NSF Org:	DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure
Recipient:	PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE
Initial Amendment Date:	June 30, 2011
Latest Amendment Date:	June 30, 2011
Award Number:	1114957
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Reed Beaman DBI  Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO  Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	July 1, 2011
End Date:	June 30, 2016 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$317,967.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$317,967.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2011 = $317,967.00
History of Investigator:	Donald Pfister (Principal Investigator) dpfister@oeb.harvard.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	Harvard University 1033 MASSACHUSETTS AVE STE 3 CAMBRIDGE MA  US  02138-5366 (617)495-5501
Sponsor Congressional District:	05
Primary Place of Performance:	Harvard University 1033 MASSACHUSETTS AVE STE 3 CAMBRIDGE MA  US  02138-5366
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	05
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	LN53LCFJFL45
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	Digitization
Primary Program Source:	01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s):	6895
Program Element Code(s):	689500
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.074

ABSTRACT

Lichens and bryophytes share biological traits that make them some of the most sensitive indicators of environmental change. The goal of this project is to provide high quality data to address how species distributions change as a result of major environmental events across time and space. Specifically, this project will digitize the label information (the what, when, where and by whom collected) and images for approximately 2.3 million biological specimens curated in North American lichen and bryophyte herbaria. These collections represent well over 90% of all specimens collected in Canada, the United States and Mexico and held by over 60 US non-governmental institutions. New, on-line digitization techniques will be made publically available at at http://symbiota.org/nalichens/ and http://symbiota.org/bryophytes/, and will allow interested members of the public to be involved and learn about biodiversity alongside the professionals.

Availability of nearly the entire North American bryophyte and lichen collections on-line will greatly accelerate knowledge and evaluation of the biodiversity of these organisms by fostering collaborations between professionals and the general public. Additionally, models developed from these digitized data will aid future mapping projections of large scale species distributions and identification of biodiversity hotspots as prime candidates for protection. These endeavors will help to elucidate regions where changes are imminent and likely to have substantial impact, as well as to facilitate proactive initiatives to alleviate such changes. This award is made as part of the National Resource for Digitization of Biological Collections through the Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program and all data resulting from this award will be available through the national resource.

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

The purpose of the work was to make available information from specimens of lichens and bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornwarts) in the Farlow Herbarium at Harvard University that represent collections from North America.  Some of these collections represent the earliest specimens from unexplored regions of the continent.  Minimal data (name of the organism, collector, and locality) were captured from specimen labels.  Labels, and in some cases, specimens were digitized and submitted to the Lichen Portal or the Bryophyte Portal.  These then became publically available. Data is also available via the Harvard University digital collection site. Images of labels provided a means by which full data could be transcribed on the portals.

As of June 30, 2016 Harvard University databased 60,559 lichen specimens, (including 2,615 New England Botanical Club specimens, 2,583 C. Sprague Herbarium specimens, 3,189 H. Howe Herbarium specimens, and the complete Lichenes Exsiccati Magnicamporum, this is a set of limited distribution containing North American lichens); 13,050 hepatic specimens (including 379 W. Sullivant Herbarium specimens); and 73,169 moss specimens (including 2,837 W. Sullivant Herbarium specimens). We imaged 64,839 labels (including those with multiple annotations) of lichen specimens, incl. the above mentioned special collections; 12,937 images of hepatic specimen labels; and 76,167 images of moss specimen labels.  

We organized training sessions for members of the public in which the portals were explained and practice sessions were held to train the participants on label transcription. 

Last Modified: 07/08/2016
Modified by: Donald H Pfister

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