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

地衣是一种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标。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生态系统在温度、水和养分循环方面的重大变化，以及驯鹿等迁徙动物的种群动态。目前，关于北极地衣当前和历史分布的大部分数据都存在于文献和北美自然历史收藏中，其中最大的两个保存在阿拉斯加大学博物馆（费尔班克斯）和威斯康辛州立大学植物标本室（麦迪逊）。该项目将确定、更新命名法、条形码、地理参考并建立这对集合的数据库。与此同时，所有北极和亚北极地衣物种的更新清单将被生成，照片将被收集，每个物种的分类特征将被编码，用于创建动态分类密钥和物种描述。这些数据集将使用Symbiota软件包进行整合，生成一个在线的虚拟北极地衣区系。虚拟植物区系具有交互键、彩色照片、物种描述、实时分布图和直接访问完整标本元数据，代表了生物多样性信息以民主方式与所有感兴趣的人共享的方式的一场革命。这个有望成为相对全面的植物区系的创建，将使地衣学的学科暴露在更大的群落中，并有助于进一步提高对北极生物群系生态复杂性的认识。除了将产生的联机数据库和信息技术工具外，还将通过一系列区域和国家讲习班传播为这个项目收集的数据。该项目还将作为以北极地衣为主题的科学营、展览、讲座和活动的基础，为更广大的公众创造，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，他们将接受来自不同研究人员团队的培训。

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.