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Abstract Detail



A Single Symbiota-based Herbarium Network for the US

Nelson, Gil [1], Gilbert, Edward [2], Monfils, Anna K [3], Murrell, Zack [4], Rabeler, Richard [5], Sweeney, Patrick [6], Thiers, Barbara [7].

The Practical Importance of Multiple Networks in Aggregating Herbarium Data across the United States.

Since the National Science Foundation’s 2011 launch of the Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) program, the creation and mobilization of biodiversity data across all collection domains has increased exponentially. This has been especially true for herbaria, a number of which began successful digitization programs even before the establishment of ADBC. Institutions such the New York Botanical Garden, Florida Museum of Natural History, the Harvard Herbaria, Missouri Botanical Garden, Rocky Mountain Herbarium at the University of Wyoming, the Jepson Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley, and Fairchild Tropical Garden were among the earliest of those making digital data available online. Along with these were several multi-institutional networks, including the California Consortium of Herbaria, the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria, and SEINet. ADBC has supported the sustainability and expansion of many of these initiatives as well as the establishment of numerous new initiatives. In 2011, iDigBio became the NSF’s designated central HUB for facilitating the creation, mobilization, aggregation, and discovery of digital collections data. As a condition of funding, institutions who receive NSF awards must now agree to deposit their biodiversity data into the iDigBio data store. The establishment of an NSF-supported data store and the coalescing of the various institutional and networked databases has led to a multi-tiered approach to data aggregation and discovery in the United States. At the base of this hierarchy are institutional datasets maintained in a variety of open and closed systems (e.g. Arctos, EMu, Specify, standalone and networked Symbiota-based portals, and custom online and desktop applications). This framework has allowed maximum flexibility for institutions when choosing how to manage their data and how to deliver those data to national and international aggregators. Here we argue for the benefits of this multi-tiered infrastructure and a single national data repository. We also argue that building specialized interfaces against a common, nationally designated data store is more effective in harnessing the collective resources of the botanical community than building parallel systems that lack the leverage to ensure adequate data contributions and likely the human and financial capital to sustain such systems.


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1 - Florida State University
2 - Arizona State University, Global Institute Of Sustainability, 2831 E. 18th St, Tucson, AZ, 85716, USA
3 - Central Michigan University, Biology, 2401 Biosciences, Mt. Pleasant, MI, 48859
4 - APPALACHIAN ST UNI, Department Of Biology, 572 RIVERS ST. RANKIN SCI BLDG, BOONE, NC, 28608, USA
5 - University of Michigan, Research Museums Center, 3600 Varsity Drive #1042, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48108-2228, USA
6 - Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University Herbarium, P.O. Box 208118, New Haven, CT, 06520-8118, USA
7 - The New York Botanical Garden, Herbarium, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY, 10458, USA

Keywords:
Digital Data
Symbiota
SEINet
iDigBio.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: CO2, A Single, Symbiota-based Herbarium Network for the US
Location: Sundance 2/Omni Hotel
Date: Tuesday, June 27th, 2017
Time: 8:45 AM
Number: CO2002
Abstract ID:100
Candidate for Awards:None


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