A Shared Heritage

The basic data for an understanding of biological diversity comes from scientific collections – collections of samples from nature, either fossilized or desiccated. Each sample documents the existence of a species in a particular time and place, in areas that are preserved or today at risk. The biological collections existing in this country’s teaching and research institutes form a database of information and knowledge garnered over more than 180 years of research into Brazilian fauna, flora and micro biota. These collections consist of 26 million animals, five million plants and almost 100 thousand micro-organisms, all indispensable for taxonomic and phylogenetic research, and essential to the precise identification of species.

Brazil, home to around 20% of the world’s species, is classified as megadiverse. The country belongs to a minority group which is distinguished by the level of development of its scientific research and whose academic and research institutes are extensive and consolidated. However, these countries, invariably situated in the tropics, are not, to date, autonomous in their search for knowledge of their biodiversity. To bring about substantial advances in the extent, organization and use of available information, an examination of the state of current knowledge, the gaps in this knowledge, the reasons for the gaps and the difficulties in filling them is a necessary first step. Available data is found within a widely scattered system which crosses institutional and national frontiers. Often, it is not in digital form and frequently considered the “property” of individual institutions.

The digitization of collections is now recognized as essential. Until 1998, digitization of Brazilian herbaria was slow and disordered, but Barbosa & Peixoto (2003) showed that the situation had improved, thanks to the efforts of the Brazilian Government in the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, based on the Directives of the National Policy for Biodiversity. There is still much to be done, and this onerous process is just the first step. The data banks must be shared efficiently, so as to improve the quality of identification of the species; the need for a higher level of representation of the flora in these collections will require researchers to go to little visited or uncharted areas. Integration of the data is also essential, in order to obtain a more accurate view of the occurrence of the species, allowing for the fact that each individual collection represents just a fraction of the mass of knowledge of biodiversity, and is based on a specific geographic region.