NEWS – India Flora Online (IFO) launched

HIGHLIGHTS

• Launched by the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) at the Indian Institute of Science.
• Database compiling data on 15,349 species of India’s flora.
• Accessibility and Aim
  • Accessible through the portal indiaflora-ces.iisc.ac.in.
  • Aims to make India’s diverse floristic data digitally accessible across climates, topographies, and ecological patterns.
• Compilation and Data Sources
  • Led by Prof K Sankara Rao, the project is based on extensive fieldwork data.
  • Complemented with information from the CES herbarium housing native and naturalized plant specimens.
• Features of IFO
  • Provides scientifically robust data on individual species, including host landscapes, distribution patterns, and conservation status.
  • Advanced search option enables users to search species by vernacular names.
• Expansion and Inclusion
  • Extends previous projects by CES herbarium, including data on flora in Karnataka, Western Ghats, and peninsular India.
  • Includes plant data from neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
• Formal Launch and Significance
  • Prof Kamal Bawa, President Emeritus–ATREE, Bengaluru, formally launched the portal.
  • Aligns with priorities in community ecology and conservation biology, emphasizing the importance of understanding plant-dominated ecosystems for comprehensive ecosystem understanding.