Eco-Geographic Analysis

Abstract

Within the field of genetic resources science one area that is developing rapidly, with advances in computer hardware, software and associated databases, is the application of geographic information systems (GIS) to understand issues related to conservation, evaluation and use of plant genetic resources. The database developed for Vigna subgenus Ceratotropis consisting of herbarium and passport data, includes information on the location of populations. This geo-referenced data can be used as the basis for looking at commonality and differences among locations for a wide variety of cultural, geographic and ecological attributes such as altitude, climate, ethnobotany, soil and vegetation (Guarino et al., 2002). Ethno-ecogeographic extrapolation requires care for the following reasons:

• Data on site location from herbarium specimens and passport data have varying levels of accuracy. Thus, while sites of recently collected germplasm may have been determined using a global positioning system (GPS), samples collected 15–20 years ago rarely have sites located so accurately.

• The data grids to which site location can be matched varies in size from region to region. Map grid size may be very fine, such as 1 ’ square for some information but less fine for other information. In addition, map grids into which populations may be placed are fixed thus populations growing close together may fall into different grids. Asia is a difficult continent to analyze because it is non-contiguous and larger than South America and Africa.