Safeguarding a Growing Herbarium and Establishing Digital Access to a Collection Resource for a Biodiversity Hotspot

保护不断扩大的植物标本馆并建立对生物多样性热点馆藏资源的数字访问

• 批准号: 0447067
• 负责人: James Ackerman
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-02-01 至 2009-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0447067&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Safeguarding; Growing; Herbarium; Establishing; Digital

A grant has been awarded to the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras under the direction of Dr. James Ackerman for partial support of a project to expand and upgrade the UPRRP herbarium, the largest and fastest growing vascular plant collection in Puerto Rico. With overcrowded and deteriorated specimen cases, and high specimen handling frequencies, funds for this proposal will be used for expanding and upgrading the current facilities to accommodate collection growth, and to employ a flexible herbarium management and collection database that will make holdings electronically accessible. Facility improvement includes the replacement of worn cabinets, the addition of others, expansion of the cabinet compactor system, and increased capacity for specimen processing. Data storage and herbarium management will involve the implementation of Brahms, a herbarium data and management program developed by University of Oxford School of Forestry. The data (including digital images) will be entered in the herbarium and stored on a dedicated server maintained at the University of Puerto Rico's High Performance Computing Facility and accessed through CATEC (Caribbean Applied Ecology and Conservation) web site. Numerous floristic, systematic, ecological and conservation projects are underway in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean making the UPRRP herbarium collection an essential resource and storehouse of basic data. Furthermore, with the collections located on campus, general botany, ethnobotany, ecology and plant systematic courses serving both undergraduate and graduate students depend on the facilities as a teaching resource. Safeguarding these collections and making them optimally accessible is key for enriching education opportunities for these students. Because most of the UPRRP collection is recent, data associated with the specimens is generally more complete than that of much older material. Thus, its strength lies in the robustness of information reflecting the Caribbean's recent past. The Caribbean region is one of the world's most complex archipelagos and is considered among the top three most important biodiversity hotspots. This floristically rich region is in a state of ecological flux through both natural processes and man-made ones. Nature and society are at a critical juncture since land use patterns are changing fast affecting vegetation and shifting species composition and community structure in ways that are just beginning to be understood. Documentation of present biological diversity is critical for reconstructing the past and anticipating the future. UPRRP will offer rapid access to specimen data by researchers, educators, and students worldwide. With data from special projects separately searchable on the database, taxonomic, ecological and conservation issues will be highlighted and should generate public awareness of the urgent problems that Caribbean scientists are addressing. The implementation of electronic collection management and data dissemination may serve as a model for other botanical institutions in the Caribbean. The project, by employing a number of people, will aid in the development of human resources for careers in collection management, taxonomy and conservation, most of whom will be from underrepresented groups since UPR is overwhelmingly Hispanic.

在詹姆斯·阿克曼博士的指导下，波多黎各里约彼德拉斯大学获得了一笔赠款，用于部分支持扩大和升级 UPRRP 植物标本室的项目，该植物标本室是波多黎各最大、增长最快的维管束植物收藏室。 由于标本箱过度拥挤和恶化，标本处理频率高，该提案的资金将用于扩大和升级现有设施，以适应收藏的增长，并采用灵活的植物标本馆管理和收藏数据库，使馆藏可以电子方式访问。 设施改进包括更换磨损的柜子、添加其他柜子、扩展柜子压实机系统以及增加样本处理能力。 数据存储和植物标本馆管理将涉及勃拉姆斯的实施，这是由牛津大学林业学院开发的植物标本馆数据和管理程序。 数据（包括数字图像）将输入植物标本室并存储在波多黎各大学高性能计算设施维护的专用服务器上，并通过 CATEC（加勒比应用生态学和保护）网站访问。 波多黎各和加勒比海地区正在进行许多植物区系、系统、生态和保护项目，使 UPRRP 植物标本室收藏成为重要的资源和基础数据仓库。 此外，由于馆藏位于校园内，本科生和研究生的普通植物学、民族植物学、生态学和植物系统课程都依赖这些设施作为教学资源。 保护这些馆藏并使其能够以最佳方式访问是丰富这些学生的教育机会的关键。 由于 UPRRP 收集的大部分资料都是最近收集的，因此与标本相关的数据通常比更古老的材料更完整。 因此，其优势在于反映加勒比地区近期历史的可靠信息。 加勒比地区是世界上最复杂的群岛之一，被认为是三大最重要的生物多样性热点地区之一。这个植物丰富的地区通过自然过程和人为过程处于生态不断变化的状态。 自然和社会正处于关键时刻，因为土地利用模式正在快速变化，影响着植被，并以人们刚刚开始理解的方式改变了物种组成和群落结构。 当前生物多样性的记录对于重建过去和预测未来至关重要。 UPRRP 将为世界各地的研究人员、教育工作者和学生提供对样本数据的快速访问。通过在数据库中单独搜索特殊项目的数据，分类学、生态和保护问题将得到突出，并应引起公众对加勒比科学家正在解决的紧迫问题的认识。 电子馆藏管理和数据传播的实施可以作为加勒比地区其他植物机构的典范。 该项目通过雇用大量人员，将有助于开发馆藏管理、分类学和保护方面的人力资源，其中大多数人将来自代表性不足的群体，因为普遍定期审议中绝大多数是西班牙裔。