Consolidation of the WIS and MAD Herbaria, and Computerization of Wisconsin Vascular Plant Specimens

该项目将从两个方面改善威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的植物收藏设施。首先，它将把两个校园博物馆设施合并为一个，将美国农业部森林产品实验室标本馆(缩写为MAD，有45,000个标本)并入更大的华盛顿大学麦迪逊标本馆(“WIS”，目前有1,020,000个标本)。这些藏品现在位于麦迪逊校园的两端，它们的合并将整合物质、人力和计算机化资源，并促进对藏品的更好研究和管理。每当来自MAD的标本是林产品实验室实际木材标本的代金券时，它们将在到达WIS之前由USDA-FPL进行数字拍摄，这些图像将链接到在线参考数据库。为了把疯人标本馆放入威斯康星的有限空间内，以及纾缓该处的挤迫情况和改善不合标准的藏品储存条件，我们会在主要标本馆的可用地方安装紧凑化和非紧凑化的标本储存箱。第二项重大改进需要将威斯康星州维管植物标本的计算机化数据库从目前的100,000份材料扩大到约250,000份，包括威斯康星州的所有植物标本库。威斯康星州维管植物网站(www.issc.edu/herbaurum)目前是一个基于物种的可搜索清单，包含2000多个物种的大量补充信息和照片。有了这个项目完成的数据库，我们将能够提供威斯康星州所有2,500个物种的在线计算机化分布图，以及从250,000个数据库标本中的任何一个中检索到的记录信息。威斯康星州的血管植物网站(www.issc.edu/herbaurum)已经是州和国家一级广泛咨询的资源(2001年点击量超过100万次)，我们为能够接触到广大公众以及科学界而感到自豪。我们通过提供简单的用户界面、有效的搜索机制、植物照片和分布图中丰富的图形内容以及到相关网站的有用链接来做到这一点。我们的用户群包括自然资源经理、州和联邦机构、中学和大学，以及业余博物学家。随着威斯康星州标本电脑化程度的提高，我们将显著扩大网站作为有效和持续发展的在线植物群的作用。WIS和MAD的合并将提供基础设施，以安全和有效地管理一个包含1,100,000多个标本的合并标本馆(包括目前储存的一些未处理的收藏品)。届时，我们将成为全国规模最大的五所大学植物收藏之一，并成为电子传播与植物有关的数据和图像的先行者，旨在为普通公众和更专业的科学界服务。

This project will improve the botanical collections facilities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in two ways. First, it will consolidate two campus museum facilities into one, by incorporating the USDA Forest Products Laboratory Herbarium (acronym "MAD", with 45,000 specimens) into the larger UW-Madison Herbarium ("WIS", currently with 1,020,000 specimens). These collections are now located at opposite ends of the Madison campus, and their merger will consolidate physical, human, and computerization resources, as well as facilitate better research and curation of the collections. Whenever the incoming specimens from MAD are vouchers for actual wood specimens at the Forest Products Lab, they will be digitally photographed by the USDA-FPL before arriving at WIS, and these images will be linked to an online reference database. To fit the MAD herbarium into the limited space available at WIS, and to alleviate overcrowding and correct substandard collection storage conditions there, we will install compacterized and non-compacterized specimen storage cases in available sections of the main herbarium. The second major improvement entails expanding the computerized database of Wisconsin vascular plant specimens from the current 100,000 accessions to about 250,000, including all herbarium collections from the state at WIS. The Wisconsin Vascular Plants website (www.wisc.edu/herbarium) is currently a searchable, species-based checklist, with extensive supplementary information and photographs of over 2,000 species. With the databasing accomplished by this project, we will be able to provide online computerized distribution maps for all 2,500 species in Wisconsin, as well as searchable record information from any of the 250,000 databased specimens. The Wisconsin Vascular Plant website (www.wisc.edu/herbarium) is already a heavily consulted resource at the state and national levels (over one million hits in 2001), and we are proud that we are able to outreach to a broad public as well as to the scientific community. We do this by providing a simple user interface, effective search mechanisms, rich graphic content in plant photographs and distribution maps, and useful links to associated websites. Our user base includes natural resource managers, state and federal agencies, secondary schools and universities, and amateur naturalists. With the increased computerization of Wisconsin specimens, we will significantly expand the website's role as an effective and continually developing online flora. The consolidation of WIS and MAD will provide the infrastructure to safely and efficiently manage a combined herbarium of over 1,100,000 specimens (incorporating some of the unprocessed collections now in storage). We will then be among the top five university-based plant collections in the country in size and a forerunner in the electronic dissemination of plant-related data and images designed to serve both the general public and the more specialized scientific community.