Alabama's Biodiversity Heritage: Expanding and Promoting Access and Use of a Regional Important Botanical Collection

阿拉巴马州的生物多样性遗产：扩大和促进区域重要植物收藏的获取和使用

• 批准号: 1919498
• 负责人: Alvin Diamond
• 金额: $ 19.54万
• 依托单位: Troy University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1919498&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Alabama; Biodiversity; Heritage; Expanding; Promoting

The Troy University Herbarium houses more than 46,000 plant specimens, making it one of the largest and more diverse collections in Alabama. It is especially rich in specimens from the East Gulf Coastal Plain ecoregion, a top biodiversity hotspot in the United States and considered endangered. The herbarium is an irreplaceable repository of botanical diversity that documents the occurrence of plants both past and present. This project will secure and alleviate overcrowding of specimens. It will improve and modernize access to specimens and allow for wider dissemination of the information they convey to researchers, educators, students, and the general public. The outcomes will facilitate research in basic and applied sciences, such as conservation biology, agriculture, and resource management. Educational programs will benefit students and educators through workshops focused on how the new resources can be used to increase interest in biodiversity research. This NSF-funded project will provide a mobile storage system and herbarium cabinets, which will allow for expansion and growth of the TROY Herbarium. Specific activities include (1) installation of new herbarium cases and a mobile storage system; (2) acquisition of new digitization equipment; (3) curation of over 10,000 legacy specimens; and (4) engaging teachers and students in southeast Alabama through workshops and digital resources. New imaging equipment will be used to digitize and improve accessibility for 46,000 vouchered specimens and more than 10,000 legacy specimens that will be available via the Alabama Plant Atlas and shared with national and international resources including iDigBio (idigbio.org) and the Global Biodiversity Information Faciilty (GBIF). Non-vascular plant specimens will be made available through the North American Bryophyte Herbarium portal and the North American Lichen Herbarium portal. As part of the project, reorganization and nomenclatural updates will be made to facilitate access and secure the collection for future use. Summer workshops on plant identification, classification and herbarium procedures for Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM) and the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) will provide needed training for elementary and secondary teachers. Curators, serving as mentors for teachers and students using iNaturalist, will provide lasting outreach to the community.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.

特洛伊大学植物标本馆收藏了46,000多个植物标本，使其成为阿拉巴马州最大和更多样化的标本收藏之一。它特别丰富的标本来自东湾海岸平原生态区，这是美国最大的生物多样性热点，被认为是濒危物种。植物标本馆是不可替代的植物学多样性的储存库，它记录了过去和现在的植物的出现。该项目将确保并缓解标本过度拥挤的问题。它将改进和现代化获取标本的途径，并允许向研究人员、教育工作者、学生和普通公众更广泛地传播这些标本所传达的信息。这些成果将促进基础科学和应用科学的研究，如保护生物学、农业和资源管理。教育项目将通过研讨会使学生和教育工作者受益，研讨会的重点是如何利用新资源来提高人们对生物多样性研究的兴趣。这个由美国国家科学基金会资助的项目将提供一个移动存储系统和标本柜，这将允许特洛伊标本馆的扩张和发展。具体活动包括：(1)安装新的标本箱和移动存储系统；(2)购置新的数字化设备；(3)收藏10,000多件遗产标本；(4)通过讲习班和数字资源吸引阿拉巴马州东南部的教师和学生。将使用新的成像设备对46 000个有担保的标本和10 000多个遗留标本进行数字化，并改进获取这些标本的机会，这些标本将通过阿拉巴马州植物地图集获得，并与包括iDigBio(idigBio.org)和全球生物多样性信息中心(GBIF)在内的国内和国际资源共享。非维管植物标本将通过北美苔藓植物标本馆门户网站和北美苔藓植物标本馆门户网站提供。作为该项目的一部分，将对收藏品进行重组和名称更新，以方便查阅和确保收藏品的安全，以供今后使用。阿拉巴马州运动科学协会(ASIM)和阿拉巴马州数学、科学和技术倡议(AMSTI)的植物鉴定、分类和植物标本馆程序暑期讲习班将为中小学教师提供必要的培训。策展人作为使用iNaturist的教师和学生的导师，将为社区提供持久的外展。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。