Information Technology, Plant Pathology and Biodiversity

Information technology is revolutionizing the handling of biological information. The British Society for Plant Pathology (BSPP) has been at the forefront of several initiatives in handling information electronically, and the Systematics Association has a long-standing involvement incomputer-based species identification. BSPP and the Systematics Association recognized the opportunity to join forces and develop a combined program for a conference on these themes, which was held in December 1996 at the University of Kent at Canterbury. This book presents forty edited and revisedpapers from that conference. The topics covered are wide-ranging and include biological databases, geographic information systems, probabilistic identification systems, and electronic teaching aids. Written by authors from Europe, North and Central America, China, India and New Zealand, the bookprovides an essential review for plant pathologists and taxonomists, as well as other biologists wishing to keep up with the information revolution.