Grass Portal

Grass species are vital for life on earth - as human food crops and supporting a huge range of mammalian herbivores. As such they are one of the most ubiquitous and best studied sets of organisms on the planet. GrassPortal will use pioneering computer science to synthesis the vast amount of taxonomic, phylogenetic, biogeographic and environmental data held by biologists and ecologists.

GrassPortal brings together the 12,093 grass species with their 62,047 names (many species have many synonymns) as well as information on morphological characteristics, Hebarium archives (allowing the geo-referencing of over 4-million grass records), global environmental data and the DNA data revealing the evolutionary relationship (phylogeny) between grasses. GrassPortal's strength is in its integration of these complex and dynamic datasets making information available usually far beyond the reach of biologists.

How can this collection be used in teaching, studying and research?

Aimed primarily at ecological and evolutionary researchers although also a valuable resource for introducing university students to research in these areas.