The Agroforestry Species Switchboard is a “one-stop-shop” to retrieve data about any particular plant species across a wide range of information sources. As part of the Global Tree Knowledge Platform, its particular objective is to provide information that supports research on trees as well as tree-based development activities, such as agroforestry plantings and wider restoration initiatives. But it also contains information on a much wider range of organisms.
Version 3.0 of the Switchboard documents the presence of 290,235 plant taxa (current names and synonyms) at genus, species and infraspecific levels. Included are 247,204 unique current names of which 246,409 (99.7%) of these were matched with the taxonomic backbone data of the World Flora Online or World Checklist of Vascular Plants, the majority (238,768) at the species level. The Switchboard provides links to check on the correct nomenclature of particular species. Within CIFOR-ICRAF, the Switchboard cross-links our various databases by establishing a centralised naming system.
When available, hyperlinks to selected taxa in particular information sources are provided in the Switchboard. In total, Version 3.0 of the Switchboard provides 491,401 such hyperlinks.
A list and brief descriptions of the 45 associated information sources that can be accessed through the Switchboard are given in the following sections. These are given in order of the listing of information sources in the Switchboard.