| Note:
The project proposed below is now underway. Please check back for updates!
UPDATE
15 FEB 2005:
Our
database is online. Please go and check out the database
and let give us feedback. Currently, the database includes data from
most of the specimens from the KONZA collection and the version you access
is current at all times. Pending funding, we will be adding a new
database for all collections Data are managed and served using SPECIFY
4.6.
The KSU Herbarium
The
Kansas State University Herbarium is a collection of approximately 200,000
preserved plant specimens used for botanical research and reference. This
herbarium was established in 1877 and is among the oldest, largest, and
most diverse collections focusing on the flora of the Great Plains region
(see attached brochure). The herbarium is utilized extensively as a research
and educational facility: staff, associated staff, KSU faculty, students
and visiting researchers use the museum for taxonomic and floristic studies,
plant identification, and as a permanent location of voucher specimens
for genetic, chemical and ecological investigations.
Currently, there are three regular staff members in the herbarium (Dr.
Carolyn J. Ferguson, Assistant Professor and Curator; Dr.
Mark H. Mayfield, Research Assistant Professor; and Ms. Iralee Barnard,
Curatorial Assistant, 0.3 time), as well as several associated staff in
the Division of Biology. In addition,
work study students are employed each semester to assist in mounting and
filing of new specimens, and repair of aged and damaged specimens. The
herbarium serves as an important botanical resource in the Great Plains
region, and we are dedicated to maintaining, expanding and improving the
KSU Herbarium as a research and teaching facility.
There are many herbaria in the Great Plains region, as most colleges and
universities, and many museums and botanical gardens maintain an herbarium
collection (Holmgren et al., 1990).
The KSU Herbarium is particularly rich in historical collections from
the Great Plains. We estimate that at least forty percent of the holdings
were collected in the late 1800s, a particularly active period of growth
in Kansas. The specimens provide a record of plant distributions and abundance
during the settlement of the Great Plains, making the herbarium an extremely
valuable resource for land managers, conservationists and ecologists.
With this strong historical component to the collection come particular
curatorial challenges: many of the specimens are extremely fragile, and
many represent rare (and irreplaceable) collections. It is our aim to
bring this valuable collection into the fold of modern natural history
collections management, a large part of which involves the digital capture
of data contained therein, and its transferal to the public via the internet.
Databasing
of museum collections
Over
the last decade or so, there has been a great increase in interest in
the databasing of natural history collections—part of a larger
interest in bioinformatics. This leads directly to increased use of
the collections as well as improved preservation of the specimens. Computerization
of the KSU Herbarium is particularly appropriate due to the large number
of old, fragile specimens housed here. Beyond increasing research productivity
within the KSU Herbarium, a searchable database of specimen information
would make the resources of the herbarium available worldwide, increasing
their visibility and use . Workers at other institutions would more
often include KSU material in their research projects, and would also
better tailor their loan requests to particular specimens of interest;
this would also mean that specimens are not unnecessarily loaned to
other institutions, saving them from the damage of excessive handling,
mailing, and the potential for loss in the transfer process. The power
of a searchable database is particularly noteworthy: for example, one
could search for all collections associated with a particular collector
or a particular locality. The latter option would be particularly useful
to ecologists, and our herbarium serves a strong group of students and
faculty in ecology. As institutions with important plant collections
begin databasing projects, these data will be put together and analyzed
in ways unimaginable to contemporary scientists — this is indeed
the essence of bioinformatics.
We believe the KSU Herbarium is a potentially strong candidate for outside
funding for computerization. The proposed study will focus on databasing
two important parts of our collection, as described below. The resulting
database will allow us to showcase our system and the quality of specimen
information we have. Ultimately, we hope to secure funding to database
all specimens, as well as improve housing of the collections.
Proposed
project plan and personnel
The
proposed project will result in a database containing information from
specimens of 1) our taxonomic type collection, and 2) plants of Konza
Prairie Biological Station (KPBS). A type specimen is the single
specimen on which a scientific name is based (see Woodland, 2000; Grueter
et al., 2000). Any taxonomic specialist for a particular group of species
must examine the type specimens to ensure that scientific nomenclature
is properly applied. Without question, the type collection represents
the most valuable subset of specimens within an herbarium, making this
group a logical target for databasing. The known type collection at
the KSU Herbarium consists of over 200 specimens, and is housed in a
separate, locked cabinet. In this case, the type database will also
lead to publication of a type registry for the KSU Herbarium. The second
target group of specimens is the plants of KPBS (operated by the KSU
Division of Biology). Many
student and faculty researchers carrying out investigations at KPBS
utilize the herbarium to identify plant species and deposit voucher
specimens, and a searchable database of information for representative
specimens of all species known to occur at KPBS will thus be a valuable
resource. The most recent vascular
plant list for KPBS includes 524 species, and these are filed taxonomically
throughout the herbarium collections. For the proposed preliminary databasing
project, a single specimen of each species will be chosen for inclusion
in the database (based on locality and quality of specimen information);
non-vascular plants will also be included.
The project will be coordinated by two faculty members — Carolyn
Ferguson and Mark
Mayfield. Ferguson is an Assistant Professor in the Division of
Biology who began at KSU in August,
2000. She maintains an active research program in molecular systematics,
focusing on evolutionary relationships of the flowering plant genus
Phlox (Polemoniaceae).
She also serves as Curator of the Herbarium, and is dedicated to the
preservation and improvement of the museum collections. Mayfield is
a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Biology. He is a specialist
in New World members of the genus Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae)
and is also adept at general plant identification and floristics. Mayfield
has extensive experience in the databasing of herbarium collections
from his time at Louisiana
State University: he has directed the implementation of specimen
databases, supervised data entry workers and evaluated the resulting
information. Mayfield’s knowledge regarding databasing will help
ensure the success of this work.
For the proposed USRG project, the two faculty members will work together
to develop a detailed and appropriate specimen database system. We will
consider several models used by workers at other herbaria, including
the University of Kansas,
which has a thorough specimen database program. The requested funding
would allow us to employ a student worker for data entry, and would
enable purchase of bar codes and a bar code scanner. Bar coding (with
archival quality, mylar coated bar codes with acrylic adhesive prepared
specifically for use with herbarium specimens) is the method of choice
for linking specimens with databased information (see Russell, 1999).
Our bar codes will include the scan bars, an institution header and
a direct readout of the code.
The proposed project is ambitious, yet poses exciting possibilities
for the future of the KSU Herbarium: it will result in a preliminary
database that will be immediately valuable, and will also serve as preliminary
data for a full-fledged award. The computers currently in use in the
herbarium are outdated, but a new computer will be purchased from startup
funds (Ferguson) and this will be used for the proposed databasing project.
We will also benefit from the LAN server operated in Bushnell Hall (Section
of Systematics and Ecology) for Konza LTER researchers. The Konza server
will be used to house the database as well as to back up data as they
are entered.
Literature
cited
Grueter, W., J.
McNeill, F. R. Barrie, H. M. Burdet, V. Demoulin, T. S. Filgueiras,
D. H. Nicolson, P. C. Silva, J. E. Skog, P. Trehane, N. J. Turland and
D. L. Hawksworth (eds. and compilers). 2000. International code of botanical
nomenclature (Saint Louis code) adopted by the Sixteenth International
Botanical Congress St. Louis, Missouri, July-August 1999. Koeltz Scientific:
Königstein, Germany.
Holmgren, P. K., N. H. Holmgren and L. C. Barnett (eds.). 1990.
Index Herbariorum: part I: the herbaria of the world. 8th ed. New
York Botanical Garden: Bronx, NY.
Russell, G. F. 1999. An overview of bar code applications and issues
in systematics collections. Pp. 253-261 in (D. A. Metsger andS. C. Byers,
eds.) Managing the modern herbarium: an interdisciplinary approach.
Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections: Washington,
D.C.
Woodland, D. W. 2000. Contemporary plant systematics. Andrews University
Press: Berrien Springs, MI.
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