The Chicago Botanic Garden, in collaboration with APGA, the University of Kansas, and 15 public gardens nationwide, is developing PlantCollections, a distributed database system for web-based querying that will allow information from multiple institutions currently in a variety of incompatible database formats to be accessed and integrated into comprehensive inventories. The results can then be analyzed to identify gaps and redundancies within the combined holdings, a first step in coordinating a continent-wide approach to plant germplasm preservation. This 3-year project will strengthen relationships among the participating institutions and foster the sharing of information with the public.

The system will be designed to allow each data provider to maintain control of its own data. It will link databases using an open source data-sharing protocol developed for biological collections. The application of this open-source web-based software with an active user community will ensure support for forward mobility to new technology in the future. The decentralized structure of the network places data updates directly in the hands of plant records managers at each institution, ensuring accurate, current information.

Primary Partners:

Project Administrator and Co-principal Investigator
Boyce Tankersley
Director of Living Plant Documentation
Chicago Botanic Garden

Co-principal Investigator
Christopher Dunn
Executive Director
Lyon Arboretum

Other Partners
Dan Stark
Executive Director
APGA

Pam Allenstein
NAPCC Manager
APGA

Dave Vieglais
Senior Scientist
Natural History Museum, Biodiversity Research Center, University of Kansas

Project Staff
Min C. Henderson
Bioinformatics Specialist
Chicago Botanic Garden

Participating Institutions: