CSBR: Natural History: Engaging Our Future to Preserve Our Past: Curation and Preservation of Historically Significant Collections Through Student Participation at the Rancho Santa

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont CA

Investigators

Abstract

Student Engagement in the Preservation of Historically Significant Collections at Rancho Santa Botanic Garden Natural history collections offer a lens into the past and a means to envision the future. Collections are especially important in predicting biodiversity change with shifts in climate and land use. The Herbarium at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG) houses more than 1.2 million specimens and is heavily utilized for research, education, and public outreach. From multiple sources, the Herbarium acquired 30,000 plant specimens collected by ten significant 20th century botanists. 70% of these were collected from 15 of 34 designated world biodiversity hotspots; 30% represents the California Floristic Province biodiversity hotspot. These specimens are in critical need of curation owing to poor storage conditions. Several specimens have been identified as critical for describing and naming species new to science. Curation of these collections will provide physical access to collections currently unavailable for study, promote discovery of species new to science, and yield new distribution and phenology data. Importantly, curation will ensure critically needed preservation. Digitization efforts will provide access of this rich source of specimen data to researchers, students, and the public. Integral to the project are activities involving the participation of graduate students, undergraduates, and high school students. Notably, RSABG will expand on a successful undergraduate internship program by engaging underserved youth from the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Especially targeted are at-risk and transitional aged youth at the high school level, who will be trained in a six-week summer junior intern program. All interns will participate in five workshops that will serve to connect students to collections, natural history, and biodiversity. An exhibit at RSABG will highlight the activities and student participation in the project. As herbaria serve expanding needs for research, education, and conservation management, it is critical that collections of historic, taxonomic, and geographic significance are curated and digitized, ensuring their availability for research through investments in their long-term security. Through various sources, the Herbarium at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden acquired 30,000 vascular plant specimens of historic, taxonomic, and geographic importance representing the collections of ten significant botanists of the 20th century. These specimens are in danger of deterioration, owing to unsatisfactory past and current storage conditions (e.g., non-archival newspapers). Thus, these collections are in critical need of curation and improved storage to secure them for posterity. Several specimens have been identified as type material that was thought to have been lost. The principal objective of this three-year project is to curate and digitize these specimens through student participation. A large cadre of students at different levels in their academic career will participate in all aspects of the project, including specimen preparation, databasing, imaging, and georeferencing. Specimen data will become available for more than 18,000 species of vascular plants in ~350 families. All data resulting from this project will be shared with iDigBio, GBIF, the Consortium of California Herbaria, and the RSABG Herbarium web portal. Additional information about RSABG, its outreach activities, and the results of this project is available at http://www.rsabg.org.