (around 340,000 occurrences) in northern tropical Africa (from the 5 th to 25th parallel north) in open ecosystems (savannah and steppe). They were collected by multiple collectors between 1920 and 2012 and were managed by Philippe Daget. These observations are probably the most important and unique source of plant distribution over the Sahel area. The data are now available in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Tela Botanica website, and as maps in the African Plant Database. For the overall area involved, this dataset has increased by 40% the data available in the GBIF. For some countries between the 15th and 21st parallel north, the FLOTROP dataset has increased available occurrences 10-fold compared to the data existing in the GBIF.

Tropical northern Africa (herein defined as between the 5th and 25th parallel north) is mostly occupied by open ecosystems, such as steppe and savannah. The vegetation in these ecosystems is consumed by animals, either wildlife or livestock, and is also used by the local communities for food, energy or medicinal purposes. The open ecosystems in tropical northern Africa are of great importance to the economy, food security and human well-being. Plant diversity within these ecosystems is driven by many factors, such as the climate, soil, fire and grazing. Plant diversity in these regions is being greatly impacted by global change. Historical data are needed to understand species and diversity dynamics. The database presented in this work is the collection of numerous datasets gathered over the years. At the outset, the FLOTROP database was intended to store all the data recorded by IEMVT (French institute for tropical livestock production and veterinary medicine, now part of CIRAD) in the sixties. In 1993, CIRAD and CNRS set up a project to collect a maximum of botanical surveys within these regions. Two software packages were created by the team to manage the database. The first was created under DOS then a second was started under Windows using the APL DYALOG language. Data were collected and scanned between 1993 and 2016. We extracted the data from the software version. We shared the species occurrences recorded in the database on the Tela Botanica website (http://www.tela-botanica.org/) and on the GBIF database.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 342,698 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is CIRAD SELMET. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: eb605c7a-a91c-4ab8-a588-85d0ccb2be9e.  CIRAD SELMET publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF France.

Keywords

Occurrence

Contacts

Simon Taugourdeau
  • Metadata Provider
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
Researcher
CIRAD UMR SELMET
PPZS
Dakar
SN
Philippe Daget
  • Originator
Researcher
CNRS
34000 Montpellier
FR
Cyrille Chatelain
  • Author
Researcher
Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques (CJB)
Geneva
CH
Daniel Mathieu
Tela Botanica
Montpellier
FR
Xavier Juanes
  • Author
Researcher
UMR SELMET Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRA, SupAgro
F - 34000 Montpellier
FR
Johann Huguenin
  • Author
Researcher
UMR SELMET Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRA, SupAgro
F - 34000 Montpellier
FR
Alexandre Ickowicz
  • Author
Researcher
UMR SELMET Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRA, SupAgro
F - 34000 Montpellier
FR
GBIF France
  • Distributor
IT support
GBIF France
MNHN Géologie CP48, 43 rue Buffon
75005 Paris
FR

Geographic Coverage

Northern tropical Africa

Bounding Coordinates South West [5, -18.105], North East [25, 50.977]

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Kingdom Plantae

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 1920-01-01 / 2012-01-01

Additional Metadata

Alternative Identifiers eb605c7a-a91c-4ab8-a588-85d0ccb2be9e
http://ipt.gbif.fr/resource?r=cirad_flotrop