A review of the status of web-based African Plant-Pollinator Interaction data

A protocol was developed to collect and mine data from various web-based sources such as journals, web pages, handbooks, manuals and any other source that is web accessible and has information sought. The intention was to collect as much as possible all data with plant-pollinator interaction from studies carried out in Kenya and other parts of Africa. To assure technical support and homogeinity of thoughts, the activity was carried out in a write-shop set up whereby a team of data miners were brought together for 5 days to collect the data. They were trained on the meaning of plant pollinator interactions, key words that should look for, data coverage area, specific sites that are useful and the reporting. Further, monitoring and review of the data collection was continously done, to ensure the right data was collected appropriately. Various search engines were used to collect the data. The data was then prepared in a Globi data base to enhance its use base on the FAIR data principles. The results show that little data exists in Africa on plant-pollinator interaction based on the FAIR data principles. It further shows that Africa need to adopt FAIR principles to enhance utilization of generated data by scientists and expand the benefits of such data in Africa.