An Approach to the Virtual Flora of Mongolia – From a Data Repository to an Expert System, http://greif.uni-greifswald.de/floragreif/

FloraGREIF is an internet accessible information system providing taxonomic, phytogeographic and ecological information on Mongolia’s flora in terms of descriptions, high-resolution plant images and an interactive WebGIS application. Organised along an updated checklist of the approx. 3000 Mongolian vascular plants that serves as a taxonomic backbone, information is split into the taxon level, referring to plant species, and the record level, referring to record or a collected plant specimen. At the latter level, images of living plants, scans of herbarium sheets, habitat photos and further notes can be found. Both data levels are linked by the name of the respective plant species. An integrated WebGIS application enables the spatial visualisation at the taxon (distribution within phytogeographic units) and record level (dot maps). FloraGREIF is intended to be an internet accessible application tool for ecological and taxonomic research on Mongolia’s vegetation, but can serve as well as a data repository, e.g. for data from relevés survey

An Approach to the Virtual Flora of Mongolia – From a Data Repository to an Expert System, http://greif.uni-greifswald.de/floragreif/

FloraGREIF is an internet accessible information system providing taxonomic, phytogeographic and ecological information on Mongolia’s flora in terms of descriptions, high-resolution plant images and an interactive WebGIS application. Organised along an updated checklist of the approx. 3000 Mongolian vascular plants that serves as a taxonomic backbone, information is split into the taxon level, referring to plant species, and the record level, referring to record or a collected plant specimen. At the latter level, images of living plants, scans of herbarium sheets, habitat photos and further notes can be found. Both data levels are linked by the name of the respective plant species. An integrated WebGIS application enables the spatial visualisation at the taxon (distribution within phytogeographic units) and record level (dot maps). FloraGREIF is intended to be an internet accessible application tool for ecological and taxonomic research on Mongolia’s vegetation, but can serve as well as a data repository, e.g. for data from relevés survey

Surface Sediments of the Pearl River Estuary (South China Sea) - Spatial Distribution of Sedimentological/Geochemical Properties and Environmental Interpretation

The Pearl River Delta (South China) is one of the densest populated regions of the world. This study aims at the investigation and interpretation of the spatial distribution of grain size parameters and geochemical parameters obtained from surface sediment samples. These samples have been taken during cruises in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Investigations of the spatial correlations of the parameters obtained reveal an approximately north-south directed trend for the majority of the parameters. The trend was removed before applying Ordinary Kriging for interpolation. The maps obtained show non-uniform distribution patterns of the sedimentological and geochemical parameters. Here e.g. the concentrations of the As, Co, Cu, Hg and Ni decrease to the more marine influenced southeastern parts and show a higher concentration in the central part and at the western shoals of the estuary.The Pearl River Delta (South China) is one of the densest populated regions of the world. This study aims at the investigation and interpretation of the spatial distribution of grain size parameters and geochemical parameters obtained from surface sediment samples. These samples have been taken during cruises in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Investigations of the spatial correlations of the parameters obtained reveal an approximately north-south directed trend for the majority of the parameters. The trend was removed before applying Ordinary Kriging for interpolation. The maps obtained show non-uniform distribution patterns of the sedimentological and geochemical parameters. Here e.g. the concentrations of the As, Co, Cu, Hg and Ni decrease to the more marine influenced southeastern parts and show a higher concentration in the central part and at the western shoals of the estuary

Plants of Mongolia – A Virtual Approach: E-taxonomy, Virtual Herbarium and Digital Key

This work is based on the long-term research experience between Mongolia and Germany, which resulted in extensive plant collections in both countries. One goal is to provide information access via the Internet to the herbarium specimens available in German plant collections. Up to now, 16,403 records (a fi nding of a species documented by images and/or vouchers) for 1,533 out of 2879 Mongolian vascular plant species are included in the database. For half of the species described for Mongolia scans of herbarium specimens are available. The plant database is searchable for family, scientifi c name, habitat, growth form as well as distribution, and other parameters such as the red list status or the endemic status