Digitization TCN: Collaborative: American Crossroads: Digitizing the Vascular Flora of the South-Central United States

从美国机构的生物标本中提取数据的出现大大提高了博物馆藏品的价值，并使科学问题得以以新颖的方式解决。动员过程包括标本数字图像捕获、标签数据转录、地理坐标的添加以及通过可搜索的在线门户网站传播数据。这个为期四年的项目汇集了46个合作的植物标本馆，从俄克拉荷马州和德克萨斯州收集的近200万株植物标本中收集数据。这些州的大部分植物标本馆，以及其他拥有大量俄克拉荷马州和德克萨斯州植物标本馆的州的主要植物标本馆，都将参与其中。由于这两个州构成了北美生态和植物多样性的主要十字路口，因此将它们的植物标本数据数字化可以作为理解整个北美大陆生态系统进化的关键因素。该项目将包括值得保护的物种、入侵物种和环境健康指标的数据，从而加强物种和生境的保护和管理，并促进生物多样性科学的广泛应用。植物爱好者组织（如本地植物学会）的成员也将参与标本数据录入。该项目将通过为技术人员举办研讨会和讲座以及为本科生实习生提供实践培训，为具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力做出贡献。与美国其他地区相比，美国中南部的数字化植物标本馆标本数据很少，这给我们对北美植物生物多样性的了解留下了很大的地理差距，阻碍了区域和更大规模解决环境问题的努力。为了解决这个问题，研究人员将1)建立一个专题收藏网络（TCN），对俄克拉荷马州和德克萨斯州收集的近200万维管植物标本馆标本进行数字化；2)通过综合在线平台传播数字化数据；3)制定和实施创新策略，提高标本数字化效率；4)让公民科学家和学生参与基于项目的活动。该项目与建立良好的德克萨斯州和俄克拉何马州地区植物标本协会（TORCH; www.torcherbaria.org）紧密结合，将有助于监督和指导该项目。与集成数字化生物收集（iDigBio.org）中心的协调将促进整个团队的会议，更广泛的影响因素，以及数据工作流程，动员和访问。自然历史收藏很适合分析全球变化及其对区域生物群的影响。在此背景下，来自TORCH TCN的数字化植物标本数据将提供解决该地区物种丰富度和系统发育多样性模式、植被对气候变化的响应以及基于基质与气候数据的物种分布模型的主要假设的能力。该项目的结果将通过专业出版物和学会会议、植物爱好者社区的地方分会、社交媒体和TORCH网站上的博客广泛传播。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The advent of data mobilization from biological specimens housed in U.S. institutions has profoundly enhanced the value of museum collections and has allowed scientific questions to be addressed in novel ways. The process of mobilization involves specimen digital image capture, transcription of label data, addition of geographic coordinates, and dissemination of the data through searchable online portals. This four-year project brings together 46 collaborating herbaria to mobilize the data from nearly two million plant specimens collected in the states of Oklahoma and Texas. Most of the herbaria in these states, as well as key herbaria from other states with large Oklahoma and Texas holdings, will participate. Because these two states constitute a major crossroads of North American ecological and plant diversity, digitizing their plant specimen data can serve as a key element for understanding ecosystem evolution across the North American continent. The project will include data for species of conservation concern, invasives, and environmental health indicators, thus enhancing species and habitat conservation and management and contributing to wide-ranging applications in biodiversity science. It will also involve as participants members of plant enthusiast organizations (such as native plant societies) in specimen data entry. The project will contribute to a globally competitive STEM workforce through workshops and lectures for its technicians and practical training for undergraduate interns.Digitized herbarium specimen data for the South-Central U.S. are sparse relative to other parts of the country, leaving a large geographic gap in our knowledge of North American plant biodiversity that impedes both regional and larger-scale efforts in solving environmental issues. To address this problem, the researchers will 1) establish a Thematic Collections Network (TCN) to digitize the data from nearly two million vascular plant herbarium specimens collected in Oklahoma and Texas; 2) disseminate the digitized data through an integrated online platform; 3) develop and implement innovative strategies to increase efficiency in specimen digitization; and 4) engage citizen scientists and students on project-based activities. The project is primed for action by its strong integration with the well-established Texas and Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH; www.torcherbaria.org), which will help oversee and guide the project. Coordination with Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio.org) hub will facilitate team-wide meetings, broader impact elements, and data workflows, mobilization, and access. Natural history collections are well positioned for the analysis of global change and the resulting impacts on regional biota. In this context, the digitized herbarium specimen data from the TORCH TCN will provide the capacity for addressing major hypotheses in the region concerning patterns of species richness and phylogenetic diversity, vegetation responses to climate change, and species distribution models based on substrate versus climatic data. Results of the project will be widely disseminated through professional publications and society meetings, local chapters of plant-enthusiast communities, social media outlets, and blogs on the TORCH website.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.