Support for the Arizona State University Herbarium

亚利桑那州立大学植物标本馆收藏了大约185,000个保存完好的植物标本。它是美国西南部最大的植物标本馆之一，在美国西南部和墨西哥北部的一般收藏中尤其丰富。植物标本室的标本对任何对系统学、生态学或西南原生植被保护感兴趣的人来说都是一个重要的资源，其中的仙人掌和地衣在国际上具有重要意义。在过去的20年里，馆藏增长非常迅速，积累了大量积压的标本。收藏这些藏品的橱柜也已达到或接近饱和，无法容纳积压的大约40,000种维管植物，25,000种地衣和1,000种化石，这些都需要处理和加入收藏。该项目将提供资金购买标准的植物标本室、地衣和化石柜，以容纳积压的标本，并为两名兼职本科生提供工资，以帮助消除积压。在三年的项目期间，植物标本室将：1)处理所有新的维管植物标本；2)减少维管植物积压40%；3)将所有积压的化石纳入收藏；4)准备好所有部分加工的地衣包，以便加入和与其他植物标本馆交换。这些活动将使亚利桑那州立大学植物标本室成为一个更有价值和更容易获得的资源。

The Arizona State University Herbarium contains approximately 185,000 preserved plant specimens. It is one of the largest herbaria in the Southwest and is especially rich in general collections of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The specimens in the Herbarium comprise a vital resource for anyone interested in the systematics, ecology or conservation of the native vegetation of the Southwest, and its holdings of cacti and lichens are of international importance. Over the last 20 years, the collection has grown very rapidly and a large backlog of specimens has accumulated. The cabinets that contain the collection are also at or near capacity and would be unable to contain the backlog of approximately 40,000 vascular plants, 25,000 lichens and 1,000 fossils that need to be processed and accessioned into the collection. This project will provide funds to purchase standard herbarium, lichen and fossil cabinets to contain the backlogged specimens, as well salary for two part-time undergraduates to help in eliminating the backlog. During the three-year duration of the project, the herbarium will: 1) process all new vascular plant specimens; 2) reduce the backlog of vascular plants by 40%; 3) accession the entire backlog of fossils into the collection; 4) prepare all the partially processed lichen packets for accessioning and exchange with other herbaria. These activities will make the Arizona State University Herbarium a much more valuable and readily available resource.