Botany Platform: Researchers and Amateurs Join Forces

Six  French organizations including CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, INRIA, IRD, and University of Montpellier have joined forces in aiding budding scientists interested in botany. A collaborative network is focused on the development of a software platform dedicated to plants called Pl@ntNet. The project which will be launched in June 2009 will be used to search for the morphological, phenological and/ or ecological characteristics of a plant in a few seconds. "This can only work with people keen to share their knowledge, expertise and skills," explains Daniel Barthélémy, Head of the AMAP joint research unit at CIRAD. "This is the principle behind the development of freewares." The portal will host its own databases, but will also be connected to external databases. These tools will be both easy to use and transparent, and will enable researchers around the world and anyone interested to share their resources and skills in joint projects.

For details, see the press release at:  http://www.cirad.fr/en/actualite/communique.php?id=1104