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Abstract Detail

Systematics

Carter, J. Richard [1], Robinson, Ashlee D. [1], Woods, Rechelle T. [1], Lowe, Phillip D. [1].

Advances in Wiregrass Georgia: Infrastructural Improvements to Sustain another Half-Century of Herbarium-Based Research and Teaching.

The Valdosta State University Herbarium [VSC] is a regional collection of more than 71,000 voucher specimens documenting biodiversity of Georgia’s coastal plain. VSC digitized its holdings through a 2011 collaborative grant with the University of Georgia Herbarium [GA], funded by the National Science Foundation Program for Collections in Support of Biological Research [CSBR]. VSC images and data are currently being served via the Internet through the Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria and the Valdosta State University Virtual Herbarium. In April 2015, VSC began a three-year project to initiate infrastructural improvements funded by the National Science Foundation [CSBR]. A compactor system has been installed, including 41 new herbarium cabinets, increasing specimen holding capacity by 35% and providing secure and safe storage for this valuable biodiversity resource. Through this support, 5,000 backlog specimens will be mounted and digitized and nearly 15,000 specimen records will be georeferenced, making these vouchers and derived digital images and data readily available to the community of biodiversity researchers and others through the Internet and through direct access to specimens. This project will also secure and revitalize the currently dormant Vanderbilt University teaching collections by bringing them to Valdosta State University where they will be used to train future generations of students and biodiversity researchers, and it will promote learning through direct involvement of students in a variety of herbarium activities, bringing them new perspectives about possibilities for careers in science. Promoting participation of under-represented groups by providing opportunities to work in biological collections and biodiversity research, outreach programs will place issues of biological collections and biodiversity before a large and diverse audience through herbarium tours and informal presentations, targeting young people at an impressionable age and their teachers.

1 - Valdosta State University, Biology, Valdosta, GA, 31698-0015, USA

Keywords:
biodiversity
collections
herbarium.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Systematics Section/ASPT Posters
Location: Exhibit Hall/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PSY003
Abstract ID:150
Candidate for Awards:None