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，通过将美国农业部森林产品实验室植物标本馆（首字母缩写“MAD”，拥有45,000个标本）并入更大的威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校植物标本馆（“WIS”，目前拥有1,020,000个标本）。这些收藏现在位于麦迪逊校园的两端，它们的合并将巩固物理、人力和计算机资源，并促进更好的研究和收藏管理。当来自MAD的样本是林产品实验室实际木材样本的凭证时，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。为使MAD的植物标本室能挤进WIS有限的空间，以及缓解该处的过度拥挤和改善不合标准的标本存放条件，我们会在主植物标本室的可用部分安装压实和非压实标本存放柜。第二项重大改进是将威斯康星州维管植物标本的计算机数据库从目前的10万份增加到25万份，包括威斯康星州的所有植物标本馆藏品。威斯康辛维管植物网站（www.wisc.edu/herbarium）目前是一个可搜索的、基于物种的清单，有大量的补充信息和2000多个物种的照片。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2500个物种的在线计算机分布图，以及从25万个数据库标本中任何一个的可搜索记录信息。威斯康辛维管植物网站（www.wisc.edu/herbarium）已经是一个在州和国家层面大量咨询的资源（2001年超过100万次点击），我们很自豪我们能够向广大公众和科学界伸出援助之手。我们通过提供简单的用户界面、有效的搜索机制、丰富的植物照片和分布图的图形内容以及到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者、州和联邦机构、中学和大学，以及业余博物学家。随着威斯康星标本计算机化的增加，我们将显著扩大网站作为一个有效的和不断发展的在线植物群的作用。WIS和MAD的合并将为安全有效地管理超过110万份标本的植物标本馆提供基础设施（包括目前储存的一些未经处理的标本）。然后，我们将成为全国规模最大的五所大学植物收藏之一，并成为旨在为公众和更专业的科学界服务的植物相关数据和图像电子传播的先驱。

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.