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

在James Ackerman博士的指导下，波多黎各大学获得了一笔赠款，用于部分支持一个项目，以扩大和升级UPRRP植物标本馆，这是波多黎各最大和增长最快的维管植物收藏。由于标本箱过于拥挤和变质，标本处理频率很高，这项建议的资金将用于扩大和升级现有设施，以适应标本收藏的增长，并采用灵活的标本管理和标本收集数据库，使馆藏资料可以通过电子方式获取。设施改进包括更换磨损的橱柜，增加其他橱柜，扩大橱柜压实机系统，以及增加样品处理能力。数据存储和标本馆管理将涉及实施布拉姆斯，这是牛津大学林业学院开发的标本馆数据和管理计划。这些数据(包括数字图像)将被输入标本馆，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，通过CATEC(加勒比应用生态和保护)网站进行访问。波多黎各和加勒比地区正在开展许多植物区系、系统化、生态和保护项目，使世界植物保护方案的植物标本库成为基本数据的基本资源和仓库。此外，由于馆藏位于校园内，为本科生和研究生服务的普通植物学、民族植物学、生态学和植物系统学课程都依赖于这些设施作为教学资源。保护这些藏品并使其以最佳方式获得是丰富这些学生教育机会的关键。由于大多数UPRRP收集是最近的，与标本相关的数据通常比更古老的材料更完整。因此，它的优势在于反映加勒比地区最近过去的信息的稳健性。加勒比地区是世界上最复杂的群岛之一，被认为是最重要的三个生物多样性热点之一。这个植物区系丰富的地区，无论是自然过程还是人为过程，都处于生态变迁状态。自然和社会正处于紧要关头，因为土地利用模式正在迅速变化，影响着植被以及物种组成和群落结构的变化，而人们对这种变化的了解才刚刚开始。记录现在的生物多样性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快速访问样本数据的机会。由于特别项目的数据可在数据库中单独搜索，将突出分类、生态和保护问题，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。电子采集管理和数据传播的实施可作为加勒比其他植物机构的样板。该项目雇用了一些人，将有助于开发收藏管理、分类学和保护等职业所需的人力资源，其中大多数人将来自代表性不足的群体，因为普遍定期审议绝大多数是西班牙裔。

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.