The Euro+Med Project provides an on-line database and information system for the vascular plants of Europe and the Mediterranean region, against an up-to-date and critically evaluated consensus taxonomic core of the species concerned. After several years of planning, the project is now firmly underway. The first stage of the project (referred to as Phase One) has been financed for three years by the European Union under Framework V.
The ESFEDS (European Science Foundation European Documentation System) database was used to provide the initial starting point for the taxonomic core of Euro+Med PlantBase. This database, developed at The University of Reading, comprised names and associated data from Flora Europaea. This has expanded with additional names and information from MedChecklist (Greuter & al., 1984, 1986, 1989), the Flora of Macaronesia dataset (Hansen & Sunding, 1993) and published Floras from the Euro-Mediterranean region.
A key component of the new Euro+Med PlantBase initiative is the critical evaluation of the expanded database. A mechanism for the regional co-operative revision of the taxonomic status of all families, genera, species, subspecies and, where appropriate, cultivars described from the Euro-Mediterranean region is being developed. The organisation of this work will involve specialists from over 50 countries and territories within the region. This revisionary process results in an agreed taxonomic core, which is one of the main outputs of the project.
A great amount of information has been amassed on the plant diversity of the Euro-Mediterranean region, but hitherto no consistent attempt has been made to bring this together and relate it to an agreed taxonomic framework. The agreed taxonomic framework provided by the Euro+Med taxonomic core will be used for this purpose. The taxonomic core will be linked to a set of 'beads' and satellite databases.
Phase One of the project provided funds for eleven Partner Institutes to undertake nine different workpackages. The project is managed by an Executive Committee and the day-to-day management is the responsibility of the Secretariat based at The Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem. A Steering Committee is responsible for the overall scientific, administrative and financial aspects of the project.
欧洲-地中海植物多样性信息资源所覆盖的地理区域：
