This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Since its founding in 1891, the Ohio State University Herbarium has grown to become the premier collection of plants from Ohio, documenting the change in plant diversity and distribution in the state through the last century. This project focuses on databasing and imaging a large proportion of the herbarium's Ohio plant specimens, information that will be made publicly available through their website at http://herbarium.biosci.ohio-state.edu/. In addition, there will be a mapping facility to allow rapid determination of the distribution for each species.
The project will have considerable impact beyond its scientific contribution. The large community of interested non-professional botanists in Ohio will be able to use the database and associated images to aid in identification and to learn about the distribution of species in our flora. Other professionals, such as land managers, will be able to assess the rarity of species in Ohio that are found on their lands, providing a tool for better stewardship. Because of the species that are targeted, this project will facilitate completion of the Flora of Ohio series, the last volume of which is underway. As an educational benefit, the project will provide experience with museum collections and methods for up to 20 undergraduates and three graduate students.
