Contribution to a study of plant cartography in Portugal - degree internship report - Part 1

Study Extent

The geographic scope of this study focuses on the central area of mainland Portugal, in the districts of Castelo Branco, Évora, Portalegre and Santarém.

Sampling

Sampling was carried out using grid cells as a methodology, and grid coverage was done by collecting species in selected locations, among those where spontaneous vegetation was found. The collected plants were placed in plastic bags with the indication of the respective grid, and then transferred to paper for drying. Once identified, the plants representing new locations were integrated into the herbarium of the Botany office of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia in Lisbon.

Quality Control

All initial data was inserted in a specific relational database built specifically for the project, which implemented several quality control methods. In the preparation of the dataset for GBIF publication, data consistency was verified using cluster algorithms using OpenRefine.

Method steps

1. The data was transferred to digital format and the original errors (ex. omission of location) were corrected.
2. In the events table, the locations were georeferenced through GeoLocate (WGS84). After obtaining all the coordinates, the remaining fields of the location were extracted using the Location Extractor application. The entire event table was placed in DwC format.
3. In the case of the occurrences table, after digitizing the data, the csv was run through the Species Extractor application, to update the scientific names and fill in the remaining fields. Errors in the infraspecificEpithet field were fixed, as some fields were filled with the author's name.
4. In the case of variants (taxonRank = VARIETY), the scientificNameAuthorship field was wrong, and has been fixed. The matchType field was revised and the taxonomicStatus column was added where typos or scientific name updates were indicated. All mandatory columns were added, and the respective data filled.
5. GBIF data validator detected 47 occurrences whose eventID did not match the event table. After confirmation that these event numbers were misspelled, they were removed from the database.

This dataset includes 1715 records referring to specimens of 67 different families, 223 genders and 333 species/subspecies, in 51 event sites.

1. Plantae
   rank: kingdom
2. Tracheophyta
   rank: phylum
3. Polypodiopsida
   rank: class
4. Pinopsida
   rank: class
5. Magnoliopsida
   rank: class
6. Liliopsida
   rank: class

The sample events are in mainland Portugal, in the districts of Castelo Branco, Évora, Portalegre and Santarém.