Morning Glory experts get together

Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 24 Oct 09;

THE Morning Glory has attracted so much attention in the last 250 years that there are some 8,000 names for an estimated 1,800 species.

In the first meeting of its kind, the world's experts in the Convolvulaceae family, of which the purple flower is a member, gathered at the Singapore Botanic Gardens to discuss the issues surrounding the taxonomy - naming and classification - of the species.

Taking a leaf out of the book of social networking platforms such as Facebook, the botanists from as far as Brazil, Ethiopia and Britain agreed to upload information onto ETAXA, a new online platform for taxonomy.

The workshop was organised by Dr George Staples, a senior researcher at the Singapore Botanic Gardens who has 25 years' experience with the Convolvulaceae family.

He said participants made a few discoveries concerning taxonomy on a workshop field trip last month to Pulau Ubin - for example, a species thought to be native to Brazil may actually be a weed of Asian origin.

'This will make a difference in the country's approach to the species - it won't want to spend lots of money to conserve it if it's a weed,' he said.

Until recently, the classification of species was done independently by researchers around the world. These botanists publish their work in peer-reviewed journals - a process which can take two years or longer.

'Social networking can provide a way to share data before publishing. Colleagues can share images and specimen data and reach a group decision on what name should be used - it may still take weeks or months, but it's a lot quicker,' said Dr Staples.

He stressed that this method would not act as a replacement for the traditional route but as a complement.

'The use of the Internet is creating a level playing field, as in the past scientists would have to travel to other museums to compare specimens to see if they had discovered a new species,' he added.

Ms Lisa Walley, 34, is a Web systems manager who was involved in the creation of ETAXA for the Solanaceae family while working at the Natural History Museum in London. Her expertise in the area enabled the botanists to make a decision to use the ETAXA platform, and she will facilitate Dr Staples and his fellow researchers in going online.

She said that having all the names for particular species listed in one place helps scientists to better communicate and provide information so the ecological issues can be faced.

There are about 50 researchers studying this family who can contribute to and use the data on this new site.