COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Toward Documenting Biodiversity Change in Arctic Lichens: Databasing the Principal Collections, Establishing a Baseline, and Developing a Virtual Flora

地衣是对环境变化高度敏感的共生生物，几十年来一直被用作监测空气污染的生物指示剂。它们在北极和亚北极生态系统中过去、现在和未来的分布模式可能反映了温度、水和养分循环方面的重大生态系统变化，以及驯鹿等迁徙动物的种群动态。关于北极地衣当前和历史分布的大部分数据目前存在于文献和北美的自然历史收藏中，其中最大的两个存在于阿拉斯加大学博物馆（费尔班克斯）和威斯康星州大学州立植物标本馆（麦迪逊）的植物标本库中。这个项目将确定，更新命名，条形码，地理参考，和数据库这对集合。与此同时，将编制一份所有北极亚北极地衣物种的最新清单，收集照片，并对每个物种的分类特征进行编码，以用于编制动态分类检索表和物种说明。总之，这一数据集将被整合使用共生软件包，以生成一个在线的虚拟植物群的北极地衣。虚拟植物区系及其交互式密钥、彩色照片、物种描述、实时分布图和直接访问完整的标本元数据，代表了以民主方式与所有感兴趣的人共享生物多样性信息的方式的一场革命。创建一个相对全面的植物群将使地衣学学科向更大的社区开放，并有助于进一步促进对北极生物群落内生态复杂性的认识。除了将生成的在线数据库和信息技术工具外，将通过一系列区域和国家讲习班传播为该项目收集的数据。该项目还将作为北极地衣为主题的科学营，展览，讲座和活动的基础，为更广泛的公众，包括K-12学生/教师观众。最后，合作的努力包括本科生和研究生谁将接受来自不同的研究团队的培训。

Lichens are symbiotic organisms that are highly sensitive to environmental change, and have been used for decades as bioindicators to monitor air pollution. Their past, current, and future patterns of distribution in Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems are likely to be reflective of significant ecosystem change in temperature, water and nutrient cycling, as well as population dynamics of migratory animals such as caribou. Most of the data concerning current and historical distributions of Arctic lichens presently resides in the literature and within the natural history collections of North America, the two largest of which reside in the herbaria of the University of Alaska Museum (Fairbanks) and the University of Wisconsin State Herbarium (Madison). This project would identify, update nomenclature, barcode, georeference, and database this pair of collections. At the same time, an updated checklist of all Arctic & Subarctic lichen species will be generated, photographs will be collected, and taxonomic characters for each species will be coded for use in creating dynamic taxonomic keys and species descriptions. Together, this dataset will be integrated using the Symbiota software package to generate an online virtual Flora of Arctic Lichens. Virtual floras, with their interactive keys, color photographs, species descriptions, real-time distribution maps, and direct access to complete specimen metadata, represent a revolution in the way that biodiversity information is shared in a democratic manner with all who are interested. The creation of what promises to be a relatively comprehensive Flora will expose the discipline of lichenology to a larger community, and help to further advance an appreciation of ecological complexity within the Arctic biome. In addition to the online databases and information technology tools that will be generated, data gathered for this project will be disseminated through a series of regional and national workshops. The project will also serve as the basis for Arctic lichen-themed science camps, exhibits, lectures, and activities created for the greater public, including the K-12 student/teacher audience. Finally, the collaborative effort includes both undergraduate and graduate students who will receive training from a diverse team of researchers.