Small Collections Grant
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Mounting vulnerable specimens of the historical collections in the Thessaloniki Aristotle University (TAU) Herbarium (Greece)
Greece
Conserve
Cost (USD):
2000
TAU
Lab. of Systematic Botany and Phytogeography, Department of Botany, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Objective:
Mounting of c. 1000 specimens dating back to the early 20th century. Among them are Zaganiaris’ collections, survived WWII and kept only in TAU. It is notable that Zaganiaris’ published records are so far treated with reservations by many researchers, as the existence of specimens substantiating them was not known. Our objective is to mount or remount the most vulnerable specimens, in order to ensure their preservation and conservation and to enhance their accessibility from the scientific community
Timetable:
April 2022 (week 1 to 4) - May 2022 (week 1 to 4): Mounting of c. 1000 specimens of the historical collections
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:
In our up-to-date of work (part of which has been funded by IAPT) c. 4000 historical specimens have been catalogued, annotated, georeferenced and their nomenclature has been updated. All data have been uploaded into Specify 6 software, while the imaging of around 25% of the specimens has been completed. These specimens mainly belong to Zaganiaris’ rare collections. D. N. Zaganiaris (1901-1940), the founder of TAU, collected more that 4.000 specimens, many of them from unexplored areas, especially in N Greece. Part of his collections was destroyed during WWII, while the rest were forgotten in TAU’s cupboards. Recently we have located at least 2.000 specimens for which no duplicata exist in other Herbaria. However, as a result of Zaganiaris’ early death, many of these specimens are not mounted, while the mounting material of others is almost destroyed. Thus, their handling is highly problematic, while imaging is impossible. Our main objective is the mounting of these rare specimens in order to save them from destruction and enhance their interoperability. The main problem of the TAU Herbarium is the lack of trained personnel with full and exclusive employment to accomplish the above objective. We intend to use the funding requested, to employ one already trained postgraduate collaborator for the specimens’ mounting, as well as to procure mounting material if necessary. The employee will be supervised and guided by two professors during the course of this work
Institution:
IH Code:
Country:
Target areas:
Applicant First Name/s:
email:
"Other" target:
Regina Karousou
Applicant Last Name/s: