CSBR: Natural History: Critical Upgrades, Expansion, and Reorganization of the Wisconsin State Herbarium (WIS)

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的威斯康星州立植物标本馆（WIS）收藏了超过120万份保存完好的植物标本，在世界上最大、最活跃的植物标本馆中名列前1%。它是美洲第三大公立大学的植物标本室，被各种各样的客户广泛使用，包括从事生态恢复的公民、州立生物学家、研究人员、教授，以及进行独立研究或在九门不同的大学课程中注册的学生，这些课程将植物标本室的收藏纳入教学。最近，WIS被列为世界上14个植物标本馆之一，其在线标本数据在记录环境变化的研究中至少被查阅了20次；这是一个世界级的资源。随着馆藏的增加，植物标本室在几十年前就达到了承载能力，现在它的设施过于拥挤，不足以维持标本储存的策展标准，也无法完全向公众开放。例如，装有476箱开花植物的机械化压实机发生故障，无法维修。植物标本馆的两层都将进行重要的升级；其在主楼的30年历史的机动压实系统将被改造成一个新的，更可靠的手动系统，一个新的高密度移动存储系统和相关的橱柜将安装在植物标本馆新获得的二楼。这些改进将允许整合分散在整个建筑中的收藏品，妥善保管和扩展，特别是在其特殊的藻类，真菌，地衣和苔藓中。整个植物标本馆收藏的重组将遵循这一扩展，包括采用现代植物分类系统，该系统现在在校园的所有正规大学课程中教授。在麦迪逊校区购置新房产的同时，该校还购买了大约6万件地衣标本，以补充现有的藏品。此外，WIS还参与了许多当前的地区、国家和国际馆藏数字化活动，并且是两个nsf资助的专题馆藏网络的牵头机构。该项目产生的所有数据将发布在网上（http://herbarium.wisc.edu/databases.htm），并与iDigBio （https://www.idigbio.org/）共享，以确保研究人员和教育工作者可以访问。最后，为了向老年人和学龄前青少年突出无与伦比的自然历史博物馆资源，WIS将在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的夏季祖父母大学周期间开发为期两天的植物学“专业”。有关WIS及其外展活动的更多信息，请访问http://herbarium.wisc.edu/。

With a collection of more than 1.2 million preserved plant specimens, the Wisconsin State Herbarium (WIS) at the UW-Madison ranks among the top 1% of the world's largest and most active herbaria. It is the third largest public university herbarium in the Americas, and is used extensively by a diverse clientele, including citizens engaged in ecological restoration, state biologists, researchers, professors, as well as students who are conducting independent research or enrolled in any of the nine different university courses that incorporate the herbarium's collection into teaching. Recently, WIS was listed as one of 14 herbaria in the world whose online specimen data has been consulted at least 20 times in studies documenting environmental change; it is a world class resource. As its holdings have grown, the herbarium reached its carrying capacity decades ago, and its facilities are now overcrowded, inadequate for maintaining curatorial standards of specimen storage, and unable to provide full public access. For example, the mechanized compactor holding 476 cabinets of flowering plants has failed and cannot be repaired. Critical upgrades will take place on both floors of the herbarium; its 30-year old motorized compactor system on the main floor will be modified into a new, more reliable manual system, and a new high-density mobile storage system and associated cabinets will be installed in the herbarium's newly acquired second floor. These improvements will allow for consolidation of collections scattered throughout the building, proper safekeeping and expansion, especially among its exceptional algae, fungi, lichens, and mosses. A reorganization of the entire herbarium collection will follow this expansion, including adoption of a contemporary phylogenetic system of plant classification, which is now taught in all formal university courses on campus. The acquisition of new real estate on the Madison campus coincides with the purchase of a collection of ca. 60,000 lichen specimens that complement existing holdings. In addition, WIS is involved in a number of current regional, national, and international collection digitization activities, and is the lead institution for two NSF-funded Thematic Collections Networks. All data resulting from this project will be posted online (http://herbarium.wisc.edu/databases.htm) and shared with iDigBio (https://www.idigbio.org/), ensuring accessibility to researchers and educators. Finally, in order to highlight unparalleled natural history museum resources to senior citizens and pre-college teens, WIS will develop a two-day botany "major" during UW-Madison's summer Grandparent's University week. Additional information about WIS and its outreach activities is available at http://herbarium.wisc.edu/.