An introduction to the botany of the los amigos conservation area  (Page 3/3)

Main collaborators

• John Janovec, The New York Botanical Garden
• Fernando Cornejo, ACCA, Puerto Maldonado, Peru

Advisors and collaborators

• Scott Mori, The New York Botanical Garden
• Robin Foster, Chicago Field Museum
• Adrian Forsyth, ACA&Moore Foundation
• Michael Goulding, ACA
• Louise Emmons, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution&ACA
• Hamilton Beltran, San Marcos Museum, Herbarium, Lima, Peru
• Douglas Daly, The New York Botanical Garden

Site information

Visit the Site Information link to find out more about the Los Amigos Conservation Area and Research Station. Important imformation anduseful maps are provided for viewer reference. In addition, you can visit the Amazon Conservation Office website for more information(www.amazonconservation.org).

Databases

The databasing system is a very intricate part of the botanical project. When plants are collected in the field, information isrecorded in the database for each collection. This information relates to characteristics of the location, habitat, and the plant. Images arealso databased. Filemaker Pro 5.5 is being used as the central database for organizing and outputting data collected through fieldand herbarium study. From Filemaker Pro, we can produce paper documents such as descriptions, lists, and specimen labels. We canalso export to MS Excel or MS Access for performing tasks related to web database search engines, mapping, statistical analysis, etc. MSAccess is used as a bridge between Filemaker Pro and the Internet. As the botanical database for Los Amigos grows, and as it eventuallycombines with databases for Madre de Dios and the southwestern Amazon in general, the Internet search engine will be updated. Available forcurrent searching are plant lists from Robin Foster and Hamilton Beltr?n plant list. In the next month, a database of plant collectionsmade since May 2001 will be made available, and this will be connected to the Image Galleries, which are also database-driven.

Image galleries

Image galleries will be available in several formats and at several levels throughout these pages. First of all, each family, genus, andspecies page will be associated with their own database-driven galleries. The current version of the Image Gallery section isdesigned as a general hub for viewing all images that have been digitized. For now the images are organized into a few generalcategories and the searches provide access to browsable lists of images. Currently there are 1029 images available in the gallery. Theimages were scanned from Fuji Provia and Kodak film 35 mm slides. Dreamweaver Ultradev is used to generate the image search engine.

Future direction

The first phase of the botanical project focuses on general exploration of the Los Amigos Conservation Area as well as usefulplant-based non-timber forest products, and the preparation of checklists and other treatments covering the flora of the area. Webelieve that the botany program will provide an essential foundation for other scientific projects in the short and long-term. Plant guideswill serve as informative tools for building the long-term program of research and conservation at Los Amigos. Our botanical work will alsoprovide information about useful plants that may prove to be sustainable non-timber forest products.

This website is meant as a source of information and images for the Botany of Los Amigos project. Digital identification keys, an expandeddatabase, and plant family web pages will be posted soon. The plant family pages will include genus and species pages. The information,images, and tools will be made available on CD-ROM, used at The Los Amigos Research Station by students, locals, and investigators, andpresented on the Internet through this site.

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