Principles of the online Red Data Book development using biodiversity datasets: the Altai Mountain Country case

• Main Authors: Alena A. Shibanova, Elizaveta A. Zholnerova, Vladimir F. Zaikov, Tatiana A. Sinitsyna, Alexander I. Shmakov, Aleksey V. Vaganov
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Altai State University 2022
• Subjects: altai mountain country; altb; endemic; gbif; geojson; herbarium; plants; rare species; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Sibirica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7726475; https://doaj.org/article/f29ea61fddfe4f2290cce9613bf4965e

Rare and endemic plant species could serve as a litmus test for analyzing current state of ecosystems that are rapidly changing under the anthropogenic pressure. Undisturbed foothills and mountainous areas are key places to conserve as they still retain the natural conditions as the human activity there is limited because of their difficult accessibility. We used biodiversity informatics methods for preparation of the online Red Data Book (plants) within the borders of particular natural unit – the Altai Mountain Country (AMC). The Herbarium ALTB (Barnaul) served as the empirical basis for the current study, and it is the largest plants collection from transboundary territory of the AMC and the main material of the "Flora Altaica" project. Thanks to the Herbarium ALTB digitizing, it becomes possible to identify endemics of the AMC transboundary territory and to establish the specificity of the flora without government and language barriers. Online Red Data Books created for the natural units are prospective for revealing of the endemism level and plants rarity rank. Our initial experience in the online Red Data Book development allow us to formulate some principals and approaches.