Digitization of Caribbean Plants and Fungi in The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium

该项目将对纽约植物园威廉和琳达·斯蒂尔标本馆收藏的加勒比海地区15万份藻类、苔藓、真菌（包括地衣）和维管植物的干燥标本进行数字化，完成该地区全部30万份标本的数字化。植物标本室标本是地球上信息的基本来源吗？在加勒比海地区，没有比斯蒂尔植物标本室更大的单一信息来源了。加勒比地区有许多独特的栖息地和物种，这些栖息地正处于极度濒危状态。该项目提供的数据对于记录该地区的植物和真菌至关重要。该项目可以通过指出需要保护的多样性区域，补充单个物种的分布概况以记录其保护状况，以及跟踪入侵物种的传播来帮助保护工作。本区域各国可以利用这些数据作为新项目的核心，为区域生物学家提供培训和就业机会。只要有可能，该项目将寻求从纽约植物园周围的当地社区雇用员工，该社区包含了来自加勒比地区的移民，这是一个在《科学》杂志中代表性不足的群体。该项目提供的数据还将为国土安全部服务，帮助美国鱼类和野生动物局的工作人员识别被隔离的植物材料。

This project will result in the digitization of 150,000 specimens of dried specimens of algae, bryophytes, fungi (including lichens) and vascular plants from the Caribbean region held by The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden, completing the digitization of the entire holdings of 300,000 specimens from the region. Herbarium specimens are the fundamental source of information on the earth?s vegetation, past and present, and there is no larger single source of such information for the Caribbean region than the Steere Herbarium. The Caribbean region contains many unique habitats and species, and these habitats are critically endangered. The data provided by this project will be essential to documenting the plants and fungi of the region. This project can aid conservation efforts by indicating areas of diversity for protection, supplementing the distributional profile of individual species in order to document their conservation status, and tracking the spread of invasive species. The countries of the region can use these data to serve as the nucleus of new projects that will provide training and employment for regional biologists. Whenever possible, the project will seek to hire staff from the local community surrounding the New York Botanical Garden, which contains a preponderance of immigrants from the Caribbean region, a group under-represented in Science. The data provided by this project will also serve Homeland Security by helping U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff to identify quarantined plant material.