The Consortium of Pacific Herbaria (CPH) is being created to study and manage plant collections from the Polynesia-Micronesia hotspot region. The CPH is a new collaboration between Bishop Museum, National Tropical Botanical Garden, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and herbaria in Hawaii, American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga, Palau, Guam, and Fiji. The major goals of the CPH include curating and digitally imaging nearly one million dried plant specimens from Polynesia, Micronesia and Fiji, creating a standardized plant checklist, and making collections data and digital images available online from a single portal.
Increased access to digital data for plants and algae of the Pacific Basin through the CPH will create new opportunities for researchers and citizen scientists to discover and use collection data by species, location, and institution. A working list of Latin and common plant names will facilitate the research of biologists and work of land-use managers who monitor invasive and endangered species throughout the Pacific. Classes in herbarium curation will be offered to college students in Hawaii, and employment opportunities will be made available in herbaria to native Pacific Islanders. Identification workshops will be offered to professional biologists in the region, focusing on five common plant families that pose particular challenges for identifying Pacific species.
The University of Hawaii at Manoa’s, Department of Botany, in collaboration with the Bernice P. Bishop Museum and National Tropical Botanical Garden has completed the development of the Consortium of Pacific Herbaria (CPH). The network manages plant and algal specimen data from the Polynesia-Micronesia biodiversity hotspot region. The Polynesia-Micronesia Hotspot (PMH) is a center of biodiversity that harbors approximately 5,350 native vascular plant species. Increased access to digital research data for flowering plants and ferns of the Pacific Basin through the CPH have created create new regional research opportunities for both researchers and citizen scientists to discover and use specimen data by species, geolocation, and habitat. The major goals of the CPH included databasing and digitally imaging nearly one million dried plant specimens from Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, creating a standardized plant checklist, and making collections data and digital images available online from a single web portal. The CPH is based at UH Manoa's Joseph F. Rock Herbarium and includes new collaborations between more than twenty herbaria in six countries including the USA (Hawaii), American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga, Palau, Guam, and Fiji. In addition to providing job opportunities for Pacific Islanders, the project also trained more than 30 herbaria staff and students throughout in the region. The network has recently initiated training to K-12 educators in Hawai‘i. The checklist of botanical and common plant names will facilitate the research of biologists and work of land-use managers who monitor invasive and endangered species throughout the Pacific. Several plant identification workshops were offered to professional biologists in the region, focusing on five common plant families that pose particular challenges for identifying Pacific plants. The project has been a milestone opportunity for regional herbaria collection managers and scientists to work together to provide digital access to essential biological research collections. The project has served as a catalyst to becoming partnered with other related specimen digitization initiatives including the Mycology Collections Data Portal, the Macroalgae portal and the Lichen and Bryophytes of North America digitization project. The CPH network is currently looking to establish new partners throughout Melanesia including the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as well as throughout Asia including Bhutan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. For more information on the Consortium of Pacific Herbaria visit www.pacificherbaria.org
