Collaborative Research: Consortium of Pacific Herbaria. A Research and Collections Network for Oceania

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The Consortium of Pacific Herbaria (CPH) is being created to study and manage plant collections from the Polynesia-Micronesia hotspot region. The CPH is a new collaboration between Bishop Museum, National Tropical Botanical Garden, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and herbaria in Hawaii, American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga, Palau, Guam, and Fiji. The major goals of the CPH include curating and digitally imaging nearly one million dried plant specimens from Polynesia, Micronesia and Fiji, creating a standardized plant checklist, and making collections data and digital images available online from a single portal.Increased access to digital data for plants and algae of the Pacific Basin through the CPH will create new opportunities for researchers and citizen scientists to discover and use collection data by species, location, and institution. A working list of Latin and common plant names will facilitate the research of biologists and work of land-use managers who monitor invasive and endangered species throughout the Pacific. Classes in herbarium curation will be offered to college students in Hawaii, and employment opportunities will be made available in herbaria to native Pacific Islanders. Identification workshops will be offered to professional biologists in the region, focusing on five common plant families that pose particular challenges for identifying Pacific species.