COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Toward Documenting Biodiversity Change in Arctic Lichens: Databasing the Principal Collections, Establishing a Baseline, and Developing a Virtual Flora

合作研究：记录北极地衣生物多样性变化：建立主要收藏数据库、建立基线和开发虚拟植物区系

• 批准号: 1023497
• 负责人: Stefanie Ickert-Bond
• 金额: $ 16.84万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-12-01 至 2015-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1023497&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Toward; Documenting; Biodiversity

Lichens are symbiotic organisms that are highly sensitive to environmental change, and have been used for decades as bioindicators to monitor air pollution. Their past, current, and future patterns of distribution in Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems are likely to be reflective of significant ecosystem change in temperature, water and nutrient cycling, as well as population dynamics of migratory animals such as caribou. Most of the data concerning current and historical distributions of Arctic lichens presently resides in the literature and within the natural history collections of North America, the two largest of which reside in the herbaria of the University of Alaska Museum (Fairbanks) and the University of Wisconsin State Herbarium (Madison). This project would identify, update nomenclature, barcode, georeference, and database this pair of collections. At the same time, an updated checklist of all Arctic & Subarctic lichen species will be generated, photographs will be collected, and taxonomic characters for each species will be coded for use in creating dynamic taxonomic keys and species descriptions. Together, this dataset will be integrated using the Symbiota software package to generate an online virtual Flora of Arctic Lichens. Virtual floras, with their interactive keys, color photographs, species descriptions, real-time distribution maps, and direct access to complete specimen metadata, represent a revolution in the way that biodiversity information is shared in a democratic manner with all who are interested. The creation of what promises to be a relatively comprehensive Flora will expose the discipline of lichenology to a larger community, and help to further advance an appreciation of ecological complexity within the Arctic biome. In addition to the online databases and information technology tools that will be generated, data gathered for this project will be disseminated through a series of regional and national workshops. The project will also serve as the basis for Arctic lichen-themed science camps, exhibits, lectures, and activities created for the greater public, including the K-12 student/teacher audience. Finally, the collaborative effort includes both undergraduate and graduate students who will receive training from a diverse team of researchers.

地衣是对环境变化高度敏感的共生生物，几十年来一直被用作监测空气污染的生物指示剂。它们过去、现在和未来在北极和亚北极生态系统中的分布模式可能反映了生态系统在温度、水和养分循环方面的重大变化，以及驯鹿等迁徙动物的种群动态。目前，有关北极地衣当前和历史分布的大多数数据都存在于北美的文献和自然历史收藏中，其中最大的两个保存在阿拉斯加大学博物馆（费尔班克斯）和威斯康星大学的植物标本室中国家植物标本馆（麦迪逊）。该项目将识别、更新这对集合的命名法、条形码、地理参考和数据库。同时，将生成所有北极和亚北极地衣物种的更新清单，收集照片，并对每个物种的分类特征进行编码，以用于创建动态分类键和物种描述。该数据集将使用 Symbiota 软件包集成，生成在线虚拟北极地衣植物区系。虚拟植物区系具有交互式按键、彩色照片、物种描述、实时分布图以及对完整标本元数据的直接访问，代表了以民主方式与所有感兴趣的人共享生物多样性信息的方式的一场革命。创建一个相对全面的植物群将向更大的社区展示地衣学学科，并有助于进一步促进对北极生物群落内生态复杂性的认识。除了将生成的在线数据库和信息技术工具外，为本项目收集的数据还将通过一系列区域和国家研讨会进行传播。该项目还将作为北极地衣主题科学营、展览、讲座和为广大公众（包括 K-12 学生/教师观众）举办的活动的基础。最后，协作工作包括本科生和研究生，他们将接受来自不同研究人员团队的培训。