Integrating the Cryptogamic Collections of LAM into UC at the University of California, Berkeley

该奖项支持将洛杉矶县自然历史博物馆（LAM）的隐花植物（藻类、黑藻和真菌包括地衣的统称）收藏与加州大学伯克利分校（UCB）的大学植物标本馆的隐花植物收藏合并。LAM的隐花植物标本集包括215，000个标本。 UCB拥有大量的隐花植物收藏（目前约有430，000个标本）。 比较表明，在历史材料中，LAM和UC几乎没有重叠。 许多林收藏有一个加州和西海岸的重点，都是从环太平洋地区，因此最好有他们的物理位于西部和在同一地点。 这笔赠款将资助压实机车厢和案件，以及临时帮助，使转移，策展损坏，包装不良，或记录不充分的标本，并整合收集。 隐花植物，因为它们的体积小，没有根，是极好的生态指标。 它们也是生态系统的重要组成部分，形成土壤结皮，减缓侵蚀，并作为种子床，附生群落，捕获和储存养分，是养分循环的重要组成部分，以及分解者，病原体和共生体（包括与种子植物的至关重要的菌根协会）的土壤群落。 隐花植物植物群的分布与基质化学、其他动植物和污染密切相关，因此隐花植物群是一个地区生境质量的重要指标，可以很好地预测特定污染物的水平。 保护LAM集合，使它们易于访问将提高我们了解分类群及其分布的能力，从而使这些信息通过硬拷贝出版物，教育计划和网络提供给学术生态学家，土地管理者，机构生物学家，环境顾问，教育工作者，学生和公众。

This award supports consolidation of the cryptogamic plants (a collective designation for algae, bryophytes, and fungi including lichens) collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LAM) with the cryptogams collection of the University Herbarium at the University of California at Bekeley (UCB). The LAM cryptogamic collection consists of 215,000 specimens. The UCB has a large collection of cryptogams (some 430,000 specimens currently). Comparisons have shown that there is almost no overlap between LAM and UC in historical material. Many of the LAM collections have a California and West Coast emphasis, and all are from the Pacific Rim region, thus it would be best to have them physically located in the West and at the same location. The grant will fund compactor carriages and cases, as well as temporary help to make the transfer, curate damaged, poorly packaged, or inadequately documented specimens, and integrate the collections. Cryptogams, because of their small size and lack of roots, are superb ecological indicators. They are also important components of the ecosystem, forming soil crusts that retard erosion and serve as seed beds, epiphytic communities that trap and store nutrients and are an important part of nutrient cycles, and soil communities of decomposers, pathogens, and symbionts (including the critically important mycorrhizal associations with seed plants). There is a tight association of their distribution with substrate chemistry, other plants and animals and pollution, thus the cryptogam flora of an area is an important indicator of habitat quality and can be quite predictive about the level of particular pollutants. Protecting the LAM collections and making them easily accessible will enhance our ability to understand the taxa and their distributions, thus making this information available to academic ecologists, land managers, agency biologists, environmental consultants, educators, students, and the general public through hard-copy publications, educational programs, and the web.