CSBR: Natural History: Expansion of the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium to Incorporate Newly Acquired Specimens and Improve Curation

该项目将扩建纽约植物园（NYBG）的威廉和琳达·斯蒂尔植物标本馆，以容纳额外的160,000个藻类、真菌和棕榈树标本。纽约植物园植物标本馆是一个国家分类学研究资源中心，包含大约730万份植物和真菌参考标本。它是美国大约650个植物标本馆中最大的一个，植物标本馆的标本保存着研究人员用来重建过去景观和预测植被如何随时间变化的数据。标本还包含了几乎无限的信息，包括生物体的基因组成、它们的繁殖模式、它们对不同类型栖息地的适应，以及它们与其他生物体的关系。迫切需要所有这些数据，以帮助解决四个关键的社会需求，即可持续粮食生产、生态系统恢复、生物燃料生产和改善人类健康。这些问题的解决方案将需要尽可能广泛地整合生物多样性数据，以及来自地球和社会科学的信息。藻类、苔藓植物、真菌和棕榈树都是研究不足的群体，它们的生态和经济重要性已得到证实，但文献记录不完整。约有12名大学生或应届毕业生被聘为实习生，将构成该项目有偿劳动力的最大比例，为这些年轻人提供大学与研究生院或职业之间的重要桥梁活动。此外，我们亦会邀请市民参与这项计划，透过网上众包应用程序转录数码标本的标签。这项活动的特别目标是寻求重新进入劳动力市场的以前被监禁的公民。在其120年的历史中，NYBG植物标本室通过工作人员和合作者的收藏，交流和孤儿植物标本室的合并，稳步发展。这是世界上最常被查阅的植物标本馆之一。在过去的五年中，有超过117,000个标本被外借，游客使用这些标本的时间为12,616天，NYBG植物标本室的标本至少在1200种出版物中被引用。在搬进一座新的植物标本馆11年后，由于藻类、苔藓植物和真菌的意外生长（藻类、苔藓植物和真菌）和不适当的架子（棕榈树），分配给藻类、苔藓植物、真菌和棕榈树的收集空间现在不足以适当储存这些资源。为了实现按照公认的最佳做法存放所有标本的目标，并使标本和来自它们的数据可供科学界使用，该项目将在植物标本馆一楼现有的压实机上用超高的植物标本馆柜取代34个开放式架子单元，从而创造额外的2,798个植物标本馆存储空间。这个空间将足以容纳目前无法归档的标本，并允许未来五年的生长。作为标本迁移到新空间的一部分，标本的管理将得到改善，92,000个标本将被数字化。有关纽约银行集团及其外展计划的更多信息，请访问：http://www.nybg.org。

This project will allow the expansion of The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in order to accommodate an additional 160,000 specimens of algae, fungi and palms. The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium is a National Systematics Research Resource Center containing approximately 7.3 million reference specimens of plants and fungi. It is the largest of the approximately 650 herbaria in the U.S. Herbarium specimens hold data that researchers use to re-create past landscapes and predict how vegetation will change over time. Specimens also contain nearly limitless information about the genetic makeup of organisms, their reproductive patterns, their adaptations for different types of habitats, and their relationships to other organisms. All of these data are urgently needed to contribute to the solutions to four key societal needs, namely sustainable food production, ecosystem restoration, biofuel production and improvement in human health. Solutions to these problems will require integration of as wide a range of biodiversity data as possible, along with information from earth and social sciences. The algae, bryophytes, fungi and palms are all under-studied groups with demonstrated but incompletely documented ecological and economic importance. Approximately 12 college students or recent graduates, hired as interns, will make up the largest proportion of the paid work force for this project, providing an important bridge activity between college and graduate school or career for these young adults. Additionally, members of the public will be invited to participate in this project by transcribing the labels of digitized specimens using on-line crowd sourcing applications. Especially targeted for this activity are formerly incarcerated citizens who are seeking re-entry into the workforce. Throughout its 120 years of existence the NYBG Herbarium has grown steadily through collections made by staff members and collaborators, exchange, and incorporation of orphaned herbaria. This is one of the most frequently consulted herbaria in the world. During the past five years, more than 117,000 specimens have been sent on loan, visitors have spent 12,616 days using the collection, and NYBG Herbarium specimens have been cited in at least 1,200 publications. Eleven years after moving into a new herbarium building that was designed for 20 years of growth, the space allotted for collections of algae, bryophytes, fungi and palms is now insufficient for proper storage of these resources due to unexpected growth (algae, bryophytes and fungi) and inadequate shelving (palms). In order to accomplish the goal of housing all specimens according to accepted best practices and making the specimens and data derived from them available to the scientific community, this project will create an additional 2,798 cubbyholes of herbarium storage space by replacing 34 open shelving units with extra tall herbarium cabinets on existing compactors on the first floor of the herbarium building. This space will be sufficient to accommodate the specimens that cannot currently be filed and allow for five years of future growth. As part of the relocation of specimens into the new space, the curation of specimens will be improved and 92,000 specimens will be digitized. More information about NYBG and its outreach programs is available at: http://www.nybg.org.