Digitizing Herbaria serves as an invaluable resource in the scientific community, comprising carefully preserved plant specimens and their associated data. Researchers often dry and systematically mount entire plants or specific parts on sheets of paper. This method of preservation ensures their longevity for future reference and study. Consequently, herbariums play a critical role in the taxonomic description of plant species, providing a reliable reference for researchers and botanists. Notably, some specimens within a herbarium are designated as types or belong to series known as exsiccatae, which are essential for the formal documentation and classification of plant taxa.
In mycology, scientists maintain a similar collection of preserved fungi called a fungarium. These collections are crucial for studying and classifying fungi, aiding in various research endeavors. Additionally, a xylarium specializes in preserving wood specimens, which are invaluable for dendrological studies and wood identification. Meanwhile, a hortorium focuses on preserving horticultural material, providing resources for botanical research and plant breeding.
Herbarium specimens, whether from a fungarium, xylarium, or hortorium, are essential for extracting genetic material used in DNA analyses and for gathering pollen for palynological studies. These contributions significantly enhance our understanding of biodiversity and plant evolution.
What is the Purpose of a Herbarium?
Significant Advantages of Digitizing Herbaria
Digitizing herbaria provides numerous significant advantages, including enhanced accessibility and searchability when scanned and hosted online, enabling researchers, students, and the general public to examine specimens remotely. The digitization process encompasses more than just the fundamental specimen information, such as the taxon name and collection date. It also captures comprehensive data on habitat details, collector activities, and ecological associations. This wealth of additional information enriches researchers’ datasets, facilitating a wide range of studies and fostering deeper insights into botanical and ecological research.
Consequently, digitized herbaria become invaluable resources for scientific exploration and education. Not to forget that Georeferencing the online herbaria provides precise information enabling researchers to understand species distributions, track changes over time, and integrate herbarium data with other environmental datasets.
The Digitization Solution
ABTec Solutions offers an advanced scan model with a unique mechanistic design. This design guarantees specimen morphological integration during image capture, eliminating irreversible risks from conventional upside-down scans or vertically moving scanning stations. Introducing the ObjectScan 1600, which provides high-resolution images up to 1600 dpi. With its color linear CCD and built-in 48-bit Analog to Digital Converter, it precisely captures and presents the entire specimen, along with detailed surface textures, in a high-fidelity format.
University of Regina’s Faculty of Science Herbarium Collection Digitization Project using Microtek ObjectScan 1600
Are you Worried from Digitizing your Collection?
Do you have a fragile herbarium? No worries, the ObjectScan 1600 has a DOF (Depth of Field) up to +/- 6.5 mm at 300 dpi, which can overcome uneven or protruded parts of plant specimen. This is of especially help on specimen with corns and fruits, preserving and presenting the original characters for academic purpose.
The University of Regina’s Faculty of Science embarked on an ambitious digitization project to preserve their extensive herbarium collection, which includes over 70,000 plant specimens, some dating back more than a century. Recognizing the risks associated with handling these fragile specimens, the university decided to invest in the ObjectScan 1600. This state-of-the-art equipment will enable the digitization of the hidden herbarium collection stored in a small room within the university’s laboratory building. The facility is filled with rows of old cabinets containing similar folders of specimens, and digitizing these will ensure their preservation while making them more accessible for research and study.
In summary, Herbaria are invaluable repositories of plant knowledge, serving as essential resources for both current research and future generations of scientists. These collections provide critical data for taxonomy, conservation, and ecological studies. By preserving plant specimens, herbaria ensure that researchers have access to historical and contemporary plant materials, thereby facilitating a deeper understanding of biodiversity and environmental changes over time. If you are interested in converting your collection to a digital format or enhancing its accessibility, please do not hesitate to reach out to ABTec Solutions for more information. Our expertise can help maximize the value and utility of your botanical resources.
Contact ABTec Solutions today on Toll Free (800) 775.8993 or reach out and fill the form and we will contact you as soon as possible.
