Elspeth Haston, Robyn Drinkwater, Robert Cubey & Ruth Monfries How can we release biodiversity data from herbarium specimens for climate change research? Elspeth Haston, Robyn Drinkwater, Robert Cubey & Ruth Monfries

Introduction Pressed & dried plant material mounted on board Data are held on the sheets Estimated 350 million specimens in worlds herbaria Collection of preserved specimens – pressed & dried plant material mounted on board. Estimated 350 million specimens in worlds herbaria. Data is held on the sheets – this ranges in quality

RBGE Herbarium 3 million specimens 1697-present day Databasing since 2000 24% databased Imaging since 2004 10% imaged

Rapid entry workflow 2. Assign unique identifier (eg attach barcode) 3. Initial minimal data capture 1. Minimal curation 4. Image specimen (camera or scanner) Developing workflows to increase efficiency 6. Additional data entry 5. OCR

Data is sent out to multiple aggregators….

Where are our specimens from? Few long-term study sites for phenology. Herbarium specimens can extend the time period for observing trends and increase the number of data points This is the distribution of our currently databased specimens, and the time period they cover. This is just from our herbarium, and it’s not all of it! Taking our imaged specimens alone that’s 10% of our herbarium, which is 1% of the global number of specimens.

Locality data Lat/long – last 20 years this has been fairly consistent Prior to this depended on collector Fit lat/long to older specimens Various tools are being to developed to help with this. A lot of different data are included on specimens. This can vary from being very minimal to very verbose. Locality data can be difficult for older specimens – sometimes only country level is included. It is only more recently that Lat/long has been consistently used, so we often need to try and ‘retrofit’ this to a specimen. Tools are being developed to help with this. E.g. we have worked with Edinburgh Uni to develop tool for UK georeferencing

Depending on the scale of the study , the level of precision/accuracy needed will differ. Depending on the age of the specimen the amount of locailty information included on the label will vary. Depending on what studies require, we can work out lat/longs for specimens where a locality is provided. BUT where we can’t the specimen may still be useful – it just depends on the scale of the study.

Vouchered collection – ID can be checked and verified A lot of climate data are based on observation. We feel that herbarium specimens have a role too.

? Taxonomically maintained

Various characters can be studied: Phenology Stomatal density Leaf morphology Phenology – need to be aware that there can be noise in these data. If we have enough specimens can this add signal to the noise?

Offer a long history – can fill historic gaps in data collection for analysis of trends etc. – are trends from observations/phenological recording consistent with trends identified from herbarium data? Can be used to complement observational data, by extending time period for identifying trends, and by increasing the number of data points – few phenology projects cover a sufficiently long timescale to be useful for identifying effects of climate change second, independent data source

Studies at RBGE Started after Robbirt et al 2010 paper Looked at Ophrys sphegodes in collection here. Correlated with papers findings Followed up by study of UK Saxifraga hypnoides Databased Georeferenced Phenology scored Results analysed based on Central England temperature

Considerations Is there a standardised way to score characters? Different taxonomic groups Infloresence types For collaborative studies – to ensure consistent scoring between individuals Different taxonomic groups Different infloresence types Do they exist? If so where? If not they need to be created and made available

Considerations Currently hold data in our central database In our central database – but not available through our website - Is there a central repository for this information? – TDWG group looking at adding trait data to EoL, or these sorts of phenological data suited for here?

Considerations How precise does the georeferencing need to be? What level of precision is needed for locality? What is the trend in current research? Do we need to invest the time/money to provide a precise location, or is knowing the country enough? Is this something we could tackle gradually? Start by making sure we have a country available for all our data, then work through refining this by adding province etc. In trial at RBGE found that the climate point we used was Central England Temeprature Locality below Country was not needed Do we need locality to be more refined?

Considerations Should we be targeting certain groups? Key indicator species Most vulnerable e.g. high montane species Easily identified species Key indicator species Most vulnerable e.g. high montane species Easily identified species – reducing the need for specialist input and therefore speeding up the process Those that show a close correlation to climate change? E.g. spring flowering with a short flowering period? Saxifraga hypnoides Dionysia archibaldii Urtica dioica

Robyn Drinkwater (Digitisation): r.drinkwater@rbge.org.uk Elspeth Haston (Deputy Curator): e.haston@rbge.org.uk Rob Cubey (Plant Records Officer): r.cubey@rbge.org.uk Ruth Monfries (Climate Change Officer): r.monfries@rbge.org.uk