Rubiaceae
Future Plans
Collections (2006 onwards)
We aim to maintain our high standard of curation within the section. Increased staff resources will enable development of further expertise and capacity for naming material from Africa, Madagascar and Asia. We hope to reduce a backlog of specimens from SE Asia, for example. Collection of targeted material will continue, including: further collecting in Madagascar; collecting of indigenous coffee specimens, with DNA and seed samples, particularly in Central and West Africa; and targeted collecting of DNA samples in Tropical America, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific.
Baseline Plant Diversity Research (2006 onwards)
Specimen databases. We aim to maintain and improve sectional databases, database remaining Mascarene Coffea specimens, merge African and Madagascan coffee databases, and make the products of specimen databases available on the Internet.
Checklists. We will attempt to share responsibility for the maintenance and development of the World Rubiaceae Checklist by integrating curation with checklist upkeep.
Floras. We plan to accelerate the Rubiaceae of Madagascar project by producing more regional monographs and synoptic revisions, in collaboration with Malagasy counterparts.
Monographs. We aim to work towards a monograph of Coffea (c. 100 species; in collaboration with Meise Botanic Garden), publish monographs of endemic Madagascan Rubiaceae, and continue regional monographic work on Psychotria, Rudgea, Faramea and Mitracarpus.
Comparative Plant Biology (2006 onwards)
We aim to submit our remaining papers on the molecular systematics of Coffea, complete work on molecular systematics of the Octotropideae, gap-fill DNA sequences for generic-tribal analysis for selected tribes, and seek funding to continue work on molecular systematics of Coffea and other selected groups.
Projects studying the infrageneric classification of Faramea and the relationships of Mitracarpus with other members of tribe Spermacoceae are under development with students from the University of Feira de Santana, Brazil.
Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Resources (2006 onwards)
It is our intention to integrate all baseline data for Coffea (e.g. specimens, conservation, genetic data, GIS, identification aids) and make the relevant products available on the Internet.
Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2006 onwards)
We aim to: produce and collate IUCN conservation assessments for all Madagascan Rubiaceae; increase the rate at which IUCN conservation assessments are assigned to Rubiaceae taxa; link the World Rubiaceae Checklist with all available conservation data (including IUCN assessments); and place all IUCN conservation assessments in the public domain.