Colloquia

         Strategic uses of herbaria, specimens, and digital specimen data

Integrating herbarium specimen data and outreach to inform species distributions and botanical research at the Jepson Herbarium, UC Berkeley

Presenting Author
Nina House
Description
The Jepson Flora Project (JFP), based at the Jepson Herbarium at the University of California, Berkeley, disseminates accurate, scientifically informed data on the plants of California. Our position combining a natural history collection, research institution, and outreach program allows us to provide a number of integrated resources for those studying the California flora, such as the Jepson eFlora, the Jepson Videos, the Jepson Workshop program, and a highly curated portal of the Consortium of California Herbaria (CCH1). All of these resources are deeply intertwined, reliant on each other for continued improvement in our knowledge. For example, specimen data from CCH1 is present on each taxon page of the Jepson eFlora, allowing users to see the documented distribution and compare it with the species range that has been published in the eFlora. This unique use of specimen data can be used to inform conservation, floristic work, and research, such as our studies of spatial phylogenetics of California plants. Furthermore, our synergistic outreach program allows us to not only share botanical knowledge, but also garner feedback to continue to improve our resources. We encourage and foster community participation with the Jepson eFlora, and describe several ways to get involved in furthering our understanding of the California flora.