Digitization PEN: Digitization of North American Bryophyte and Lichen Specimens from Two Ohio Herbaria at the University of Cincinnati (CINC)

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This project joins the ongoing Thematic Collections Network project "North American Lichens and Bryophytes: Sensitive Indicators of Environmental Quality and Change". The project will contribute label data for approximately 107,000 specimens form North America. Both herbaria included in this PEN are especially rich in 18th to early 20th Century collections which will fill an important gap in attaining the TCN's goals. These organisms are known to be highly sensitive to environmental changes and, accordingly this data, will support future research on environmental changes during this period of history which may influence distributional patterns of lichens and bryophytes over time. Other research projects, that use map-based analyses of historical vs. present-day data, could address questions such as, can these hyper-sensitive organisms be used as early warning bioindicators to highlight the early causes and effects of environmental change? In addition, exposure of these historical specimens and their data will be useful for studies of changes in the local vegetation.The results of this project will be useful to society by increasing our understanding and our ability for early detection of the causal factors and resulting patterns of environmental quality including, for example, changes in air and water quality. This project will provide experience in museum curation and database management to undergraduate and graduate students. Outreach will include design and implementation of pre-K and 1st grade activities to introduce young students to new colors, textures of the strange and interesting things in the natural world, and the idea that all organisms are important. This award is made as part of the National Resource for Digitization of Biological Collections through the Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program and all data resulting from this award will be available through the National Resource (iDigBio.org).