Databasing Bryophytes from the Southeastern U.S. in the Duke University Herbarium

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to Duke University under the direction of Dr. Jonathan Shaw for partial support of a project to enter accession information for moss collections from the southeastern United States housed in the Duke University herbarium into a database, and make that information available on the Worldwide Web. The southeastern U.S. covers an ecologically diverse geographic region. The moss flora of the southeastern U.S. is remarkably rich. The region hosts approximately 635 species, or almost 50% of all the moss species found in North America. With about 90,000 moss specimens from the southeastern U. S., the Duke collection is one of, if not the most important resource for documenting the southeastern moss flora. The project will utilize SPECIFY as the database software, available from the Informatics Biodiversity Research Center at the University of Kansas. The specimen database will be linked to phylogenetic analyses and molecular databases for mosses available at Duke, facilitating novel approaches to integrating spatial patterns of taxonomic and molecular biodiversity. The Duke bryophyte herbarium is utilized by graduate and undergraduate students conducting research on bryophyte biodiversity, ecology, and evolution. The herbarium plays a central role in undergraduate training through a recently funded REU site grant from NSF. Four graduate students are currently working on Ph.D. degrees in bryology. Southeastern moss collections are also utilized for several courses taught in the Biology Department. Utility of the collections will be greatly increased by the ability to search for specimen records in relation to taxonomic group, geographic location, and/or habitat type. No published taxonomic summary for the southeastern mosses currently exists. The Duke University moss collection, especially the southeastern U.S. accessions, are widely utilized by bryologists worldwide for floristic, monographic, developmental, and molecular research. The databasing efforts outlined in this proposal will facilitate the identification of undercollected areas, biodiversity hotspots, and sites that harbor rare taxa. The loss of biodiversity is a societal problem. In order to evaluate biodiversity losses, basic information is needed about what organisms occur in what areas, and how geographic patterns of biodiversity relate to ecological and historical factors. Databases such as that proposed in this project provide the raw data from which ecological inferences can be made. Well beyond the university community, the Duke bryophyte collection is utilized by local, state, and regional conservation organizations. The Duke bryology program organizes an annual H.L. Blomquist Foray which is attended by both amateur and professional bryologists. Availability of collection information for southeastern mosses will facilitate interactions between amateurs and professionals and increased collecting by botanists outside the professional bryological community.