Safeguarding a Growing Herbarium and Establishing Digital Access to a Collection Resource for a Biodiversity Hotspot

University Of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, San Juan PR

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras under the direction of Dr. James Ackerman for partial support of a project to expand and upgrade the UPRRP herbarium, the largest and fastest growing vascular plant collection in Puerto Rico. With overcrowded and deteriorated specimen cases, and high specimen handling frequencies, funds for this proposal will be used for expanding and upgrading the current facilities to accommodate collection growth, and to employ a flexible herbarium management and collection database that will make holdings electronically accessible. Facility improvement includes the replacement of worn cabinets, the addition of others, expansion of the cabinet compactor system, and increased capacity for specimen processing. Data storage and herbarium management will involve the implementation of Brahms, a herbarium data and management program developed by University of Oxford School of Forestry. The data (including digital images) will be entered in the herbarium and stored on a dedicated server maintained at the University of Puerto Rico's High Performance Computing Facility and accessed through CATEC (Caribbean Applied Ecology and Conservation) web site. Numerous floristic, systematic, ecological and conservation projects are underway in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean making the UPRRP herbarium collection an essential resource and storehouse of basic data. Furthermore, with the collections located on campus, general botany, ethnobotany, ecology and plant systematic courses serving both undergraduate and graduate students depend on the facilities as a teaching resource. Safeguarding these collections and making them optimally accessible is key for enriching education opportunities for these students. Because most of the UPRRP collection is recent, data associated with the specimens is generally more complete than that of much older material. Thus, its strength lies in the robustness of information reflecting the Caribbean's recent past. The Caribbean region is one of the world's most complex archipelagos and is considered among the top three most important biodiversity hotspots. This floristically rich region is in a state of ecological flux through both natural processes and man-made ones. Nature and society are at a critical juncture since land use patterns are changing fast affecting vegetation and shifting species composition and community structure in ways that are just beginning to be understood. Documentation of present biological diversity is critical for reconstructing the past and anticipating the future. UPRRP will offer rapid access to specimen data by researchers, educators, and students worldwide. With data from special projects separately searchable on the database, taxonomic, ecological and conservation issues will be highlighted and should generate public awareness of the urgent problems that Caribbean scientists are addressing. The implementation of electronic collection management and data dissemination may serve as a model for other botanical institutions in the Caribbean. The project, by employing a number of people, will aid in the development of human resources for careers in collection management, taxonomy and conservation, most of whom will be from underrepresented groups since UPR is overwhelmingly Hispanic.