PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Plant conservation is inherently complex, multifaceted, and often collaborative. However, time and funding often dictate that conservation happens at the pace of grant cycles rather than over the decades required to affect meaningful change. Data sharing across regions and disciplines can accelerate conservation by opportunities for large scale analyses and prioritization exercises, as well as opportunities to learn from past efforts. Efforts to share data are often hindered by a lack of common data collection practices and sufficient systems via which to share data. This webinar will highlight a Case Study from the California Channel Islands. With a goal of advancing collaborative conservation, we spearheaded a data sharing system for the Channel Islands off the coast of California and Baja California, Mexico. Island owners and collaborators spanning the public and private sectors agreed that data sharing is a priority for the islands. We started the California Islands Biodiversity Information System (Cal-IBIS) by gathering occurrence data for all life forms across the archipelago into an online portal and have now expanded the system to house detailed rare plant survey data. Concurrently, we are developing field survey protocols to facilitate standardized rare plant data collection going forward. By sharing data and standardizing collection practices, we are moving toward more effective conservation across these unique and vulnerable islands. Cal-IBIS provides a blueprint for information sharing in other conservation regions.