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Abstract Detail

Celebrating 15 years of SERNEC: Where we've been, where we are, and where we are going

Zomlefer, Wendy [1], Hughes, Steven [2], Angulo, Juan [3], Hull, Richard [2], Long, Tiffany [2], Vardeman, Ella [2].

Undergraduate Research Projects in the University of Georgia Herbarium based on Digitized Specimens: Mentoring plus Data equals Publishable Results.

The University of Georgia Herbarium (GA) collection represents a significant data repository approximating the plant diversity of the state. However, sorting through all 280,000 accessioned specimens at GA Herbarium to locate particular voucher sets had not been possible until recent collection digitization initiatives supported by the National Science Foundation. Largely due to the advice and support by SERNEC members, GA Herbarium has been fortunate to receive three collections-based grants over the past 15 years. As a result of these efforts, GA Herbarium collections data are readily available for comparison and analysis for the first time -- greatly facilitating, for example, the capture of random historic vouchers collected over many decades from a specific site (e.g., a park) or the estimation of species-area relationships to determine undercollected areas (e.g., a county). The compilation of specimen data also allows tracking collector activities in a defined area through time, locality, habitat, and/or taxon focus. This presentation describes four specimen-based undergraduate research projects that demonstrate the incredible value of herbarium vouchers as a teaching tool, with the goal of a peer-reviewed paper in a scientific journal for each student. These studies also provided an opportunity to push these students beyond their comfort zones, despite their varied academic backgrounds in plant taxonomy, general data manipulation, and technical writing. It is hoped that these examples will serve as models and inspiration for student projects at the undergraduate level for other herbaria.

1 - University Of Georgia, Department Of Plant Biology, 2402 Miller Plant Sciences Building, 120 Carlton Street, Athens, GA, 30602, United States
2 - University of Georgia, Plant Biology, 2402 Miller Plant Sciences Building, 120 Carlton Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
3 - University of Georgia, Plant Biology, 2401 Miller Plant Sciences, 120 Carlton Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

Keywords:
herbarium data
digitization
Undergraduate mentoring
student projects
vouchers.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: CO05, Celebrating 15 years of SERNEC:Where we've been, where we are and where we are going
Location: Tucson H/Starr Pass
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Time: 10:15 AM
Number: CO05008
Abstract ID:303
Candidate for Awards:None