Small Collections Grant
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Improving the conservation of UFRN herbarium
Brazil
Conserve
Cost (USD):
2000
UFRN
Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
Objective:
The objective of our project is to buy three dehumidifiers to be used to keep humidity low in our collection, one for each of the three rooms we have. The UFRN herbarium collection, in Natal, is a small public herbarium, the largest in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Northeastern Brazil. The herbarium is maintained by public funds, but since 2015, despite all the personnel engagement to improve the herbarium conditions, the collection is suffering, particularly with limitations of public funding in Brazil to acquire equipment.
Timetable:
Once we receive the amount from IAPT the 3 equipment will be immediately bought and the time of 11 days is asked to receive the items. After that we immediately place them in our rooms (one in the basal angiosperms and monocots room, one in the eudicots room and the third in the library / curatorial archives). As Natal has a tropical climate, our main problems are to control humidity within the herbarium rooms. Currently we are operating with only one dehumidifier, when the necessary number for our rooms would be three, so this is urgent and will be implemented in the first month after the approval.
Since 2018, the staff has been doing all the possible things to raise funds. We sell t-shirts, mugs, caps, all to be reverted to small amounts of money to pay for fixing some equipment or to buy consumable material not frequently available in the public systems of purchasing. Nevertheless, these 3 dehumidifiers are beyond our capacities and receiving such grant will be extremely helpful.
Scoring Rubric
Reviewer's name:
Collection Improvement (max. 120 points)
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Facilitating access to the physical collections by digitization (e.g., data entry, setting up database structure with an outline of the platform to be used, purchasing equipment, and imaging specimens) – up to 30 points.
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Enhancing physical collections by improving the conservation status of specimens in the herbarium (e.g., better folders, protecting covers, mounting paper, labeling, etc.) – up to 30 points.
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Curating specimens (e.g., updating families, species identification, identifying types) – up to 20 points.
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Increasing our understanding of the flora or funga by making new herbarium specimens available, such as processing of backlog or collecting and mounting of new specimens from understudied sites – up to 20 points.
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Securing collections by distribution of duplicates (or orphan collections) to other regional or international herbaria or shipping endangered collections to another herbarium – up to 20 points.
This proposal scores:
/120
Methods & Funding (max. 40 points)
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Match between the proposed budget and methods for the aims described – up to 10 points.
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Perceived need, the extent to which the project will benefit from IAPT funding: e.g., due to active floristic work or contribution to poorly collected sites, due to threatened conditions of collections, and for the degree of involvement of others (outreach and education). We give more points for herbaria in low- and middle-income countries – up to 20 points.
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Sharing duplicate specimens with other herbaria – up to 10 points.
This proposal scores:
/40
Broader Impacts (max. 40 points)
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Degree of regional importance of the collection or the taxonomic importance of the targeted collection – up to 10 points.
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The project will yield durable benefits (specimens, digitized metadata, databases, websites) – up to 15 points.
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The project involves outreach/mentoring and broad dissemination – up to 15 points.
This proposal scores:
/40
Year of last successful SCG application:
Has applicant applied for SCG before?:
Plan:
By this application we aim to buy three new dehumidifiers, each one costs (R$3570, Desumidificador de ar Desidrat D300 - Branco - 220v – Magazine Luiza, price from November 23, 2020, the total amount of US$2000 will be necessary). And this is an emergence for our collection since one of the AC is also broken. There is a currently restriction to buy equipment in most of the public institutions in Brazil, so this opportunity offered by the IAPT would be extremely helpful if concede to us. We aim to buy the equipment as soon as we receive the grant and we will add our personal money to pay the small difference and transportation costs.
The importance of our collection and of the objectives of this proposal can be confirmed by our recent publications:
Versieux, L. M., N. Dávila, G. C. Delgado, V. F. de Sousa, E. O. de Moura, T. Filgueiras, M. V. Alves, E. Carvalho, D. Piotto, R. C. Forzza, A. Calvente, and J. G. Jardim, 2017. Integrative research identifies 71 new plant species records in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) and enhances a small herbarium collection during a funding shortage. PhytoKeys 86: 43–74.
Colombo, B., M. Kaehler, and A. Calvente. 2016. An inventory of the Bignoniaceae from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte highlights the importance of small herbaria to biodiversity studies. Phytotaxa 278: 19–28.
Institution:
IH Code:
Country:
Target areas:
Applicant First Name/s:
email:
"Other" target:
Leonardo Versieux
Applicant Last Name/s: