| Abstract Detail
Systematics Section / ASPT Murrell, Zack E. [1]. SERNEC (SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections): Building a powerful research tool. HERBARIA are not simply repositories of plant specimens. They are repositories of a tremendous amount of information. Current technologies provide an opportunity to access this information at an unprecedented scale. The real power of herbaria as research tools can be fully realized when both large and small collections within a broad geographic region are electronically available and searchable. SERNEC (SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections) is designed to facilitate this process by building partnerships, encouraging the utilization of the collective expertise of the network and assisting herbaria in providing information to the public. SERNEC is 1) networking the 150 herbaria in 15 states in southeastern North America, 2) developing a strategy for advancing each state’s ongoing databasing effort and 3) working to publish online botanical resources that will be available to scientists, land managers, state and federal agencies, educators and the general public. These data will provide a greater understanding of one of the most botanically diverse regions of the earth and will lead to better research, better management planning and a more well-informed public. Development of a searchable collective database at a regional scale will provide a powerful research tool, and by combining 150 years of botanical information housed in herbaria in the Southeast with models of past plant migrations and current ecological parameters, we can revolutionize studies in biodiversity, evolution, ecology and systematics.
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Related Links:
1 - Appalachian State University, Biology, 572 Rivers Street, Boone, North Carolina, 28608, USA
Keywords:
SERNEC
Regional Network
Herbaria
bioinformatics.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: 48-134
Location: Auditorium/Bell Memorial Union
Date: Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
Time: 12:30 PM
Abstract ID:645 |
