1. The Macroalgal Herbarium Consortium Accessing 150 Years of Specimen Data to Understand Changes in the Marine/Aquatic Environment Janet Sullivan and Chris Neefus University of New Hampshire Consortium of Northeastern Herbaria meeting Montréal, June 2014

2. Eukaryota Tree of Life (Bauldauf 2003) four divisions in two kingdoms What are Macroalgae?

3. Rhodophyta (Red Algae) - 6,300 species in 10 orders Chlorophyta (Green Algae) - 4,300 species in 15 orders Charophyta - 3,500 species in 8 orders Phaeophyta (Brown Algae) - 2,000 species in 18 orders

4. How are they important? Foundation of aquatic ecosystems – provide food, shelter and substrate for other organisms Maintain nutrient balance in aquatic ecosystem and produce oxygen $7.4 billion industry as human food, phycocolloids, pharmaceuticals Sensitive indicator of environmental changes in aquatic ecosystems Photographs by Robert Lücking

5. What is the Macroalgal Herbarium Consortium? 49 institutions in 26 states and U.S. possessions 1.2 million specimens in collections ranging from 100 to 200,000 Project goal is to digitize (image, database, georeference) all of them

6. Macroalgal Consortium Herbaria Red = 6 PDCs Yellow = 12 DCs Blue = 31 CIs

7. Workflow – Step 1 Any pre-digitization curation Barcode placement Step 1 – Any pre- digitization curation accomplished Step 2 – Specimen is barcoded and skeletal label data captured in an Excel file (or.csv) Step 3 - High resolution image captured Step 4 - Image and label data uploaded to MHC Portal Step 5 – Additional label data transcribed from within the portal Step 6 – Specimens georeferenced from within the portal

8. Step 1 – Any pre-digitization curation accomplished Step 2 – Specimen is barcoded and skeletal label data captured in an Excel file (or.csv) Step 3 - High resolution image captured Step 4 - Image and label data uploaded to MHC Portal Step 5 – Additional label data transcribed from within the portal Step 6 – Specimens georeferenced from within the portal Workflow – Step 2 Skeletal label data captured in Excel or.csv file

9. Workflow – Step 3 High-Resolution Image Captured Lightbox/copystand 21 to 36 megapixel camera Camera Control Software Adobe Lightroom (white balance, tone curve adjustment,.jpg &.dng export) http://macroalgae.unh.edu

10. Workflow – Step 4 Image and label data uploaded to portal (http://macroalgae.org)

11. Family classifications and authors from AlgaeBase via WoRMS

12. Additional label data transcribed from within the portal Workflow – Step 5

13. Workflow – Step 6 Specimens are georeferenced from within the portal

14. Information Sharing 1.Data portal – http://macroalgae.org 2.Consortium Website – http://macroalgae.unh.edu

15. 1.Undergraduate and Graduate Student Participation Training in Imaging, Data Transcription, Georeferencing Research Opportunities 2. Internships at NY Botanical Garden and Field Museum 3. Exhibits and Programs Field Museum (650,000 visitors) Bishop Museum (450,000 visitors) Broader Impacts of the Project

16. Systematics Floristic Diversity and Biogeography Historical Comparisons  Assessing human impact on coastal environments  Assessing the impact of climate change on species distribution  Tracking introduced and invasive species 4. Research Applications

17. Acknowledgments and Ed Gilbert, lead developer of Symbiota This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number (NSF Grant Number:1304924) Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.