Digitization PEN: Digitization of North American Bryophyte and Lichen Specimens from Florida Herbaria

Project Summary

This award joins the ongoing Thematic Collections Network project on North American Lichens and Bryophytes: Sensitive Indicators of Environmental Quality and Change. In this Network, individual projects provide extensive documentation on the role of bryophytes and lichens in ecosystems, groups known to be sensitive to the immediate microhabitat and to environmental changes of many kinds, both physical and chemical, and which respond rapidly to such changes. Bryophytes and lichens have been featured in studies of acid rain, climate warming or drying, grazing pressure, water quality, and ecological continuity. The addition of specimen data from Florida herbaria to the ongoing TCN Lichen/Bryophyte database will significantly enhance holdings from Florida. Additionally, models developed from these digitized data will aid future mapping projections of large scale species distributions and identification of biodiversity hotspots as prime candidates for protection. The environment in Florida is experiencing rapid change due to development and climate change. These data will help to elucidate regions where changes are imminent and likely to have substantial impact in Florida. The data will also facilitate proactive initiatives to alleviate such changes. Florida includes subtropical and tropical communities, contrasting with the temperate and boreal communities represented in more northern herbaria that are part of the Network.

Current Research

Not available at this time

Project Leadership

Project Sponsor: University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History

Principal Investigator (PI): Norris Williams

NSF Award Number

1206394

Project Website

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/mossesinflas/

Project Collaborators

Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden
University of Central Florida
University of Florida, Florida Natural History Museum
University of South Florida
University of West Florida