Capacity: Biological Collections: Securing and Sharing Biocultural Diversity Collections at The New York Botanical Garden

植物和关于植物的传统知识是所有文化的重要组成部分，从作物和药物到宗教习俗，以及生态系统服务的可持续管理。为子孙后代保存植物文化知识的一种方法是通过互利的民族植物学研究，这种研究往往依赖于植物标本馆标本的创造和保存。在这个项目中，纽约植物园将加强对11,000个标本的管理，以物理和数字方式保护和增加对它们的访问，将标本数据和出版物与记录生物和文化知识的其他对象联系起来。这些珍贵的标本可作为生物栽培研究的有担保的原始数据，并可作为未来比较的基线数据，因为它们记录的物种和知识是相互关联的社会和生态系统的重要组成部分。生物文化多样性是一个强调生物多样性与与生物多样性相关的文化知识、信仰和实践之间相互联系的概念。随着全球环境和人类文化变得越来越紧密和同质化，生物文化多样性面临威胁，如果不采取行动保护和分享这些知识，这些知识最终将面临灭绝。因此，捕捉生物文化多样性的收集和数据变得越来越重要。记录和保护生物文化多样性是保护传统知识以应对未来生态挑战、支持复原力和当地生计、帮助土著和其他传统人民维护粮食主权的重要手段。除了保护这些标本及其相关数据外，该项目还将帮助建立全球标准，这些标准将在拥有生物文化收藏的机构中广泛实施，同时向学生（通常来自科学界代表性不足的群体）介绍使用地理信息系统（GIS）、民族植物学和保护评估的数据科学方法。该项目将增强纽约植物园向公众分享这些文化资源及其数据的方式，包括扩大23,000个本土名称的搜索功能，以及增加面向公众的数字内容。该项目产生的样本数据将通过idigbio.org共享并可供所有人访问。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行了评估，认为值得支持。

Plants and traditional knowledge about plants are important elements of all cultures, ranging from crops and medicines, to religious practices, and the sustainable management of ecosystem services. One way that cultural knowledge about plants is preserved for future generations is through mutually beneficial ethnobotanical research which often depends on the creation and preservation of herbarium specimens. In this project, The New York Botanical Garden will enhance curation of 11,000 specimens, physically and digitally securing and increasing access to them, linking specimen data and publications to other objects that document biological and cultural knowledge. These valuable collections serve as vouchered primary data for biocultural research, and serve as baseline data for future comparisons, as the species and knowledge they document are important components of interconnected societal and ecological systems.Biocultural diversity is a concept that emphasizes the mutual connections between biodiversity and cultural knowledge, beliefs, and practices associated with biodiversity. As global environments and human cultures become ever more connected and homogenized, biocultural diversity faces threats, with such knowledge ultimately facing extinction if action is not taken to preserve and share it. Therefore, the collections and data that capture biocultural diversity are becoming ever more important. The documentation and preservation of biocultural diversity is an essential means of safeguarding traditional knowledge to solve future ecological challenges, support resilience and local livelihoods, and help Indigenous and other traditional peoples maintain food sovereignty. In addition to securing these specimens and their assoicated data, this project will help establish global standards that will be widely implemented across institutions that hold biocultural collections, while introducing students, typically from groups underrepresented in science, to data science methods using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), ethnobotany, and conservation assessment. This project will augment how The New York Botanical Garden shares these cultural resources and their data to the public, including an expanded search feature for 23,000 vernacular names, and increased public-oriented digital content. Specimen data resulting from this project will be shared and accessible to all through iDigBio.org.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.