San Diego County is an internationally-recognized "hotspot" of biodiversity. It's climatic, geographic, and geologic features support the greatest floristic diversity of any county in the contiguous U.S., making it more diverse than some entire states. This diversity is threatened by rapid urbanization and associated habitat loss. Recent wildfires burned almost 25% of the county, underscoring the urgency and significance of collecting and preserving plant specimens to document this remarkable floristic diversity before it is lost. The pace of regional development has left land managers with limited scientific data on local flora, along with mounting responsibilities for stewardship and informed decision-making. Crucial decisions made here affect the future of national biodiversity and they must be made with the most comprehensive, scientifically sound, information possible. The San Diego County Plant Atlas (Plant Atlas) will address these needs by scientifically documenting the county's floristic diversity through the collection of voucher plant specimens for the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM); the independent non-profit organization overseeing the project. Voucher specimens (dried and pressed plants, mounted on archival paper with a data label, and filed in the herbarium) are the raw materials for various scientific disciplines. The associated data (including geographic coordinates plus detailed taxonomic and ecological information) are stored in a web-accessible, searchable electronic database. This creates a comprehensive, centralized source of botanical information for the county and includes both historic and new data that are based upon actual specimens rather than observations that can no longer be verified. Specimen and data collections are made and submitted by "parabotanists"; volunteers from the community trained by a novel program developed and taught by the SDNHM staff (but identification of all specimens is verified by a professional botanist). This creates sufficient workforce to collect specimens over a 5-year period within an organized, county-wide grid system that complements the county-wide bird and mammal atlas projects.
The collections will be maintained by the SDNHM for education, informed land management and decision-making, and to support scientific research on biodiversity, phytogeographic history, biogeography, taxonomy, anatomy, morphology, reproductive biology, and genetics. Besides acting as a model program for other regions, the training and publicity from the novel parabotanist program increases the community's awareness and respect for local natural history (and the national, if not global significance of the local flora), and strengthens their role as stakeholders, stewards, and participants in regional botanical science. This collaborative project has the support and participation of state and local government, NGO's, the private sector, academia, and both professional and lay individuals. Educational links with garden clubs, conservation groups, and other institutions like schools and universities are being developed. San Diego County contains a rich heritage of botanical diversity and we have an obligation to better understand and preserve it for ourselves and for future generations. The Plant Atlas project will increase our knowledge of the diversity and distribution of plants in the county, share that knowledge with specialized and public audiences, and contribute to conservation, education, science and sound land management.
