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植物标本馆（缩写为“MAD”，有45，000个标本）合并到更大的威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校植物标本馆（“WIS”，目前有1，020，000个标本）。这些收藏品现在位于麦迪逊校园的两端，它们的合并将巩固物理，人力和计算机化资源，以及促进更好的研究和收藏品的策展。无论何时，只要从MAD收到的标本是森林产品实验室实际木材标本的凭证，它们将在到达WIS之前由USDA-FPL进行数字拍照，这些图像将链接到在线参考数据库。为配合博物馆标本馆的空间有限，以及纾缓博物馆的挤迫情况和改善藏品存放环境，我们会在主标本馆的可供使用的部分，安装已消毒和未消毒的标本存放柜。第二个重大改进是将威斯康星州维管植物标本的计算机化数据库从目前的10万份增加到大约25万份，包括来自威斯康星州的所有标本馆收藏。威斯康星州维管植物网站（www.wisc.edu/herbarium）目前是一个可搜索的，基于物种的清单，有广泛的补充信息和照片超过2,000种。随着数据库的完成，这个项目，我们将能够提供在线计算机化的分布地图，所有2,500种在威斯康星州，以及可搜索的记录信息，从任何250,000个数据库标本。威斯康星州维管植物网站（www.wisc.edu/herbarium）已经是州和国家一级的大量咨询资源（2001年点击率超过100万），我们感到自豪的是，我们能够向广大公众以及科学界推广。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相关网站的有用链接来实现这一目标。我们的用户群包括自然资源管理人员、州和联邦机构、中学和大学以及业余自然学家。随着威斯康星州标本的计算机化程度的提高，我们将显着扩大网站的作用，作为一个有效的和不断发展的在线植物群。WIS和MAD的合并将为安全有效地管理一个拥有110万多个标本的综合植物标本馆提供基础设施（包括一些目前储存的未经处理的标本）。然后，我们将成为全国五大大学植物收藏馆之一，并成为植物相关数据和图像电子传播的先驱，旨在为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.