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Abstract Detail



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

Brown, Herrick [1], Denslow, Michael [2], Murrell, Zack [3].

SERNEC: An Introspective Examination of the Growth and Development of a Major Research Database and Associated Data Use Scenarios.

Quantitative database metrics were used to assess the growth and development of the SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections portal (SERNEC – www.SERNECportal.org) since its inception in 2013. Growth in both the number of available collections and specimen records over the past seven years appears to be logarithmic and is currently slowing. Annual availability of new collections reached its peak in the first full year (2015) of funding from the National Science Foundation. The maximum annual addition of new records was achieved the following year in 2016. Currently the portal offers over 4.6 million herbarium specimen records provided by 118 collections from the Southeastern United States. The distributed nature of project collaborators and contributing collections, locally nuanced data capture and development workflows, and other unanticipated challenges are summarized with regard to how these may have affected incremental and punctuated increases in the number and completeness of available occurrence records. Particular focus will be given to contributing collections that were not supported through project funds and the significance of small collections. Most notably, small collections were found to have greater potential to fill knowledge gaps in local floras, were more likely to contain unique occurrence records, and were more apt involve undergraduate students in data development, research and collecting. These qualities are emphasized in the context of challenges common to all collections including sustaining the physical collection and developing digital assets to ensure specimen data are available for research and conservation with limited opportunities to secure support from funding agencies.


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Related Links:
SERNEC Data Portal


1 - A.C. Moore Herbarium (USCH), Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
2 - Appalachian State University, SERNEC, ASU Box 32027, Boone, NC, 28608, United States
3 - Department Of Biology, Appalachian State University, 572 Rivers Street, Boone, NC, 28608, United States

Keywords:
herbaria
biodiversity informatics
data management
specimen digitization workflows.

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: 8:45 AM
Number: CO05003
Abstract ID:911
Candidate for Awards:None


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