Safeguarding a Growing Herbarium and Establishing Digital Access to a Collection Resource for a Biodiversity Hotspot

在James阿克曼博士的指导下，向波多黎各-里奥皮德拉斯大学提供了一笔赠款，用于部分支助扩大和升级UPRRP标本馆的项目，该标本馆是波多黎各最大和增长最快的维管植物收藏。 由于标本室过于挤迫和老化，以及标本行程频密，这项建议的拨款将用于扩建和提升现有设施，以应付标本收藏的增长，并采用灵活的植物标本室管理和藏品数据库，使馆藏可透过电子方式查阅。 设施改善包括更换磨损的橱柜，增加其他橱柜，扩大橱柜压实系统，并增加样本处理能力。 数据存储和植物标本管理将涉及布拉姆斯的实施，布拉姆斯是牛津大学林业学院开发的植物标本数据和管理程序。 数据（包括数字图像）将输入植物标本馆，并存储在波多黎各大学高性能计算设施的专用服务器上，可通过CATEC（加勒比应用生态学和保护）网站访问。 在波多黎各和加勒比地区正在进行许多植物区系、系统、生态和保护项目，使UPRRP植物标本馆成为一个重要的资源和基本数据库。 此外，位于校园内的集合，一般植物学，民族植物学，生态学和植物系统课程服务于本科生和研究生依赖于设施作为教学资源。 保护这些收藏品并使其最佳可访问性是丰富这些学生教育机会的关键。 由于大多数UPRRP收集是最近的，与标本相关的数据通常比更古老的材料更完整。 因此，其优势在于反映加勒比近期历史的信息的可靠性。 加勒比地区是世界上最复杂的群岛之一，被认为是三个最重要的生物多样性热点之一。这个植物丰富的地区正处于自然过程和人为过程的生态流动状态。 自然和社会正处于一个关键时刻，因为土地使用模式正在迅速变化，影响到植被，改变物种组成和群落结构，其方式刚刚开始被人们所了解。 记录目前的生物多样性对于重建过去和预测未来至关重要。UPRRP将为全世界的研究人员、教育工作者和学生提供快速访问标本数据的机会。由于特别项目的数据可在数据库中单独检索，分类、生态和养护问题将得到突出，并应使公众认识到加勒比科学家正在解决的紧迫问题。 电子收集管理和数据传播的实施可作为加勒比其他植物学机构的典范。 该项目通过雇用一些人，将帮助开发收藏管理、分类和保护方面的人力资源，其中大多数人将来自代表性不足的群体，因为普遍定期审议绝大多数是西班牙裔。

A grant has been awarded to the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras under the direction of Dr. James Ackerman for partial support of a project to expand and upgrade the UPRRP herbarium, the largest and fastest growing vascular plant collection in Puerto Rico. With overcrowded and deteriorated specimen cases, and high specimen handling frequencies, funds for this proposal will be used for expanding and upgrading the current facilities to accommodate collection growth, and to employ a flexible herbarium management and collection database that will make holdings electronically accessible. Facility improvement includes the replacement of worn cabinets, the addition of others, expansion of the cabinet compactor system, and increased capacity for specimen processing. Data storage and herbarium management will involve the implementation of Brahms, a herbarium data and management program developed by University of Oxford School of Forestry. The data (including digital images) will be entered in the herbarium and stored on a dedicated server maintained at the University of Puerto Rico's High Performance Computing Facility and accessed through CATEC (Caribbean Applied Ecology and Conservation) web site. Numerous floristic, systematic, ecological and conservation projects are underway in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean making the UPRRP herbarium collection an essential resource and storehouse of basic data. Furthermore, with the collections located on campus, general botany, ethnobotany, ecology and plant systematic courses serving both undergraduate and graduate students depend on the facilities as a teaching resource. Safeguarding these collections and making them optimally accessible is key for enriching education opportunities for these students. Because most of the UPRRP collection is recent, data associated with the specimens is generally more complete than that of much older material. Thus, its strength lies in the robustness of information reflecting the Caribbean's recent past. The Caribbean region is one of the world's most complex archipelagos and is considered among the top three most important biodiversity hotspots. This floristically rich region is in a state of ecological flux through both natural processes and man-made ones. Nature and society are at a critical juncture since land use patterns are changing fast affecting vegetation and shifting species composition and community structure in ways that are just beginning to be understood. Documentation of present biological diversity is critical for reconstructing the past and anticipating the future. UPRRP will offer rapid access to specimen data by researchers, educators, and students worldwide. With data from special projects separately searchable on the database, taxonomic, ecological and conservation issues will be highlighted and should generate public awareness of the urgent problems that Caribbean scientists are addressing. The implementation of electronic collection management and data dissemination may serve as a model for other botanical institutions in the Caribbean. The project, by employing a number of people, will aid in the development of human resources for careers in collection management, taxonomy and conservation, most of whom will be from underrepresented groups since UPR is overwhelmingly Hispanic.