Digitization of Caribbean Plants and Fungi in The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium

该项目将使纽约植物园威廉和林达·斯蒂尔植物标本馆保存的加勒比地区150,000个藻类、苔藓、真菌(包括地衣)和维管植物干标本数字化，完成该地区300,000个标本全部馆藏的数字化。标本馆标本是地球上过去和现在S植被的基本信息来源，对于加勒比地区来说，没有比斯蒂尔标本馆更大的此类信息来源了。加勒比地区有许多独特的栖息地和物种，这些栖息地处于极度濒危状态。该项目提供的数据对于记录该地区的植物和真菌至关重要。该项目可以通过指明需要保护的多样性区域、补充个别物种的分布概况以记录其保护状况以及跟踪入侵物种的传播，来帮助保护工作。该区域各国可以利用这些数据作为新项目的核心，这些项目将为区域生物学家提供培训和就业。只要有可能，该项目将寻求从纽约植物园周围的当地社区招聘工作人员，那里有来自加勒比海地区的移民占多数，而在《科学》杂志上，这一群体的比例较低。该项目提供的数据还将帮助美国鱼类和野生动物工作人员识别被隔离的植物材料，从而为国土安全部服务。

This project will result in the digitization of 150,000 specimens of dried specimens of algae, bryophytes, fungi (including lichens) and vascular plants from the Caribbean region held by The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden, completing the digitization of the entire holdings of 300,000 specimens from the region. Herbarium specimens are the fundamental source of information on the earth?s vegetation, past and present, and there is no larger single source of such information for the Caribbean region than the Steere Herbarium. The Caribbean region contains many unique habitats and species, and these habitats are critically endangered. The data provided by this project will be essential to documenting the plants and fungi of the region. This project can aid conservation efforts by indicating areas of diversity for protection, supplementing the distributional profile of individual species in order to document their conservation status, and tracking the spread of invasive species. The countries of the region can use these data to serve as the nucleus of new projects that will provide training and employment for regional biologists. Whenever possible, the project will seek to hire staff from the local community surrounding the New York Botanical Garden, which contains a preponderance of immigrants from the Caribbean region, a group under-represented in Science. The data provided by this project will also serve Homeland Security by helping U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff to identify quarantined plant material.