Collaborative Research: CSBR: Natural History Collections: Magnolia grandiFLORA, digitally linking herbaria to support botanical research and education in Mississippi

以密西西比州官方树木和花卉命名的玉兰项目，将为密西西比州立大学、密西西比大学、三角洲州立大学、南密西西比大学、墨西哥湾研究实验室、密西西比自然科学博物馆和植物探索研究所的250,000多个维管植物标本开发图像、标签和地理参考位置数据的数字数据库。将通过密西西比州立大学的高性能计算合作实验室建立一个允许综合数据库搜索的网络界面。标本成像和标签数字化将使全世界都能获得收藏品、用于以植物为基础的大规模研究的生物和地理元数据，并在发生自然灾害或其他灾害时永久备份标本数据。由此产生的高质量数据集将为政府机构、研究人员和普通公众提供植物识别工具和有关密西西比州植物分布的信息。这些数据在跟踪稀有和入侵物种、制定环境政策、增加公民对密西西比州自然历史的了解以及通过互动工具加强K-12科学教育方面都有应用。这些数据将有助于密西西比州植物综合清单的制定，以及全国对植物多样性进行编目和绘制地图的努力。许多本科生和研究生将参与到这个项目中来。

The Magnolia grandiFLORA project, named in honor of the official state tree and flower of Mississippi, will develop digital databases of images, labels, and georeferenced locality data for more than 250,000 vascular plant specimens from herbaria at Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, Delta State University, University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, and Institute for Botanical Exploration. A web interface that allows for integrated database searches will be established through the High Performance Computing Collaboratory at Mississippi State University. Specimen imaging and label digitization will provide worldwide access to the collections, biological and geographical metadata for broad-scale studies based on plants, and a permanent back-up of specimen data in the event of natural or other disasters. The resulting high quality data set will provide tools for plant identification and information on plant distributions in Mississippi to government agencies, researchers, and the general public. These data have applications in tracking rare and invasive species, developing environmental policy, increasing citizen knowledge of the natural history of Mississippi, and enhancing K-12 science education with interactive tools. The data will contribute to the development of a comprehensive list of plants in Mississippi and national efforts to catalog and map plant diversity. Numerous undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in the project.