Support for Computerization and Maintenance of Botanical Systematic Collections at the California Academy of Sciences

弗兰克·阿尔梅达博士是加州科学院植物部门的高级馆长，他为该部门设计了一个重要的计算机化程序。Almeda博士建议为植物系和整个学院建立与国家计算机网络Internet的计算机连接。在这样做的过程中，植物学系将加入加州其他几家大型植物标本馆的行列，参与一项雄心勃勃的数据库开发计划。加州大学伯克利分校的大学植物标本室正在实施加州植物标本室标本管理系统（SMASCH），这是一个加利福尼亚植物标本的联网计算机数据库。阿尔梅达博士设计的计算机化程序将允许该学院的重要植物收藏成为SMASCH数据库发展的一部分。拟议的植物数据库倡议的影响超出了加州科学院的收藏。自然历史博物馆和植物标本馆正在建立世界范围的信息共享网络，这些计算机化的信息资源将使生物多样性的研究发生革命性的变化。从事地球科学、地理学、经济学和生物学研究的科学家将利用这些数据库获取目前无法获得的信息。未来几代科学家在调查全球气候变化、进化史和其他综合研究问题时，将依赖这些数据资源。

Dr. Frank Almeda is the Senior Curator of the Botany Department in the California Academy of Sciences, and he has designed a significant computerization program for the department. Dr. Almeda proposes to establish a computer linkage to the national computer network Internet for the Botany Department and the entire Academy. In so doing, the Botany Department will join several other large California herbaria in an ambitious program of database development. The University Herbarium at the University of California at Berkeley is implementing the Specimen Management System for California Herbaria (SMASCH), a networked computer database of California plant specimens. The computerization program designed by Dr. Almeda will allow the Academy's important plant collections to become a part of the SMASCH database as it develops. The proposed plant database initiative has implications beyond the collections at the California Academy of Sciences. Natural history museums and herbaria are establishing world-wide networks of information sharing, and these computerized information resources will revolutionize research on biological diversity. Research scientists in earth sciences, geography, economics, as well as biology will draw on these databases for information that is presently unavailable. Future generations of scientists will depend on data resources such as these as they investigate global climate change, evolutionary history, and other integrative research questions.