Partnership to the New England Vascular Plant Network for the University of Maine Herbarium

来自缅因州的数据填补了新英格兰环境变化研究的一个重要空白。该州约占新英格兰总面积的一半，向北延伸约2.5度，向东延伸约3度。缅因州大学植物标本馆的植物标本记录了过去170年来物种的时空分布。这些标本，沿着相关数据，为研究缅因州和新英格兰的环境变化提供了信息。在这个项目中，缅因州大学植物标本馆将完成标本记录的数据库，并生成55,000个植物标本的高质量数字图像。这些数字化数据将有助于新英格兰维管植物网络的研究和推广目标的实现。高质量的植物标本图像可用于研究受环境变化影响的植物丰度、分布和繁殖的变化，记录稀有植物的种群数量以及入侵植物的引入和传播。它们还可用于收集表明植物对变化的反应的信息，并培训公众和专业人员掌握植物识别、结构和随时间变化的发育变化的技术。该项目将直接培训大学生和业余植物学会的成员。该奖项是作为国家资源的一部分，通过推进生物收藏品数字化计划的生物收藏品的数字化，从这个奖项产生的所有数据将通过国家资源（iDigBio.org）提供。

Data from Maine fills an important gap in the study of environmental changes in New England. The state comprises about half the total area of New England, extending about 2.5 degrees north and 3 degrees east of the rest of New England. Plant specimens in the University of Maine Herbarium record both the spatial and temporal distribution of species over the past 170 years. These specimens, along with associated data, inform the study of environmental changes in Maine and New England. In this project the University of Maine Herbarium will complete the databasing of specimen records and generate high-quality digital images of 55,000 plant specimens. These digitized data will contribute to the accomplishment of the research and outreach goals of the New England Vascular Plant Network.High quality images of herbarium specimens can be used to study shifts in the abundance, distribution, and reproduction of plants, as influenced by environmental change, document the number of populations of rare plants and the introduction and spread of invasive plants. They can also be used to gather information indicative of plant response to change, and train the public and professionals in techniques of plant identification, structure and developmental changes over time. The project will directly train undergraduates and members of an amateur botanical society. This award is made as part of the National Resource for Digitization of Biological Collections through the Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program and all data resulting from this award will be available through the national resource (iDigBio.org).