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Characteristics of SERNEC Herbaria. A Preliminary Snapshot April 20, 2007. Background. Questionnaire proposed at December, 2006 SERNEC steering group meeting, Chapel Hill Goals Herbarium and sponsoring institution information Digitization, databasing, metadata SERNEC objectives.
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Characteristics of SERNEC Herbaria A Preliminary Snapshot April 20, 2007
Background • Questionnaire proposed at December, 2006 SERNEC steering group meeting, Chapel Hill • Goals • Herbarium and sponsoring institution information • Digitization, databasing, metadata • SERNEC objectives
Background • Help on questionnaire design and distribution from: • Zack Murrell, Derick Poindexter, Chris Hodge, Michelle Zjhra, Austin Mast, Lucile McCook, Alexander Krings
Response • 39% response so far (36 of estimated 92 curators) • Through 3PM 4/16/2006
Overview • Question categories • Academic affiliation: host institution profile • 75% are affiliated with university / college • Herbarium profile • Collection information • Staff information • Herbarium size / budget • Mission • Nomenclature • Curator expertise / teaching
Overview • Question categories (cont.) • Database status • Percentages • Database profile • Metadata • Web accessibility • Technical support • SERNEC objectives • Overlooked herbaria • Other helpful comments • Contact information
Collection Information • Other collection categories: • 50000 images of label data from herbarium sheets in the collection 1000 leaf samples in silica gel for molecular systematics 100 specimens of microalgae in silica gel • 98% vascular and 2% non-vascular (lichens and mosses) • All specimens are available for reference and research. • Bryophytes • cones of gymnosperms • mosses, fungi • Re teaching: the collection is available for researchers and residents of Balsam Mt. Preserve. We probably have 10 specimens that are lower cryptogams. • teaching collection is included in main collection • Vascular plants; lichens; fungi; bryophytes
Collection Information counts are greater than number of completed questionnaires; many herbariums report using multiple techniques
Nomenclature: Other • Biota of North America Program (BONAP) (2003) • Britton & Brown (for syns.) • Checklist and Atlas of the Vascular Flora of West Virginia (Harmon et al., 2006) • Checklist of the Flora of Arkansas • Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora • Draft Checklist of AL Vascular Plants • Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida • Guide to the vascular plants of Florida 2nd ed • IPNI • Kartesz • Kew • plants.usda.gov • R.K. Godfrey manuals • Synthesis of North America by John Kartesz • USDA PLANTS website • Vascular Plants of Texas, A comprehensive checklist including synonomy, bibliography, and index • Wofford and Kral 1993 • Wunderlin: Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida; USDA Plants Database; KEW Monocot Checklist; ipni.org
Database Status: Percentages • Percentages
Database Status: DB Profile • Other databases in use: • BRAHMS • custom designed • New York Bot. Gard. one • Visual Fox Pro, Curatorial Database System (CDS, Harmon 2002) • Visual FoxPro and Microsoft SQL server
Database Status • Web accessibility • 33% (12 of 36) are available on the Web
Objectives: General Awareness • Host "press a plant" day for media coverage. • Successful in this current NSF funded grant to show what can be done. • Developing standards for databasing and data management. • Have some contact with Biology departments [emphasizing] importance of collections and of field type courses • Herbaria with facilities and staff to provide outreach and education as well as research facilities • Highlight important contributions made by herbaria to conservation, science, economic botany, etc. And do this in a high profile way • Highlighting value of collections to policymakers. • Images collected in a standardized way and made freely available for educational use. For example, teaching image collections and visual keys could increase K-12 awareness of botany. • SERNEC's role should be to link the databases of the SE herbaria; getting into the territory of increasing awareness among state/local policy makers dilutes its focus • support of public projects involving natural areas. • Support small but good regional herbaria -- help us find support to put specimen information into a database. Then the herbaria would be more useful to the public. • Talk about global warming and pollution; habitat loss and impact on plant populations and extinction • teacher workshops and online resources • web access • Working to increase the level of funding for basic herbarium activities. With no support staff, no reduction for curating the herbarium, little time is left for political activities such as these.
Objectives: Increasing Status • Assist in getting herbaria databased, then [showing] each institution how this helps • assist with acquiring external funds • [Convince] university administrators the importance of maintaining and supporting collections both with funds and release time. • Demonstrate the critical value of collections to research in ecology, conservation biology, land use management, etc. • Have some local or regional events that highlight botany and herbaria. • I think SERNEC could raise status of herbaria w/in universities by advancing the herbaria's efforts at putting their collections into on-line databases. Most collections aren't databased. Herbaria need hands-on support to set up their data-basing projects. A consultant(s) who specialized in setting up herbarium databases and worked closely with individual curators would seem to me an effective and direct use of resource, at least for herbaria at starting stages of databasing. • Offer an award, much as the Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew award of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society • Point out the benefits of knowing the flora of the region and the importance [of] jobs requiring plant identification skills • providing comparative info (and images) to use as leverage; funding and technical assistance • Providing some financial support for databasing and digitizing herbarium collections. I believe support should also come from the university housing the collection. An important goal is making administrators aware of the importance of herbarium collections. • Publish an effective newsletter on matters of herbaria and progress in outreach education. • This is a tough one. The Universities don't seem to care. Herbaria take up lots of room and don't bring in much money. • Working to insure that NSF funding actually goes to support work at individual herbaria. Administrators at regional universities like mine are impressed by any level of external funding to support the herbarium.
Objectives: Sharing Digital Information • Advertising the availability of digital information. • assist with acquiring external funding • By supporting collaborative efforts to digitize and database collections, such as the DeepSouth E-flora Project at FSU • Continue to have state meetings where we share information, problems, progress reports, etc. • First of all, we need all specimens placed into the database and then digitized.... • Help develop standards for data sharing • Helping those of us with no technical or time support to get material databased and digitized and online. • I have some reservations about digitizing the data for rare & endangered plants on the web though. • identifying students and funding for them so they can come here and update our herbarium appropriately and help develop a strategy for keeping the collections safe and in good shape • programs to access the data base of herbaria • Provide a single portal to access herbarium collections in all southeastern herbaria; make the process of databasing and digitizing specimens relatively easy for herbarium personnel who generally work with very limited personnel and resources. • Providing information & workshops for herbaria wanting to database, image, etc. Formats and protocols should be designed for botanists, who do not have time (or desire) to become IT specialists. • Putting together a credible, scientifically compelling proposal to take to a funding agency with deep pockets • Support and encourage on-line databases on a state or regional basis. • Texas A&M University College Station has a wonderful database but it is currently not funded. • This is useful, but we should be VERY CAREFUL to emphasize that a digital herbarium IS NOT THE SAME AS A REAL ONE!!! Too much emphasis could give bureaucrats the impression that herbaria could be digitized and then discarded! That said, showcase impressive/important specimens on websites by having them in a prominent place on the home page (a "plant of the day" or something like that). • Training/workshops
Objectives: K-12 Education • Herbaria need hands-on support to begin databasing. • Develop a classroom toolkit that could be used by K-12 teachers, connect herbarium personnel with teachers so that presentations could be made or field trips to herbaria could be held. • Develop educational components based on specimen databases • Give tours of collections to school kids and teacher workshops. Incorporate specimen collection into curricula, etc. • Good luck--K-12 teachers are poorly to non-[existent] in botany training--and not likely to change with the loss of botany programs/courses/trained faculty, etc. • I already do this as a way to bring money into the herbarium for student support. SERNEC is welcome to capitalize on what I have done. • I think it is valuable for youngsters to be able to understand the value of herbaria as a resource just as a museum is a resource for animals. • I think this is a role of individual herbaria and their staff, not SERNEC. • Involve those university faculty members that work with biology education. • not important until digitization, etc. is complete. • Outreach by the colleges/universities ("think globally, act locally") • Public outreach to schools • Teacher training through in-services and availability of online resources. Collaborations with naturalists at local parks. • There are already lots of tools for teachers, and they have too many demands, already. This is a very local issue, best dealt with locally • visitations to high schools to promote studies of the natural world and visits of high schools to a local herbarium
Objectives: Parent Org. Initiatives • I don't see this as a role for SERNEC. • Encourage communication between curators of private and public institutions. • Extending our knowledge to the community is critical for education. • Get involved with teachers, professional meetings, science fairs, etc. Displaying specimens in art galleries and incorporating a conservation message is one idea (i.e. "Flora of so-and-so Preserve", and show specimens of all the plants from a state park etc.) • I certainly believe we should have better connections all around. Private and state institutions need better connections and we need better connections with state and federal agencies! • I don't see SERNEC as effective outreach body to interface between herbarium and community. Maybe could be, but why add a herbarium lobby? • Incorporating botany more into Core courses so all students realize the importance of plants to life. • Newsletter to all herbaria about project updates • not important until digitization, etc. is complete. • Not sure what you mean by this • Providing a model of how this is done at other institutions. E.g., I have my herbarium stuck in hallways. This is no way to teach. Showing that we are the only (?) institution doing this would leverage some changes toward supporting the herbarium's role in teaching. • This is local issue, best dealt with locally • Work with [state] DNR and state herbaria and their sponsoring departments to continue cooperative development of accessible data systems.
Objectives: Local Outreach • Botanical research Institute of Texas has some wonderful programs • Contact local plant organizations such as native plant society groups, garden clubs, greenhouse volunteers, etc. • encourage involvement by native plant societies, museums, nature centers, local school science departments • Have a herbarium day. • Herbaria should participate in local heritage efforts • Keep all of us informed of successful efforts by others to raise plant awareness. • not important until digitization, etc. is complete. • Stimulating thinking about such outreach efforts. Getting herbarium folks together for meetings once in a while. • This is probably best done by individual herbaria. • This would be more dilution of effort. • Without staff or time buyout, who has time to do this when the collection is in such need?
Objectives: Initial Digitization • Although I suppose digitization of collections may serve some educational purpose, I do not believe that the resulting images are as effective as digital images taken of live plants. With a digital camera, many images can be taken and made available online in a very short period of time if persons with botanical knowledge are involved in locating appropriate plants to photograph. I feel that to some extent the belief that specimen scans are a valuable educational tool is more a rationalization of what is already being done than an idea that has been supported by experience. I know that this is probably heresy to say in the presence of herbarium curators, but the kind of people who really want to look at pictures of dried up, squashed plants are the same ones who would request specimen loans in the first place and NOT the general public. Why not expend the time and effort getting GOOD images of the real thing??? • As long as funds are provided to do the work • By supporting collaborative efforts to digitize and database collections, such as the DeepSouth E-flora Project... • Creating protocols and straight-forward methods for processing specimens • Decision to do so should wait for results of digitization through imaging trials currently underway. • Equipment is not usually a stumbling block--expertise and time are. • Help shape data systems with common data standards, then help channel funds to ensure all collections in each state are entered into the database systems.
Objectives: Initial Digitization • I can't see that SERNEC will have funds to accomplish this. • I think this issue is something SERNEC members need to discuss. If it makes sense in a funding strategy, then so be it. If not, then not. • Make available to curators funding sources • Private funding matches would be good. • Provide grants or donate equipment? Maybe loan equipment or just protocol and suggested hardware setups... • providing software packages • Providing workshops on how to get a specific system setup and start getting specimens into the database. My biggest [problem] is getting started. • This would help; or minimally, advice on what to purchase. • Training seems to be more important than equipment. • We need equipment and staff to accomplish our goals of 100% computerization of the collection. • Well, we don't have anything so we need whatever it takes! • Would be nice but don't know that it is reasonable for SERNEC to provide equipment to all 200 herbaria in the Southeast. • Yes, because some herbaria may lack only a new computer, which costs little nowadays. But note comments above on sharing expertise in setting up databases.
Objectives: Ongoing Digitization • Again, see above. Will the funds really be available for this? • Decision to do so should wait for results of digitization through imaging trials currently underway. • Have training sessions to keep us updated. • I think our collections would be digitized if some matching funds were made available. • More reasonable in my estimation. Purchasing a few sets of imaging equipment and rotating it around to various herbaria to support ongoing digitizing efforts seems possible. • Not equipment---funds for doing it. • Provide a program that is universal and "works" and yet simple enough to use that it would be attractive to curators/botanists. • Providing the expertise and the software needed for data basing/ • If a herbarium needs a camera, and SERNEC has experience w/what is good buy for good photos, go ahead and help them buy it. This might just cost 400 or so now, and much of the value is in knowing what to buy and especially, how to integrate it into the databasing workflow. • Support in terms of bodies to help do the work would be great! • Where initial work has been on-going, SERNEC can seek ways to use and enhance what has been done while slowly moving toward a common data standard.
Overlooked Herbaria • National Parks (many have herbaria, no curators). • “Don't forget BEREA--save it.” • IBE: Institute for Botanical Exploration, MSU • Marshall University, Huntington, WV • WV Wesleyan, Buckhannon, WV • WVDE (Davis and Elkins College) • Shepherd's Univ., Shepherd's Town, WV • Concord College (Athens, WV) • USFS Pisgah District • UNC Charlotte is in process of moving from the university • University of Central Florida (FTU)
Other Helpful Comments • …the major hitch in getting herbaria to database may be in selecting and setting up a database system. Your survey reflects that there are multiple possible databases to use. Incorporating photo images, which should be commonplace, presents further challenges. I think SERNEC needs to develop a consultant or consultants who have experience in setting up databases, and know their way around Specify, BIOTA, Index Kentuckiensis, etc. They would have the greatest impact on getting good databases started and bring most benefits over long term in making these databases compatible and web-accessible. I'm less enthusiastic about SERNEC acting as a lobby for herbaria or as a booster for herbarium outreach… • …information provided to these [herbaria] on how to get started [in databasing] • … Attempting to completely agree on standardized names, structure, etc for the entire SE may be improbable if not impossible! It may be best to set some minimal agreed upon standard or finite fields, have each state or institution develop their own systems to meet their needs… • I have many more opinions about the [usefulness] of plant images than will fit in this box. Hopefully these issues will be discussed at the curators' meeting at ASB. • Many herbaria, especially at small or teaching institutions, are being "curated" by people with no training. Also, grad students are not getting training in curation. Workshops to teach curation would be extremely valuable!! • Our herbarium is small but houses collections made by Natural Heritage Program botanists and includes many rare or otherwise important collections. It is used both as a reference for our staff and staff of cooperating agencies and organizations and as a set of vouchers for rare species records in the Natural Heritage Database. • Some collections are probably threatened or endangered from lack of funding and support. The collection I curate … is a good case in point. I could probably do with a site visit.
