The KIT Botanical Garden in Karlsruhe remains a close partner to our projects for over 20 years. They supported us in every possible way, allowed photographing and hosted our previous website since 2004 on the servers of KIT.
Also, the garden participates in rescue and propagation projects for rare and endangered regional plants, like Apium graveolens or local Taraxacum palustre agg. species. The cooperate closely with local conservancy organizations.
Currently the KIT Botanical Garden goes - like many German botanical gardens - through difficult times, being forced to relocate to a smaller site and being closed to the public due to understaffing and COVID-19. We hope that those issues can be solved soon!
From 2012 onwards, the staff of Catalogue of Life contacted us to gather checklists and data for ferns and flora. Especially through Yury Roskov, we built over the years a cordial and close relationship and support the Catalogue of Life with data.
As of today, about 60% of the flora data (almost 200.000 species) of Catalogue of Life comes directly from worldplants.de. The data are transferred in regular updates several times per year.
From Catalogue of Life onwards, data are then shared with GBIF and other worldwide leading databases.
We have provided the taxon list, complete with higher classification and synonymy relationships, that underlies the Pteridophyte Collections Consortium (PCC) pteridoportal (https://pteridophytes.berkeley.edu/). The PCC is providing free online access to over 2 million fossil and extant pteridophyte specimens (ferns, lycophytes, and their extinct seed-free relatives), and the World Plants data allows that resource to be easily sortable, mappable, and analyzable taxonomically.
Thanks to Carl Rothfels and colleagues for a fruitful partnership!
Ralf did live in Taiwan for many years and became the leading expert of Taiwan ferns. He wrote several monographs, checklists and books.
From 2014 onwards, Ralf provides copies of his magnificent slide collection of Taiwan ferns to us. With almost 800 species this remains the biggest part of our fern slide collection. Also he revises checklists and data for us.