Plant species occurrences recorded from selected sites in the upper Tana River Basin, Kenya
Latest version published by National Museums of Kenya on Sep 10, 2019
The dataset contains plant species occurrences recorded during fieldwork carried out from 2018 to 2019 in selected sites in Nyeri, Meru, Embu, Murang’a, Tharaka Nithi and Kiambu Counties all in the Upper Tana River Basin, Kenya. The sites included: Kiang’ondu Forest; Ngaya Forest; Kijegge Hill; Kathithini, Kamanyathi Location; Nkorongo River, Mwonyonzi, Chiakariga Location; Kiang’ombe Hill; Thegu, Gura, Sagana, Mathioya, Maragua, Channia, Chania and Thika Rivers; Gathabara, Mbuguti,and Mitai streams as well as Kimakia Forest in the Aberdares. The plants species were mainly identified on site to species level and documented as site records. However, in a few cases, voucher specimens were collected for confirmation and preservation at the East African Herbarium (EA), National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi. Geo-references were taken on site using a Garmin GPSMAP64s.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 3,944 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Downloads
Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:
Data as a DwC-A file | download 3,944 records in English (110 KB) - Update frequency: unknown |
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Metadata as an EML file | download in English (20 KB) |
Metadata as an RTF file | download in English (12 KB) |
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Masinde S, Matheka K, Atieno D, Odhiambo K, Nyange M, Kamau P (2019): Plant species occurrences recorded from selected sites in the upper Tana River Basin, Kenya. v1.0. National Museums of Kenya. Dataset/Occurrence. http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=trb_plants&v=1.0
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is National Museums of Kenya. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 718d628f-149a-4789-a062-05415f042c40. National Museums of Kenya publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Kenya.
Keywords
Vascular plants; species occurrence; herbarium specimen; site records; human observation; Upper Tana; Tana River Basin; National Museums of Kenya; Kenya; Observation
Contacts
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Geographic Coverage
Tana River Basin, south eastern Kenya
Bounding Coordinates | South West [-2.011, 38.429], North East [0.015, 40.25] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
Vascular plants mostly identified to species level
Phylum | Tracheophyta (Vascular plants including ferns and flowering plants) |
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Temporal Coverage
Start Date / End Date | 2019-05-07 / 2019-07-02 |
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Project Data
No Description available
Title | Developing a Freshwater Biodiversity Information System for the Tana River Basin, Kenya, for Improved Ecosystem Management and Development Planning. |
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Identifier | 60704 JRS-NMK |
Funding | JRS Biodiversity Foundation - https://jrsbiodiversity.org/ |
Study Area Description | Tana River Basin is located in south eastern Kenya approximately between latitudes 0°0’53” and 2°0’41’’ South, and longitudes 38°25’43” and 40°15’ East, covering an area of about 95,000 km2 (Baker et al 2015). It is bordered by the Ewaso Ng’iro North Catchment to the north, the Rift Valley to the west, Athi Basin to the south and Somalia and the Indian Ocean to the east. The Tana River winds from its headwaters in the forests of Mount Kenya and the Nyandarua Ranges including the Aberdares and rapidly descends down the mountain slopes where there is intensive agriculture, then through the arid and semi-arid areas rangelands and finally terminates in a large delta at the Indian Ocean. The basin is generally divided into three distinct ecosystems that are recognized based on their elevation, climate and vegetation cover (Van Beukering and De Moel, 2015). The upper catchment above 1000 m a.s.l. consists of forested regions with high relief and higher rainfall. There is intensive agriculture in most parts of the upper Catchment. The middle catchment between 300-1000 m is flatter, drier and semi-arid to arid with rangelands that support pastoralism. The lower catchment below 300 m a.s.l. is semi-arid to moist at the coast with dry coastal forests and mangroves swamps and forms a delta with a large floodplain before discharging into the Indian Ocean. |
Design Description | Line transects and opportunistic sampling was used in surveying.. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
Line transects and opportunistic collections
Study Extent | The dataset was recorded between May 7th to July 2nd 2019. |
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Quality Control | Species identification was done on site by a team of scientists and technicians from the East African Herbarium. For difficult or interesting taxa (rare, endemic, underrepresented in the herbarium), voucher specimens were collected for confirmation and for permanent preservation at the East African Herbarium (EA). |
Method step description:
- Different habitats types were identified, including forests, wetlands, bushlands and riverine areas. Sampling for occurrences was carried out along straight line transects Opportunistic sampling was also carried out to try and document the complete diversity of the plants in a given site. All georeferences were taken in the field with a Garmin GPSMAP64s recorder and locality descriptions described with the help of local people on site.
Bibliographic Citations
- Baker, T.; Kiptala, J.; Olaka, L.; Oates, N.; Hussain, A.; McCartney, M. 2015. Baseline review and ecosystem services assessment of the Tana River Basin, Kenya. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 107p. (IWMI Working Paper 165) https://dx.doi.org/10.5337/2015.223
- Van Beukering, P; De Moel, H. (eds) (2015). The Economics of Ecosystem Services of the Tana River Basin. Available at https://www.ivm.vu.nl/en/Images/R15-03_Tana_River_Basin_TEEB_report_tcm234-757604.pdf
Additional Metadata
Purpose | The dataset was created as a contribution of plant occurrence data to the Tana River Basin Biodiversity Information System portal |
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Alternative Identifiers | http://ipt.museums.or.ke/ipt/resource?r=trb_plants |