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The Indochinese Continental Region is a biodiversity hot spot, however studies of its biodiversity are still very fragmentary, especially in the botanical domain. Many monocot plant families have not been studied for a century when they were treated in the Flore générale de l’Indo-Chine. They play a very important role in the Socio-economy of the population.

 
The objective of this project is to update our knowledge of the systematics of Indochina, specially 3 families of Monocots Eriocaulaceae, Bambusoideae (Gramineae) and Zingiberaceae.

 
The results from this project will generate :

• better baseline data for floristic, taxonomic and conservation treatments of the taxa in Zingiberaceae and Eriocaulaceae
• ethnobotanical data which will help to identify species of socio-economic potential
• more material to enrich the herbarium and living collections of the counterparts involved
• continued capacity building to empower local botanists and students to become independent researchers applying their knowledge to various plants families in the future.

The specific objectives are to study the systematics of the Eriocaulaceae, Zingiberaceae (specifically Curcuma, Globba and Kaempferia), and bamboos, reporting the distribution of each species, and its conservation status according to IUCN criteria. This information will be used to update the relevant species records in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
Contrary to previous studies, this project will focus on rare species and microendemics, two elements of biodiversity which are crucial for a good understanding of the actual distribution of organisms and for effective conservation planning. All the partners will be involved in the field work and will jointly work on plant distribution and rarity/microendemism assessments.

Partenaires

• National University of Laos
• Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, France
• Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
• Singapore Botanic Garden
• Khon Kaen University, Thaïland
• Institute of Tropical Biology, Vietnam
• National University of Phnom Penh, Cambodge

Le projet en images