Veerle Van den Eynden

Wild foods from Southern Ecuador

This study documents 354 species of wild edible plants consumed in southern Ecuador, an area with a very high species diversity. Southern Ecuador is inhabited by Mestizo farmers and by small communities of indigenous Shuar and Saraguros. The majority (85%) of the 354 species have edible fruits. Various regional food and drink preparations in which wild plants are used are described. Most (86%), however, are consumed raw. Thirtyeight percent have additional uses, primarily as fuelwood and timber. The fruits or other edible parts of 21 species are sold at local and regional markets. Three new species were discovered during this study.RésuméEste estudio presenta 354 especies de plantas silvestres comestibles para el sur del Ecuador, una zona con alta diversidad de plantas. La población consiste de agricultores mestizos y pequeñias comunidades de indígenas Shuar y Saraguros. La mayoría de las plantas (85%) tienen frutos comestibles. Se describen varias preparaciones regionales de comidas y bebidas en las cuales se utilizan plantas silvestres. La mayoría de las plantas (86%) se comsumen aún crudas. El 38% de las plantas tienen usos adicionales, siendo las más importantes para leńa o madera. Se venden los frutos u otras partes comestibles de 21 especies en los mercados locales y regionales. Tres nuevas especies fueron descubiertas durante este estudio.

How free access internet resources benefit biodiversity and conservation research: Trinidad and Tobago's endemic plants and their conservation status

Botanists have been urged to help assess the conservation status of all known plant species. For resource-poor and biodiversity-rich countries such assessments are scarce because of a lack of, and access to, information. However, the wide range of biodiversity and geographical resources that are now freely available on the internet, together with local herbarium data, can provide sufficient information to assess the conservation status of plants. Such resources were used to review the vascular plant species endemic to Trinidad and Tobago and to assess their conservation status. Fifty-nine species were found to be endemic, much lower than previously stated. Using the IUCN Red List criteria 18 endemic species were assessed as Critically Endangered, 16 as Endangered, 15 as Vulnerable, three as Near Threatened, and three as Data Deficient (i.e. insufficient data are available to assess their conservation status). Although such rapid assessments cannot replace in depth research, they provide essential baseline information to target research and conservation priorities and identify specific conservation actions.

Sharing Research Data and Confidentiality: Restrictions Caused by Deficient Consent Forms

Deficiencies or unclear statements in consent forms used for research with human participants may lead to publicly funded research data being unsuitable for sharing with other researchers. Long-term data use is encouraged or required by many of the UK research councils and other funding bodies. Researchers may fail to address long-term use and sharing of data when obtaining informed consent and when arranging to keep data obtained from participants confidential. Sharing data should not compromise confidentiality if care is taken to anonymize information where this is needed or has been explicitly requested. Whilst researchers should consider all potential uses of their research data in confidentiality and consent agreements, research ethics committees can provide better guidance by pointing out to researchers that long-term use, preservation and sharing of research data should be taken into account when informing participants and obtaining their consent.Deficiencies or unclear statements in consent forms used for research with human participants may lead to publicly-funded research data being unsuitable for sharing with other researchers. Long-term data use is encouraged or required by many of the UK research councils and other funding bodies. Researchers may fail to address long-term use and sharing of data when obtaining informed consent and when arranging to keep data obtained from participants confidential. Sharing data should not compromise confidentiality if care is taken to anonymize information where this is needed or has been explicitly requested. Whilst researchers should consider all potential uses of their research data in confidentiality and consent agreements, research ethics committees can provide better guidance by pointing out to researchers that long-term use, preservation and sharing of research data should be taken into account when informing participants and obtaining their consent.

Learning to manage and share data: jump-starting the research methods curriculum

Researchers’ responsibilities towards their research data are changing across all domains of social scientific endeavour. Government, funders and publishers expect greater transparency of, open access to, and re-use of research data, and fears over data loss call for more robust information security practices. Researchers must develop, enhance and professionalise their research data management skills to meet these challenges and to deal with a rapidly changing data sharing environment. This paper sets out how we have contributed to jump-starting the research methods training curriculum in this field by translating high-level needs into practical guidance and training activities. Our pedagogical approach involves applicable, easy-to-digest, modules based on best practice guidance for managing and sharing research data. In line with recent findings on successful practices in methods teaching, we work on the principle of embedding grounded learning activities within existing narratives of research design and implementation.

Maximisation of the value of population health sciences data

Abstract The sharing of research data for new science forms an important part of the UK Governments transparency agenda and its open data movement. The Medical Research Council (MRC) every year invests around £700 million of public money in health research, the primary output of which is data. This investment can be maximised through the sharing and further use of such data for the benefit of public health research. The MRCs research data policy aims to maximise the lifetime value of research data assets for human health in a timely and responsible manner, in line with the principles and guidelines from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for access to research data from public funding. Analysis by Piwowar has shown that in microarray clinical trials, publicly available research data are significantly associated with a 69% increase in citations. At the same time, data sharing between researchers varies widely within the health sciences, with investigators of cancer and patient studies least likely to make their datasets available. Thus data are least available in areas in which they could make the biggest effect. Research to understand human health and to assess interventions to improve health depends on information about the health, lifestyle, genetics, and environments (social, economic, and physical) of populations and patients. Data sharing is imminent because researchers need access to large samples across populations, to be able to study the complex effects of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors on diseases. Furthermore, data and studied ideas need to be standardised and harmonised, to enable comparability of measurements and attributes across samples. Within this framework of research needs, the MRC Data Support Service project developed a Research Data Gateway for the discovery of MRC-funded population and patient studies and their datasets and variables. The Gateway enables researchers to find and explore variables across longitudinal cohort studies, to support data linkage for new research. A federated approach is used, whereby investigators of studies are responsible for storage, preservation, curation, and dissemination of data; and then for publication of standardised metadata into the gateway. The system uses a Drupal content management system and Apache Solr search and browse functionality, with metadata organised into modular units representing studies, time periods, collection events, and variables. Researchers can search and discover variables across studies and export baskets of variables to request access to data. The directory already holds more than 45 000 variables for four studies: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), National Survey for Health and Development (NSHD), Southampton Womens Study (SWS), and Whitehall II. Inclusion of more variables and studies is under development. Development towards a Data Documentation Initiative–Lifecycle (DDI3-L) metadata exchange standard is in progress, enabling metadata from diverse formats and structures to be ingested into the gateway and result in comparable, standardised metadata. The project also works towards integration of this discovery platform with the Cohorts and Longitudinal Studies Enhancement Resource (CLOSER), a joint ESRC/MRC-funded project facilitating cross-disciplinary research across cohort studies, so that the MRC metadata directory can underpin CLOSERs future data harmonisation work. Funding Medical Research Council.