Collaborative Research: Advancing the Extended Specimen Network: Curating and Digitizing the Sherwin Carlquist Collection

当今植物学家所站在的著名的“巨人肩膀”中，有舍温·卡尔奎斯特博士(1930年至2021年)的肩膀。卡尔奎斯特留下了超过30年的重要植物学研究的丰富遗产和重要收藏品。在他杰出的职业生涯中，Carlquist发表了大量论文，发表了300多篇研究论文，涵盖植物解剖学和分类学、进化和生态学理论、花发育、形态、岛屿生物地理学和分类学等主题。作为一名研究人员，卡尔奎斯特认为环境中的生物元素构成了一个动态网络。这一网络为他收集标本的方法以及他通过这种做法产生的丰富材料和记录提供了信息。Carlquist藏品收藏在加州植物园植物标本馆(RSA)和德克萨斯图书馆植物研究所(BRIT)，共有191,789件藏品，包括标本馆标本、木材标本、白酒保存的植物材料、木材解剖显微镜幻灯片、野外照片透明幻灯片、黑白照片和野外收藏笔记本。卡尔奎斯特收藏的很大一部分从未经过策展或数字化，使得许多藏品无法访问。此外，由于非档案材料的住房不足，一些收藏材料面临不同程度的恶化。在RSA和BRIT之间的一项合作努力中，该项目旨在对这些重要的收藏品及其相关数据进行管理和数字化，以提供长期保存并创建一个扩展标本网络(ESN)，其中Carlquist的标本、实地照片和收藏品笔记本将链接到一起形成一个集合收藏品，从而创造无限的额外准备和数字资源。该项目将促进立即应用于一系列研究领域，包括系统学、木材解剖学、生态学、生物地理学、岛屿生物学、物候学、植物保护、科学史、植物人文以及档案理论和实践。Carlquist藏品将通过在线数据门户向公众开放。Sherwin Carlquist藏品收藏在加州植物园(RSA)的植物标本馆和德克萨斯州植物研究所(BRIT)的图书馆，包括30,770个生物收藏和161,019件档案物品，包括30,770个生物收藏和161,019件档案物品。该项目的目标是：(1)管理Carlquist藏品以便长期保存；(2)将两个机构保存的所有藏品材料的数据数字化和动员起来；(3)将转录的藏品信息、图像和元数据与所有生物藏品和档案物品联系起来；(4)通过包括iDigBio和GBIF在内的在线数据门户网站，作为集合藏品出版和公开。该项目代表了自然历史收藏和档案之间独特的合作和跨学科机会，为美国著名植物学家创建了首批扩展标本网络(ESN)之一，并在更广泛的范围内为自然历史收藏和档案馆如何在其藏品内部和之间设想、实施和利用ESN建立了一个新的范例。该项目的组成部分是让不同层次的学生在其学术生涯中参与的活动。该项目将为未得到充分服务的青年和新兴专业人员提供教育、培训和能力建设，这一领域将从他们的参与中受益匪浅。计划为自然历史收藏品保护协会年会举办一次关于自然历史收藏品保护问题的讲习班和专题讨论会，为收藏界提供培训和资源。面向公众并在每个机构举办的配对展览将突出该项目。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Among the notable “shoulders of giants” on which present-day botanists stand are those of Dr. Sherwin Carlquist (1930–2021). Carlquist leaves behind a rich legacy and significant collections resulting from over 30 years of important botanical research. Over the course of his distinguished career, Carlquist published prolifically, with over 300 research papers covering such topics as plant anatomy and systematics, evolutionary and ecological theory, flower development, morphology, island biogeography, and taxonomy. As a researcher, Carlquist considered the biological elements within an environment as comprising a dynamic network. This network informed his method for collecting specimens and the rich array of materials and records he generated through that practice. The Carlquist Collection, housed at the California Botanic Garden Herbarium (RSA) and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas Library (BRIT), collectively contains 191,789 objects, including herbarium specimens, wood specimens, plant material preserved in spirits, wood anatomy microscope slides, field photograph transparency slides, black and white photographs, and field collection notebooks. A significant portion of the Carlquist Collection has never been curated or digitized, making much of the collection inaccessible. Further, some of the collection materials have faced varying degrees of deterioration owing to inadequate housing in non-archival materials. In a collaborative effort between RSA and BRIT, this project aims to curate and digitize these important collections and their associated data to provide long-term preservation and to create an Extended Specimen Network (ESN), wherein Carlquist’s specimens, field photographs, and collection notebooks will be linked to form an aggregated collection, thus creating limitless additional preparations and digital resources. The project will facilitate immediate application to a suite of research areas, including systematic, wood anatomy, ecology, biogeography, island biology, phenology, plant conservation, history of science, plant humanities, and archival theory and practices. The Carlquist Collection will be publicly available via online data portals.Held at the Herbarium at California Botanic Garden (RSA) and the Library at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), the Sherwin Carlquist Collection encompasses more than 30 years of botanical field research comprising 30,770 biological collections and 161,019 archival objects. This project aims to (1) curate the Carlquist Collection for long-term preservation; (2) digitize and mobilize data for all collections materials held at both institutions; (3) link transcribed collection information, images, and metadata across all biological collections and archival objects; and (4) publish and make publicly available as an aggregated collection through online data portals, including iDigBio and GBIF. This project represents a unique collaborative and interdisciplinary opportunity between natural history collections and archives to create one of the first Extended Specimen Networks (ESN) for a renowned American botanist and serves more broadly to establish a new paradigm for how natural history collections and archives communities envision, implement, and utilize ESN’s within and among their collections. Integral to the project are the activities that involve participation from students at different levels in their academic career. The project will provide education, training, and capacity building for underserved youth and emerging professionals in a field that will greatly benefit from their participation. A workshop and symposium on ESN development are planned for the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections annual conference to provide training and resources to the collections community. Paired exhibits for the public and hosted at each institution will highlight the project.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.