Abstract Detail

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

Soteropoulos, Diana [1], Baker, Brent [2], Witsell, Theo [2], Seale, Karen [3], Marsico, Travis [1].

Building a student and volunteer network for Notes from Nature herbarium transcription success in Arkansas.

Arkansas herbaria are developing a statewide network of students and volunteers to support specimen transcription through the Notes from Nature (NfN) platform. Since 2014, we have imaged >165,000 herbarium specimens in Arkansas, mostly with skeletal data (family, species, state, and county). In July 2016, we created our first NfN expedition in our Plants of Arkansas: Discovery and Dissemination group. With >20 expeditions launched, we have added >26,000 records to SERNEC through NfN transcriptions, and each specimen was transcribed three times for consensus for a total of ~80,000 transcriptions. We completed eight expeditions as part of a dendrology class assignment, and more plant taxonomy and botany instructors are incorporating NfN into class syllabi statewide. For the past three years, we also supported an annual transcription blitz at A-State, associated with WeDigBio, with 50-100 student participants who transcribe 1000-2000 images in a single day. Our greatest short-term progress has been completed by 14 volunteers, many who are master naturalists, supporting focused, county-level floristics projects for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. For building a network to maintain NfN transcription progress, multiple groups should be involved, including classroom assignments, Master Naturalists, Master Gardeners, natural heritage volunteers, and reaching out to native plant societies, national park and forest service employees to generate new sources for volunteer activity. Through expansion of the NfN community with local support for regional projects, we can effectively transcribe herbarium data for research, and volunteers and students can be involved from the comfort of their own homes.

1 - Arkansas State University, Department Of Biological Sciences, PO Box 599, State University, AR, 72467, United States
2 - Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission
3 - Central Arkansas Master Naturalists

Keywords:
SERNEC
Notes from Nature
digitization
citizen science.

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: 10:45 AM
Number: CO05010
Abstract ID:287
Candidate for Awards:None