DYNAVERSITY (Horizon 2020) manual series
This manual (Manual 2 in a technical series) provides practical guidance for Community Seed Banks (Case delle Sementi) on designing, implementing and managing documentation systems for seed collections. It explains why documentation is essential for conservation, regeneration planning and decision-making, and describes six design and implementation steps: clarifying CSB structure, prioritising documentation needs, analysing activities and processes, identifying relevant descriptors, developing data entry forms, and establishing procedures and training. The manual covers descriptor selection (including handling heterogeneous material), paper forms and full-page layouts for field data, differences between flat-file and relational databases, data dictionaries, export/import and analysis workflows, data quality and security, software and licensing examples from European CSBs, and practical implementation tasks (role of a system manager, user training, and flexibility for future changes). It includes a case study of Pro Specie Rara and a glossary and further readings.
Key topics: community seed banks, seed documentation, data management, descriptors, databases, data sharing
