Digitiation PEN: Augmenting the Endless Forms TCN: digitization of imperiled plants with unique morphological adaptations

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Only 36 areas on earth contain almost half of the world’s plant diversity. Biodiversity hotspots occupy only 2.3% of the earth’s land surface but harbor a high proportion of endemic species and house most undescribed plant diversity. An important biotic component of biodiversity hotspots include plants with unusual morphologies, such as succulence, carnivory, and epiphytism. These plants are highly adapted to live in extreme environments but face serious threats of extinction due to changing climate and land use regimes. This project partners the Herbarium at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSA) with the Endless Forms Project, a Thematic Collections Network (TCN) involving 17 institutions aimed at digitizing nearly 2 million herbarium specimens from 15 plant families with unusual adaptations. Collections targeted for this project are emblematic of the unique strengths of RSA and will add immeasurably to the Endless Forms TCN. This partnership fills an important gap by adding 70,100 herbarium specimens representing all families, some of which are especially diverse (cacti, agave, spurge) in California, a world biodiversity hotspot. Digitization will promote scientific investigation and public understanding of these potentially imperiled plants, and through public databases, will provide access to a rich source of specimen data. Graduate and undergraduate students will make up 90% of the workforce and participate in all aspects of the project. This project will enhance RSA’s existing internship program through increased participation of students from Hispanic Serving Institutions in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Through coordinated efforts with California Polytechnic University, Pomona (a Hispanic Serving Institution), undergraduate students will barcode specimens as partial fulfillment of course objectives. An exhibit will highlight plants of the Endless Forms project, including digitization activities and student participation.Funding of the Endless Forms TCN was based on the unique value of digitizing plants that exhibit extreme morphologies, such as succulence, carnivory, and epiphytism, that can be used increase our understanding of how these plants have adapted to extreme environments and how changing climate regimes may impact future distributions. This project will add immeasurably to the Endless Forms TCN’s endeavor with the digitization of 70,100 unique specimens held at the RSA Herbarium. Important and TCN-relevant collections for the 15 families with unusual morphologies included for digitization are well represented in the RSA Herbarium, both in geographic breadth and taxonomic diversity, and owe significantly to the contributions of several noteworthy researchers affiliated with RSA who specialize on these plants. Digitization of these specimens will result in high-resolution images and georeferenced collection locations that will enable the potential discovery of species new to science, new distribution and phenology data, and increased access to a rich source of specimen data currently unavailable to the research community, students, and the public. Data capture, efficient workflow development, and dissemination of data will adhere to established guidelines as specified by the Endless Forms TCN. A large cadre of students at different levels in their academic career will participate in all aspects of the project, including data entry, imaging, and georeferencing. All data resulting from this project will be made available through the national resource (iDigBio.org). Additional information about RSA, its outreach activities, and the results of this project is available at calbg.org.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.