Identification of mangrove plants

Objectives

The identification of species in South Asia, as in many parts of the world, is a major handicap for implementing the necessary measures recommended by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (lien avec site CDB). The drastic reduction in the number of taxonomists throughout the world and the permanent loss of their knowledge has made the task of ecologists all the more difficult. In India, the IFP’s contribution in various networks and processes to establish a national strategy for the conservation of biological diversity, allows us to confirm a strong demand in this domain for: training, diffusion of information, as well as new tools for capacity-building in taxonomy and environment, in conformity with the recommendations of the Global Taxonomy Initiative of the CBD secretariat.

The objective of this project is to provide a computer-aided identification software, devoted to mangrove species of India and Sri Lanka, to be used by non-specialists via a user-friendly graphical interface, and to serve for training and self-training in capacity-building, regarding plant taxonomy.

Materials and Methods

This software is derived from the IDAO software developed by CIRAD (since 1996), which enables the development of applications specific to certain categories of plants or organisms. All applications are founded, nonetheless, on the same user-friendly principle of identification, with a graphic interface that enables the user to short-list some species and to access their description sheets. Thus, identification is possible in spite of the absence of information on some species’ attributes. The identification process is done entirely graphically by constituting an “Identikit picture”. After identification and short-listing, the user can access a descriptive file of the species, where botanical terms are defined in a hypertext.

The application took into account:

• The existing data available on the defined species and their data formats
• The collection and compilation of the complete taxonomic information for all the species found in the two regions of mangroves of Godavari estuary and South-west Sri Lanka

The IDAO software is based on the calculation of similarity coefficients, which allows for data insufficiency, intra-specific variations as well as errors of observation. Contrarily to dichotomous keys, the species here are not eliminated: only the percentage of similarity is modified.

Once a comprehensive list of species has been drawn up for each region, we analysed and defined the characters of the species and the characters state. Based on this work, the conceptualization of the core of the identification system, “the identikit”, has been undertaken. The identikit comprises all the characters and all the state of these characters. This is quintessential to the software, because this helps the end-user to cross-match any possible character to any other, making all kinds of combinations possible.

The identikit uses a graphic interface, developed with vectorized drawings, based on a system that reconstitutes the plants, using these drawings.

In this application the software needed 108 characters state belonging to 19 different layers, and 5400 drawings necessary to identify 50 species of mangroves (proper and associates).

Partners

• French Institute of Pondicherry (Department of Ecology and Geomatics Laboratory) in India
• University of Andhra Pradesh in India
• University of Ruhuna in Sri Lanka

Funding

European Commission (EC Contract ERB IC18-CT98-0295) and French Institute.

This work has been done within the framework of the European funded project entitled “Assessment of mangroves degradation and resilience in the Indian subcontinent: the cases of Godavari estuary and South-west Sri Lanka ».

Team

IFP

• Dr J. Prósperi – Scientific coordination
• Dr P. Grard Botanist - Head of Ecology Department
• Dr B.R. Ramesh - Head of Botany Laboratory
• Dr D. Depommier - Agroforester
• S. Aravajy - Ecology assistant

University of Andhra Pradesh

• Prof. A.V. Raman

University of Ruhuna in Sri Lanka

• Dr. Sanath Hettiarachchi - Head of Botany Department
• Dr. L.P. Jayatissa – Botanist

Main Outputs

• Mangroves v1.0. A multimedia identification system of mangroves species of South-East India and Sri Lanka. [CD-ROM]

J. Prosperi … [et al.], Collection écologie n°44, Pondicherry-Montpellier, IFP/CIRAD, 2005.
Language: English. 300 Rs (11 €)

Mangroves is a graphical identification system of plant species, the only tool of its kind available on South-Asian Mangroves at present. The system, entirely graphic, enables non-specialists to make determinations with the help of just a small number of characters, chosen according to their availability for the particular plant to be identified. It meets the needs of amateur botanists, agronomists, forest officers and nature lovers with a keen sense of observation. The use of frequently observable vegetative characters has been favoured, as well as an extensive illustration of species.

The major part of the work presented in this CD-ROM was carried out in the framework of the European Commission funded project entitled “Assessment of mangroves degradation and resilience in the Indian subcontinent: The cases of Godavari Estuary and southwest Sri Lanka”.

Keywords: botany, computer-aided identification, mangroves, vegetative characters

An online version is also available.

Chapters in books

• GRARD P., PROSPERI J., & DEPOMMIER D. 2002. New tools for capacity building in taxonomy and environment management: an application on mangrove species, In Traditional ecological knowledge, conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development. D. Depommier & P. S. Ramakrishnan Eds. Publication Département d’Ecologie, Institut Français de Pondichery, 41: 155-173pp.