Digitizing Pacific Coast Seaweeds: Documenting the Past to Interpret the Future

加利福尼亚州、俄勒冈州和华盛顿州太平洋沿岸海藻的多样性和丰富性反映了该地区丰富的沿海环境。在这个项目中，加州大学伯克利分校（UC）的大学植物标本室将对太平洋海岸的102,000个藻类标本进行成像、数据库、地理参考和管理。目标物种将是已知生长在加利福尼亚、俄勒冈或华盛顿的所有海洋大型藻类（海藻），无论它们生长在世界上的哪个地方。一旦完成，标本记录将补充我们现有的在线资源，形成权威的最新数据的海藻信息交换。综合起来，该资源将包含有关太平洋海岸海洋植物群的鉴定、分类、分布、生态、关系和多样性的最新信息。海藻是近岸环境的工程师，为潮间带和潮下群落提供初级生产和栖息地，为无数海洋生物及其发育中的幼虫（包括许多商业上重要的物种）创造基质和结构。即将完成的数据集将有助于满足国家预测、解释气候变化对海洋环境的影响并采取行动的迫切需要。这些信息对海洋科学家以及那些关心海洋渔业、保护、教学和学习太平洋海岸的人都很有用。

The magnificent diversity and abundance of seaweeds along the Pacific Coast of California, Oregon, and Washington reflect this region's rich coastal environments. In this project, the University Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley (UC) will image, database, geo-reference, and curate 102,000 specimens of Pacific Coast algae. Targeted species will be all marine macroalgae (seaweeds) that are known to grow in California, Oregon, or Washington, wherever in the world they occur. Once completed, the specimen records will complement our existing on-line resources, forming a seaweed information interchange of authoritative, up-to-date data. Combined, this resource will contain the latest information on identification, taxonomy, distribution, ecology, relationships, and diversity of Pacific Coast marine flora.Seaweeds are the engineers of near shore environments, providing primary production and habitat for intertidal and sub-tidal communities, creating substrate and structure for myriad marine organisms and their developing larvae (including many commercially important species). The dataset to be completed will help to meet the urgent national need to predict, interpret, and act upon the effects of climate change on the marine environment. The information will be useful for marine scientists, as well as for those concerned with marine fisheries, conservation, teaching, and learning about the Pacific Coast.