| Abstract Detail
Phycological Section Neefus, Christopher [1], Traggis, Hannah [1], Sullivan, Janet [1], Gottschalk, Stephen [2], Davoodian, Naveed [2], Dutton, Sarah [2], Janis, Juli Anna [2], Kahn, Beryl [2], Kirkinis, Theodore [2], Min, Eli [2], Toll, Jonathan [2], Karol, Kenneth [3]. The Macroalgal Herbarium Consortium Digitization Project. Macroalgae are a diverse group of aquatic photosynthetic organisms from four divisions spanning two kingdoms. They serve as the basis for nearly every benthic habitat providing food, shelter and substrata for other organisms. Globally, they are important primary producers and essential participants in ecosystem nutrient cycling. They are an important food source for humans and extractable colloids are used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Worldwide, herbaria have housed plant and algal collections for 400 years providing a priceless record of distribution and ecology for local and visiting scientists. Recently, there has been an enormous collective effort to digitize herbarium and biological collections worldwide making the information therein available online, open-access to scientists and citizens alike. Funded by the NSF ADBC Program, the Macroalgal Herbarium Consortium (MHC) was formed, bringing together 49 universities, museums, botanical gardens and field stations from 26 states and U.S. possessions. The MHC collectively contains more than 1.1 million recent and historic specimens that will be digitized over the next four years. Digitization includes high resolution imaging, transcription of label information and georeferencing the collection site based on locality information. Images and data will be accessible through the MHC web portal (macroalgae.org) as well as iDigBio, GBIF, and other data integration portals. These databases are fully searchable by a number of criteria including taxonomy, collection data, geographic location and collector’s name. These historic records will aid the study of bioinvasions, human impact and climate change effects on benthic community structures. Presented today is the project overview, sample workflow and geo-referenced samples.
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1 - University of New Hampshire, Department of Biological Sciences, Rudman Hall, 46 College Road, Durham, NH, 03824, USA
2 - The New York Botanical Garden, William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY, 10458, USA
3 - The New York Botanical Garden, Cullman Molecular Systematics Program, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY, 10458, USA
Keywords:
Digitization
TCN
Herbarium
algae
Macroalgae.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Eyrie/Boise Centre
Date: Monday, July 28th, 2014
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PPC002
Abstract ID:698
Candidate for Awards:None |
