The Appalachian Ohio Herbarium Database Network: Infrastructural Enhancements, Resource Building and Database Completion

该奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助，为期三年，为俄亥俄州阿巴拉契亚地区重要的植物采集建设基础设施，在四个学术机构和两个韦恩国家林区完成数据库/成像项目，并建立在线阿巴拉契亚-俄亥俄州植物标本馆数据库网络。这笔赠款将为俄亥俄大学的新植物收藏研究空间配备设备，向扬斯敦州立大学提供标本柜，并为上述机构--玛丽埃塔学院和马斯金根学院--提供必要的计算机设备和显微镜。它支持学生人员对该地区保存的254,000个藻类、真菌、苔藓、蕨类、针叶树和开花植物标本进行数据库和图像处理。机构数据库将连接到http://www.herbarium.ohiou.edu/regional_database_network，，使累积的标本数据、压制的标本和活植物的图像、生态数据、文献参考资料和动态GoogleMap地图工具作为关于阿巴拉契亚俄亥俄州丰富植物生命的宝贵资源向公众提供。这是俄亥俄州第一个区域性生物收集网络，也是未来全州范围网络的典范。该项目将培训23名本科生和5名研究生，并与该地区的9名生物学家合作。暑期项目将向俄亥俄大学“校园里的孩子”项目的675名小学生展示当地自然区域、生物多样性的相关性以及对阿巴拉契亚植物的实践研究经验。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This three-year award builds infrastructure for significant plant collections in Appalachian Ohio, completes databasing/imaging projects at four academic institutions and two Wayne National Forest districts, and establishes the online Appalachian Ohio Herbarium Database Network. The grant will outfit the new plant collections research space at Ohio University, provide specimen cabinets to Youngstown State University, and fund essential computer equipment and microscopes to the above-mentioned institutions, Marietta College and Muskingum College. It supports student personnel to database and image 254,000 algae, fungi, moss, fern, conifer and flowering plant specimens housed across the region. The institutional databases will be linked at http://www.herbarium.ohiou.edu/regional_database_network, making cumulative specimen data, images of pressed specimens and living plants, ecological data, literature references, and a dynamic GoogleMap mapping facility available to the public as an invaluable resource on Appalachian Ohio's rich plant life.This is Ohio's first regional biological collections network and is a model for a future statewide network. The project will train 23 undergraduate and five graduate students and collaboratively engage nine biologists across the region. Summer programs will expose 675 elementary school children in Ohio University's "Kids on Campus" program to local natural areas, the relevance of biological diversity, and hands-on research experience with Appalachian plants.