The purpose of this project is to digitize (i.e., image and database) botanical research specimens at nearly twenty university, college, and federal agency herbaria in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Vascular plant, moss, lichen, and fungal specimens will be included in the project. Once digitized, the records will be available online through an existing Web portal (www.pnwherbaria.org). The investigators are leveraging the cyberinfrastructure (e.g., Ethernet, servers, technical staff) available at several large universities to build partnerships with smaller institutions that otherwise would not have the resources to undertake this activity.
This project provides tangible benefits to the general public, undergraduate students, and the research community. Digitizing specimens and making them available online creates public access to collections that have been assembled in part through prior federal funding. The specimen data will be downloadable from the Web site, so anyone can use the information to pursue unique interests and questions. Undergraduate students will be involved extensively with imaging and data basing activities, providing them with skills and training applicable to future professional pursuits. Online availability of nearly 2 million Pacific Northwest herbarium specimens will increase access and efficiency for the research community using these collections.
The primary goals of this project were as follows: 1) to digitiize (collectively the process of databasing, imaging and assigning latitude and longitude values to specimen records) vascular plant, nonvascular plant, lichen, and fungal specimens from herbaria (botanical research collections) at large and small Pacific Northwest universities and colleges; and 2) create a single, publicly accessible database to host all of this information (Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria Web site - www.pnwherbaria.org). At project's end nearly 55,000 vascular plant specimens at Montana State University were databased and imaged, 150,000 nonvascular plant, fungi, and lichen specimens from the University of Washington were databased, 165,000 vascular plant specimens at the University of Idaho were imaged, of which 145,000 specimen were databased, and XXX nonvascular plant, fungi, and lichen specimens at Oregon State University were databased. All databased specimens and associated images were made available through the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria Web site. Specimen databases, mobile imaging stations, and specimen data capture procedures were created for herbaria at small colleges and universities participating in the project. A total of 19 such institutions participated and contributed 269,235 specimens to the Consortium database. More than 50 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the project across all institutions, and the range of skills and experiences gained included relational database software use, digital photography, and georeferencing (assigning latitude and longitude values to specimens based on the locality text found on the specimen label). Prior to the creation of the Consortium Web site, a user would need to search the individual Web sites of multiple institutions (e.g., University of Washington, Oregon State University, University of Montana). The Consortium Web site is used by botanists at state and federal land management agencies, county weed control boards, academic researchers, and amateur enthusiasts. The Consortium Web site currently provides results for approximately 30,000 searches per month. The results can be downloaded and used in other applications. The data on the Consortium Web site is organized in a variety of ways to meet the interests and needs of its users. For example, there is a tool where one can download a list of species for any county in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Alternatively, one can download all of the data on the Consortium site and install it on a smartphone or tablet for use in the field or elsewhere when there is not an internet connection. The data acquired from this project has already been used to support the creation of wildflower identification apps for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, respectively, and is supporting the production of two floras (Flora of Oregon, Flora of the Pacific Northwest). The data are also made available to other online databases including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Plants Database and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The methods, procedures, and online database format developed during this project are being adopted by similar projects in other regions of the United States.
