Digitization PEN: Partnering the Penn State Herbarium (PAC) to Contextualize the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis

该项目将生成宾夕法尼亚州立大学植物标本馆(PAC)中存在的64,000份植物标本的数字图像，并向公众开放。该项目与中大西洋大都市(MAM)TCN合作，后者侧重于生成和提供来自中大西洋各州城市走廊的标本标本的数字图像。PAC收藏跨越了100多年，从19世纪初到现在，主要代表了萨斯奎哈纳河以西的森林和农业景观的植物群，因此，可以作为MAM城市走廊中植物组合的背景对应物。它在时间和空间上的丰富性将更全面地展示中大西洋区域内的植物群落，并将有助于区域知识库的建立。这些记录反过来将有助于宾夕法尼亚州立大学和更大的区域植物界在生物学、园艺和环境管理方面的积极研究倡议。该项目将通过提供有关非城市景观中植物多样性的关键信息，填补大西洋中部地区城市环境中植物群落知识的重大空白。该项目还通过体验学习最先进的数字化和数据库技术来培训下一代植物学家，使该地区和其他地区的广泛研究人员能够获得收藏的重要组成部分，并让学生和教职员工以及当地社区参与植物标本馆计划和活动。该项目的目标是通过与正在进行的中大西洋大都市TCN合作，生成和分发PAC标本馆维管植物标本收藏的高分辨率数字图像。该项目将对宾夕法尼亚州约64,000个维管植物标本进行高分辨率摄影成像、转录、地理参考和网络出版，填补目前在线数据库缺乏的数字数据方面的一个重要空白。关于不同景观植物群落的详细信息，将通过PAC收集的贡献得到丰富，将为决定以MAM城市走廊为特征的城市环境中植物建立、可持续性和侵入性的因素的研究提供信息。该项目还将有助于丰富目前可通过iDigBio和UrBioNet门户网站向全国和海外植物学家提供的维管植物数据。我们将通过一系列Digithon招募和培训本科生和当地志愿者，进行数字化协议、标本馆标签转录和地理参考方面的培训。PAC工作人员和实习生还将参加由MAM TCN主办并在罗格斯大学举行的迷你城市研究研讨会。将鼓励实习生参加小型研讨会，与城市研究领域的科学家互动，并在研究方案方面获得宝贵的经验。所有这些努力还将有助于共同发现区域植物区系，并在大西洋中部区域内草本植物之间结成联盟。

This project will generate and make publicly available digital images of 64,000 of plant specimens that are present in the Pennsylvania State University Herbarium (PAC). The project partners with the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis (MAM) TCN, which is focused on generating and making available digital images of herbarium specimens from the urban corridor of the Mid-Atlantic states. The PAC collection spans over 100 years, from the early 1800s to the present, largely representing the flora of forested and agricultural landscapes west of the Susquehanna River and thus, can serve as a contextual counterpoint to plant assemblages in the MAM urban corridor. Its richness, both in time and space, will present a more complete picture of plant communities within the Mid-Atlantic Region and will contribute to the regional knowledge base. These records will, in turn, contribute to active research initiatives in biology, horticulture and environmental management at Penn State and within the larger regional botanical community. This project will fill critical gaps in knowledge of plant communities in urban environments of the Mid-Atlantic Region by providing key information on plant diversity in non-urban landscapes. It also serves to train the next generation of botanists through experiential learning in state-of-the-art digitization and databasing techniques, make important components of the collection accessible to a broad array of researchers within the region and beyond, and engage both students and faculty as well as the local community in herbarium programs and activities.The goal of this project is to generate and distribute, through partnering with the ongoing Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis TCN, high-resolution digital images of the collection of vascular plant specimens at the PAC Herbarium. The project will perform high resolution photographic imaging, transcription, georeferencing, and web publishing of approximately 64,000 vascular plant herbarium specimens of Pennsylvania, filling an important gap in digital data that is currently lacking from online databases. Detailed information on plant communities across different landscapes, which will be enriched by the contributions from the PAC collection, will inform research on the factors that determine plant establishment, sustainability and invasibility in urban environments characterized by the MAM urban corridor. This project will also contribute to the wealth of vascular plant data currently available to botanists across the country and abroad through the iDigBio and UrBioNet portals. We will recruit and train undergraduate students and local volunteers in digitization protocols, transcription of herbarium labels, and georeferencing through a series of Digithons. PAC staff and interns will also participate in the mini urban research symposium hosted by the MAM TCN and held at Rutgers University. Interns will be encouraged to attend the mini symposium to interact with scientists in the field of urban research and gain valuable experience in research protocols. All of these efforts will also contribute to shared discovery of regional floras and the forging of alliances among herbaria within the Mid-Atlantic Region.