Ewé: a web-based ethnobotanical database for storing and analysing data.

Estevão Do Nascimento Fernandes De Souza,Julie A Hawkins

doi:10.1093/database/baz144

Estevão Do Nascimento Fernandes De Souza, Julie A Hawkins

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baz144

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Journal: Database	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2020
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Reading

Abstract

Ethnobotanical databases serve as repositories of traditional knowledge (TK), either at international or local scales. By documenting plant species with traditional use, and most importantly, the applications and modes of use of such species, ethnobotanical databases play a role in the conservation of TK and also provide access to information that could improve hypothesis generation and testing in ethnobotanical studies. Brazil has a rich medicinal flora and a rich cultural landscape. Nevertheless, cultural change and ecological degradation can lead to loss of TK. Here, we present an online database developed with open-source tools with a capacity to include all medicinal flora of Brazil. We present test data for the Leguminosae comprising a total of 2078 records, referred to here as use reports, including data compiled from literature and herbarium sources. Unlike existing databases, Ewé provides tools for the visualization of large datasets, facilitating hypothesis generation and meta-analyses. The Ewé database is currently available at www.ewedb.com.

Highlights

The documentation of ethnobotanical information is essential for a better understanding of the relations between humans and plants and to progress related disciplines such as ethnopharmacology [1,2,3]
Ethnobotanical databases can facilitate data management and information sharing with other researchers, optimizing the workflow for analysing different datasets. Ethnobotanical databases, including those of medicinally used plant species, are available and many can be accessed online. These databases may have an international focus, e.g. NAPRALERT, a database of natural products that includes ethnobotanical data [4], or a regional one, e.g. the Prelude database, which is focused on African medicinal plant use [5]
The internet has contributed to an explosion of data sharing among scientists, including ethnobotanists, contributing toward a better understanding of the relation of humans and plant use [27,28]

Summary

Introduction

The documentation of ethnobotanical information is essential for a better understanding of the relations between humans and plants and to progress related disciplines such as ethnopharmacology [1,2,3]. Ethnobotanical databases can facilitate data management and information sharing with other researchers, optimizing the workflow for analysing different datasets Ethnobotanical databases, including those of medicinally used plant species, are available and many can be accessed online. Databases currently available are at the global, regional and national levels, as well as documenting used by people belonging to particular ethnolinguistic groups; some capture unpublished data, others cite published sources (Supplementary information 1). The second study uses the data from Ewé to compare traditional use and pharmacological research effort [24]

Materials and Methods

Findings

Discussion