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Small Collections Grant

This page is used to provide assessment scores for each  grant application assigned to you. Please use the rubric below the grant details to enter your assessment scores and any notes you wish to include.
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Digitizing specimens with economic use in a small herbarium in Ecuador: improvement to the Herbarium of Economic Botany of Ecuador (QUSF)

hvaldebenito@usfq.edu.ec

Ecuador

Database, Digitally image

Cost (USD): 

1900

QUSF

Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador

Objective:

The Herbarium of Economic Botany of Ecuador (QUSF) holds 26,200 specimens with over sixty percent of them keeping information on uses and applications of economic value being one of the few herbaria in Ecuador that addresses exclusively this topic. In Ecuador, only 15% of the 20 herbaria have portions of their collections available online. Therefore, we propose as the principal objective to digitize all herbarium specimens and make the data public. Thus, having specimen data easily accessible online will promote sharing of information and foster biodiversity information networks.

Timetable:

- Equipment purchase (the camera will be purchased through Amazon in the US): 2.5 – 3months
- Setting up the equipment: 2 weeks
- Visit QCA and HA herbaria (training on imaging/database): 2 weeks
- Establishment of protocols for the handling of equipment and imaging: 1 month
- Average number of specimens uploaded into the database / 1hr = 25 / 1 student
- We have estimated 13 months in order to complete a 26,000-specimen collection (3 undergraduate students working 10hrs/each/wk)
- Total time to carry out the project = 18 months

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.

  • 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.

  • Curating specimens (e.g., updating families, species identification, identifying types) – up to 20 points.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The project will yield durable benefits (specimens, digitized metadata, databases, websites) – up to 15 points.

  • The project involves outreach/mentoring and broad dissemination – up to 15 points.

This proposal scores:

/40

Proposal

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Year of last successful SCG application:

Has applicant applied for SCG before?:

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Plan:

Digitizing the herbarium will require six steps: (1) organizing all specimens using updated taxonomy and nomenclature, (2) purchasing and setting up an imaging station, (3) imaging each specimen individually and developing efficient imaging protocols, (4) choosing the database template that best fit our project, (5) entering all label information into the database, and (6) combining all data to make it accessible through an online database.
Point 1. We began in January 2019 by organizing the specimens according to the most updated nomenclature using (http://www.worldfloraonline.org/); (http://legacy.tropicos.org/Project/CE);(https://www.tropicos.org/home).
Point 2. We are requesting IAPT funding to set an imaging station (camera + zoom), lights, a color scale ruler, and a copy stand. Our University (IT Department) will provide a computer that will be used for digitization.
Point 3. Images will be captured in JPEG format and Nikon raw formats (.NEF).
Points 4 and 5. Databasing will have two phases: labeling data into de database and uploading the data sets. To maintain the herbarium database label data and georeferencing information online we will use Symbiota and GBIF with Darwin Core fields, linked to our repository in our website. Data will be backed up on a server by our IT Department.
Point 6. To make the records publicly available, we have created our Herbarium website (BiotaEcuador: https://biotaecuador.org/). In addition, we plan to link our data to GBIF.

Institution:

IH Code:

Country:

Target areas:

Applicant First Name/s:

email:

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"Other" target:

Hugo Valdebenito

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Applicant Last Name/s:

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