Abstract Detail

A Single Symbiota-based Herbarium Network for the US

Hardison, Linda K. [1].

The Oregon Flora Project: adding value to a regional floristic dataset.

The Oregon Flora Project website (http://oregonflora.org) is a comprehensive resource about the ~4,650 non-cultivated vascular plants of Oregon. Herbarium specimen records are a key component of this floristic dataset. The Oregon Flora Project (OFP) manages the database of the vascular plants from the Oregon State University Herbarium and delivers these data to aggregators including the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria (CPNWH). To present a holistic view of Oregon taxa, the OFP website combines specimen data from 13 regional herbaria along with unvouchered observations using a custom-coded interactive mapping tool that was first released in 2005. Small, regionally significant collections from government agencies and small colleges were databased for this effort. Records from larger academic institutions that were independently databasing specimens were also included. The OFP plant distribution database now includes <540,000 vouchered and unvouchered records of Oregon taxa from over 35 herbaria. Most datasets are retrieved from the CPNWH. With its focus on Oregon, a high degree of curation is applied to imported data. A taxonomic thesaurus developed for a new Flora of Oregon provides the nomenclatural framework. All OFP tools reflect rich synonymy and are cross-referenced to the nine key floras covering Oregon. Ambiguities within imported records such as names which are misapplied to Oregon taxonomic concepts and names that refer in part to more than one accepted Oregon concept are resolved before the records are presented in the OFP website. If clarity cannot be reached, the records are suppressed, as are those that lack sufficiently accurate georeferencing coordinates. The OFP has very recently moved to a Symbiota platform and maintains a portal. Existing Symbiota functionality and newly developed features allow the OFP to continue its presentation of Oregon taxonomic concepts reflected in specimen data. The OFP website also gained the capacity to map specimen records for Oregon taxonomic concepts beyond state boundaries. The relevance and accessibility of OFP data are extended to a wide audience through supporting datasets such as unvouchered occurrence data, a photo gallery, and interactive resources to targeted audiences such as native plant gardeners.

Related Links:
Oregon Flora Project

1 - Oregon Flora Project, Botany & Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis,, OR, 97331-2902, USA

Keywords:
Digital Data
Symbiota
Herbarium networks.

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: 9:15 AM
Number: CO2004
Abstract ID:517
Candidate for Awards:None