PI calls for digitization, mobilization of plant specimen data

A call for the digitization and mobilization of plant specimen data in Lagos has been made at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos.

The Principal Investigator, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility – Biodiversity Information Development (GBIF-BID) Project Team on “Expanding the visibility of the Lagos Herbarium through Digitization and Mobilization of Plant Specimen Data”, Dr. Temitope Onuminya, made the call recently at a blended meeting held at the Faculty of Science Boardroom, University of Lagos

The meeting had in attendance participants from the Department of Botany, Lagos State University; Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency; Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources; Lagos State Parks and Garden Agency (LASPARK); Shodex Gardens to mention a few.

Introducing the project, Dr. Onuminya said the Herbarium, located in the Department of Botany, University of Lagos and established in 1971, is the oldest institutional herbaria in Nigeria.

According to her, the herbarium presently has a collection of over 10,000 plants, 70 per cent of which are vascular plants and carpological in nature (samples preserved in alcohol), adding that some issues which the project seeks to address, which include cataloguing of plant samples and even when catalogued are handwritten notes in registers.

She also said that these samples were only physically stored without digital documentation. “It is therefore not visible or accessible outside their current location”, she added.

To this end, the project team on Expanding the visibility of the Lagos Herbarium through Digitization and Mobilization of Plant Specimen Data was created and is funded by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

As the name implies, the sole aim of the team is to mobilize, digitize and publish information/data on plant species in Lagos on the GBIF platform. The project is expected to run for 18 months (April 2021 – October 2022).

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international network of organizational participants, consisting of 34 countries with the purpose of enabling free and open access to biodiversity data from all sources as well as supporting biodiversity science, environmental research, and evidence-based decision-making. Its efforts are coordinated through a global informatics infrastructure and collaborative network.

Addressing some concerns from the participants, Dr. Onuminya assured them that every data – metadata, checklists, occurrence data, and sampling event data – mobilized and submitted by them to the Lagos Herbarium will be published under their names and will remain the intellectual properties of their institutions.

In his welcome address, the Dean, Faculty of Science, Prof. Elijah Oyeyemi, called for the keeping of records as it will ensure future accessibility of such information and assured all that the workshop would open the eyes of the participants to the importance of digitization of data.

The Head of Department of Botany, Dr. Omobolanle E. Ade-Ademilua, represented by the sub-Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Kadiri, in her brief address, noted that it was indeed necessary to digitize plant specimens as herbaria keep parts of natural importance for future references.

The project is open to all and everyone with existing specimens to share with the Lagos Herbarium are encouraged to approach the team at the Department of Botany, the University of Lagos for inclusion on the GBIF platform.

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