The Arctic Flora of Canada and Alaska Project.

• Main Authors: Saarela, Jeffery, Gillespie, Lynn J., Sokoloff, Paul C.
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: figshare 2017
• Subjects: Botany; 60299 Ecology not elsewhere classified; FOS Biological sciences; Arctic; Canada; Norway; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5277964; https://figshare.com/articles/poster/The_Arctic_Flora_of_Canada_and_Alaska_Project_/5277964

Abstract: The Arctic Flora of Canada and Alaska project aims to produce a new flora treating all vascular plants (ca. 800 species) in the Arctic ecozone in Canada and northern Alaska. Our research team includes botanists from Canada, Norway, and the United States, and is being led by researchers at the Canadian Museum of Nature. We are using a web platform to move the Flora beyond traditional standards, and to produce a treatment that is digital and interactive, taking full advantage of current web and database technologies. The flora will include parallel taxon descriptions, dichotomous keys, detailed nomenclatural data, common names, information on traditional uses, taxonomic comments, and will be richly illustrated with photographs taken in the field and of herbarium specimens showing characters important for accurate identification. Tracking specimens examined will allow future verification of distributional and descriptive data, and will facilitate production of dynamic distribution maps. The Arctic Flora of Canada and Alaska website (http://arcticplants.myspecies.info) will be updated with content on an ongoing basis. The Flora will eventually serve as the key source of information for anybody who requires accurate and up-to-date information on the Arctic flora, including those involved in Arctic terrestrial monitoring, students in the north and elsewhere, and the international botanical community. It will also serve as an up-to-date source of baseline information on plant biodiversity in one of the worlds’ most climate-threatened ecosystems. Poster presented at the XIX International Botanical Congress, Shenzhen, China, 23–29 July 2017.