Collaborative Research: Advancing the Extended Specimen Network: Curating and Digitizing the Sherwin Carlquist Collection

Sherwin Carlquist博士（1930-2021）是当今植物学家所站的著名“巨人之肩”之一。卡尔奎斯特留下了丰富的遗产和重要的收集结果，超过30年的重要植物学研究。在他杰出的职业生涯中，卡尔奎斯特发表了300多篇研究论文，涵盖了植物解剖学和系统学、进化和生态学理论、花卉发育、形态学、岛屿生物地理学和分类学等主题。作为一名研究人员，卡尔奎斯特认为环境中的生物因素构成了一个动态网络。这个网络告诉了他收集标本的方法，以及他通过这种做法产生的丰富的材料和记录。卡尔奎斯特收藏位于加州植物园标本馆（RSA）和德克萨斯图书馆植物研究所（BRIT），共包含191,789件物品，包括标本馆标本、木材标本、保存在酒精中的植物材料、木材解剖显微镜载玻片、现场照片透明载玻片、黑白照片和现场收集笔记本。卡尔奎斯特收藏的很大一部分从未被策展或数字化，这使得许多藏品无法进入。此外，由于非档案材料的存放不足，一些收集材料面临不同程度的恶化。在RSA和BRIT的共同努力下，该项目旨在对这些重要的收藏品及其相关数据进行整理和数字化，以提供长期保存，并创建一个扩展标本网络（ESN），其中卡尔奎斯特的标本，现场照片和收集笔记本将链接形成一个汇总的收藏品，从而创造无限的额外准备和数字资源。该项目将促进一系列研究领域的即时应用，包括系统、木材解剖学、生态学、生物地理学、岛屿生物学、物候学、植物保护、科学史、植物人文科学和档案理论与实践。卡尔奎斯特收藏将通过在线数据门户公开。Sherwin Carlquist Collection收藏于加州植物园（RSA）的植物标本馆和德克萨斯植物研究所（BRIT）的图书馆，包含了30多年的植物领域研究，包括30,770种生物收藏和161,019件档案物品。本项目旨在(1)对卡尔奎斯特藏品进行长期保存；(2)对双方馆藏资料进行数字化和数据化处理；(3)链接所有生物馆藏和档案对象的转录的馆藏信息、图像和元数据；(4)通过在线数据门户（包括iDigBio和GBIF）发布和公开汇总收集。该项目代表了自然历史收藏和档案馆之间独特的跨学科合作机会，为一位著名的美国植物学家创建了第一个扩展标本网络（ESN），并在更广泛的范围内为自然历史收藏和档案馆如何在其藏品中设想、实施和利用ESN建立了一个新的范例。项目的组成部分是涉及不同学术水平的学生参与的活动。该项目将为该领域服务不足的青年和新兴专业人士提供教育、培训和能力建设，他们的参与将大大受益。计划在自然历史收藏保存学会年会期间举办一个关于ESN发展的讲习班和专题讨论会，为收藏界提供培训和资源。在每个机构举办的成对公众展览将突出该项目。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。

Among the notable “shoulders of giants” on which present-day botanists stand are those of Dr. Sherwin Carlquist (1930–2021). Carlquist leaves behind a rich legacy and significant collections resulting from over 30 years of important botanical research. Over the course of his distinguished career, Carlquist published prolifically, with over 300 research papers covering such topics as plant anatomy and systematics, evolutionary and ecological theory, flower development, morphology, island biogeography, and taxonomy. As a researcher, Carlquist considered the biological elements within an environment as comprising a dynamic network. This network informed his method for collecting specimens and the rich array of materials and records he generated through that practice. The Carlquist Collection, housed at the California Botanic Garden Herbarium (RSA) and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas Library (BRIT), collectively contains 191,789 objects, including herbarium specimens, wood specimens, plant material preserved in spirits, wood anatomy microscope slides, field photograph transparency slides, black and white photographs, and field collection notebooks. A significant portion of the Carlquist Collection has never been curated or digitized, making much of the collection inaccessible. Further, some of the collection materials have faced varying degrees of deterioration owing to inadequate housing in non-archival materials. In a collaborative effort between RSA and BRIT, this project aims to curate and digitize these important collections and their associated data to provide long-term preservation and to create an Extended Specimen Network (ESN), wherein Carlquist’s specimens, field photographs, and collection notebooks will be linked to form an aggregated collection, thus creating limitless additional preparations and digital resources. The project will facilitate immediate application to a suite of research areas, including systematic, wood anatomy, ecology, biogeography, island biology, phenology, plant conservation, history of science, plant humanities, and archival theory and practices. The Carlquist Collection will be publicly available via online data portals.Held at the Herbarium at California Botanic Garden (RSA) and the Library at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), the Sherwin Carlquist Collection encompasses more than 30 years of botanical field research comprising 30,770 biological collections and 161,019 archival objects. This project aims to (1) curate the Carlquist Collection for long-term preservation; (2) digitize and mobilize data for all collections materials held at both institutions; (3) link transcribed collection information, images, and metadata across all biological collections and archival objects; and (4) publish and make publicly available as an aggregated collection through online data portals, including iDigBio and GBIF. This project represents a unique collaborative and interdisciplinary opportunity between natural history collections and archives to create one of the first Extended Specimen Networks (ESN) for a renowned American botanist and serves more broadly to establish a new paradigm for how natural history collections and archives communities envision, implement, and utilize ESN’s within and among their collections. Integral to the project are the activities that involve participation from students at different levels in their academic career. The project will provide education, training, and capacity building for underserved youth and emerging professionals in a field that will greatly benefit from their participation. A workshop and symposium on ESN development are planned for the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections annual conference to provide training and resources to the collections community. Paired exhibits for the public and hosted at each institution will highlight the project.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.