BRAHMS BOTANICAL RESEARCH AND HERBARIUM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BRAHMS stores data and images from herbaria, field surveys, botanic gardens, seed banks and literature. The system is used to: catalogue and curate collections support taxonomic research prepare checklists and floras analyse and map plant diversity publish online BRAHMS projects are active in about 60 countries, many in species diverse tropical or subtropical regions. The country with the highest number of individual projects is presently Brazil. The Amazonian region herbaria are almost 100% databased and imaged. The largest databases are in the Netherlands and South Africa where national BRAHMS networks are established. Globally, about 7 million specimen records catalogued. Denis Filer Andrew Liddell University of Oxford
http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/
Categories of data managed in BRAHMS Taxa Details about plant taxa Geodata Botanical records Specimens Details about places Plant collections Herbarium sheets, spirit, DNA, etc. Images All categories Plot samples Living collections Seed Literature Botanical survey data Botanic gardens Seed banks Bibliographic references
Taxonomic data All BRAHMS databases include a central list of taxonomic names. New projects can import names from IPNI and other sources. All details about names can be stored at all taxon levels. For example, taxonomic status, authors, validity, legitimacy, protologues, selected references, synonymy, descriptive texts, habit, conservation coding, etc. Tools to assemble and format taxonomic data lie at the heart of the reporting system.
Botanical records Botanical records are species x locality records. Material may be collected to make one or more physical specimens although a botanical record may only be an observation.
Specimens Specimens are physical objects like herbarium sheets, fruit, seed, wood samples, leaf collections for DNA analysis. A single botanical record may have many specimens including duplicated herbarium sheets. Specimens often have barcodes, an accession number. a type status and more than one determination. Specimen categories are added as required
Botanical surveys This module manages plots, small and large. They may be temporary or permanent and have multiple research objectives. Plot data files may only register species presence. More complex files used for e.g. forest inventory, may include species ID, tree #, DBH, HT, images, voucher references, etc. There are no restrictions on the data fields added. Plot data can be combined with other data for diversity analysis
Living collections Description of plants in botanical gardens Images of plants Original source of the material Identification Management events including garden inventories
Seed bank module Developed in collaboration with the Millennium Seed Bank, RBG Kew. Stores all details about seed including processing and testing. All these data can be published online.
Images Images of plants, specimens, labels, maps, illustrations, etc. can be registered in BRAHMS. Images can be linked to any record.
Data are normally added using flexible external files called Rapid Data Entry (RDE) files. These data are then checked and transferred to your database. RDE If BRAHMS does not include data fields you need, you can add these to your BRAHMS database. These fields are added to link files which are like extensions to the main files. database Add the fields SPINES, USES, CONSERVE, ECOLOGY to the species link file
Herbarium curation
Producing labels and various categories of list are typical functions of BRAHMS in the herbarium.
Loans can be made and processed online. In Oxford, we distribute data + images for loans online. Determinations are returned via a website service.
Creating maps
How to produce a map? 1. Select the data to map 2. Send the data to selected GIS 3. Choose base map and add your points Conifer distribution in Africa on a raster relief map Podocarpus totara in New Zealand simple black/ white map
Publishing taxonomic revisions, checklists, floras, etc. from BRAHMS
It is very difficult to convert from word processor to database Database
And incredibly boring typing and formatting data for journals
Using a database, you can create many outputs and keep these updated. Lobostemon database
Making a checklist that includes common names and distribution summary.
Getting online
What is BRAHMS online? BRAHMS online (BOL) is a unique website service created for the BRAHMS project. Anyone who has developed a BRAHMS database can create a website from BRAHMS.
The advantages of putting your data online Many projects under strong pressure to publish their data and images online. Online herbaria are better known than those that are not. Feedback on determinations. Much important taxonomic work (e.g. doctoral theses) remains hidden. A website distributes data effectively. A website presents data widely and benefits research. A good website with quality data is excellent publicity for your institute or project. A website can be cited as a publication for your CV.
BRAHMS WebConnect is the software that connects BRAHMS to BOL allowing you to: Develop and edit websites. Upload selected data and additional resource files. Local database Server database
BRAHMS onlne can be used to publish e-floras and e-monographs. Online reports can designed and saved as part of your website. Reports use HTML templates and can include any of the data fields you have uploaded. Online e-floras and e- monographs provide more flexibility than the traditionally printed volumes, are low cost and easily updated.
Images can be sorted and grouped and displayed in different ways.
Maps can be prepared using Google Maps or Google Earth and use point clustering where possible. Descriptions of point data are provided in the right margin. Images associated with individual data points can be displayed on the map and/or in the margin. KML layers be added to your online project and selectively added or removed.
Some example projects available online
Training Extensive online documentation ( http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/brahms/ GroupResources) Entering data from images Living collections Online loans Reporting BRAHMS Online setup Example data files In-person training courses Often held at conferences (November 2013: Brazilian National Botanical Conference) Can request and fund your own course (October 2013: BRAHMS network in South Africa launched)
BRAHMS 8 Development continues, BRAHMS 8 is being developed in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Estimated release by April 2014
Contact Denis Filer (denis.filer@plants.ox.ac.uk)