SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: WERA_OLD1015 : Developing the US National Virtual Herbarium
- Period Covered: 10/01/2012 to 09/01/2013
- Date of Report: 08/29/2013
- Annual Meeting Dates: 07/28/2013 to 07/28/2013
Participants
Accomplishments
Directly assisted at least 12 smaller herbaria in making their records available via the internet. For herbaria added to networks using Symbiota software (see http://symbiota.org), this also involved introducing those in charge to tools for preparing labels that are integrated into Symbiota.
Ribbens created a new web site (http://www.wiu.edu/USvirtualherbarium/) to replace the one that was lost when the USGS was reorganized. This web site provides information about the project, links to the existing regional hand taxonomic networks, information sources for those interested in herbarium digitization, and maps showing the status of digitization in individual herbaria based on the responses to the 2011 and 2012 surveys. It is not a portal to herbarium information.
Adopted a logo. This will aid the project in developing its image and in approaching potential funding sources. It can be seen on the project's new web site (http://www.wiu.edu/USvirtualherbarium/).
Organized a symposium for the 2013 annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America, Herbarium Digitization for Research, Teaching, and the Public . Presentations covered ways of using the data for research, land management, and in classrooms and working with high school students to measure features important to taxonomic delimitation. The program and links to the abstracts are at http://2013.botanyconference.org/engine/search/?func=program&program=379#results
Initiated the 2013 survey of digitization in US herbaria. This year the survey is being conducted online using a format that enables people to see all the questions being asked before starting to answer them. It also enables those that have responded to view and download the data for their own use. The live form can be seen on https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xcY-mT7r8VQ14io6wgu9FXEo1ZQc4GBGPsBl9FdnpjI/viewform. It is now (10/26/13)closed. Barkworth will make one more try to elicit responses before summarizing the data.
OUTPUTS
Dean developed a summary of funding sources used for digitization by US herbara based on answers to an inquiry she posted to the herbaria listserv. It can be found at the project's web site (http://www.wiu.edu/USvirtualherbarium/)
Abstracts for the symposium presentations are available online and as an appendix to this report.
Summarized survey results from 2011-2012 and made available on web (http://www.wiu.edu/USvirtualherbarium/files/Download/2012Survey.pdf)
Dean developed synopsis of digitization activities in different regions of the US based on reports by individuals around the country is attached to this report and on the projects web site (http://www.wiu.edu/USvirtualherbarium/).
ACTIVITIES
Legler and others at the University of Washington have discussed with NSF and iDigBio the possibility of establishing a national portal for herbaria that would draw on records being made available and use them to develop new knowledge. It seems that non-federal support will be necessary to develop a demonstration portal.
Barkworth participated in a Training the Trainers workshop on Georeferencing presented by iDigBio.
Barkworth has assisted in Gilbert in connecting about 10 herbaria to SEINet+ and instructed those in charge in how to enter data and create labels using the software that runs the network. She, Ribbens, and Gilbert, have also assisted these herbaria in making their existing records available online.
Barkworth gave presentations about herbarium digitization and its benefits for different user groups at: Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garens, Kew, U.K.; International Triticeae Symposium, Chengdu, China; Society for Preservation of Natural History Collections, South Dakota; International Symposium on the Biology and Systematics of Monocots, New York; Botany 2014, New Orleans. She has received preliminary inquiries about establishing a Symbiota network in other countries as a result of these presentations.
MILESTONES
The NSF funded the Macroalgal Herbarium Consortium. This makes the only major taxonomic groups without a network are microalgae and microfungi. Both terms that include numerous distantly related lineages within which there are organisms that have major impacts on human health and well-being. There are kinds of preparation within herbaria that are still not being digitized, e.g., fossils, wet collections, seeds.
NSF funded a Consortium of Mississippi herbaria to digitize their collections.
Impacts
- Two herbaria consortia received a total of $4,268,973.00 from the NSF for digitization. received funding to pursue digitization in the past year. Their proposals did not involve the US Virtual Herbarium project directly but their funding will lead to progress being made towards the projects goal. The focus of each grant is listed above the names of the institutions receiving funding directly from the funding source. It should also be borne in mind that even an unsuccessful proposal often result in progress being made as those involved explore new options and reach out to additional herbaria.
- Several herbaria started providing specimen records to existing or emerging networks. It is hard to provide a number because the number of herbaria responding to the 2013 survey was considerably lower than responded in 2012.
Publications
Dean, E.A. (Ed.) 2013. Herbarium Digitization/Databasing Funding Sources. http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfer1/USvirtualherbarium/files/Download/Herbarium%20Digitization%20Funding%20-%20final.pdf
Dean, E.A. (Ed.) 2013. Reports on progress from individual consortia. http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfer1/USvirtualherbarium/files/Download/ConsortiumProgress.pdf