Digitizing Engelmann’s Legacy:
Chris FreelandDirector, Center for Biodiversity InformaticsMissouri Botanical Garden
Mapping Plant Specimens that Document the Great American Frontier
ESRI Education User Conference – July 13, 2010 – San Diego, CA
http://www.tropicos.org/Project/Engelmann
Project objectives
• Select, database & image 8,000herbarium specimens frompioneering expeditions into theAmerican frontier
• Digitize 100 volumes of fieldliterature
• Integrate geospatial analysis tools into Tropicos (http://www.tropicos.org)
• Make all data openly available at http://www.tropicos.org/project/engelmann
Agave wislizenii Engelm.
• Founded by Henry Shaw • Opened to the public in 1859• Public display + education + science
MOBOT: Then
MOBOT Science: Now
MOBOT Science: Then
George Engelmann Asa Gray Wm. Jackson Hooker
George Engelmann (1809 – 1884)
• Physician & amateur botanist• Founder of St. Louis Academy of Sciences• Founding member of National Academy of Sciences
Thanks, Wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Engelmann
US botanical exploration post-Lewis & Clark
Josiah Gregg
FreidrichWislizenus
FerdinandLindheimer
St. Louis: Gateway to the West
? X
Engelmannmore
…
Heuchera sanguinea Engelm.
Plant specimens document occurrence
Collection Information
Collectors: A. Wislizenus
Collection Number: 210
Collection Date: 06 October 1846
Location: Mexico, Chihuahua
Elevation: 7,000 ft
Description: Crimson flower
Locality: Mountains, rocks, at Llanos near Cosiquiriachi.
Data origin & annotation over time
^ 2.Herbarium label: synthesized data
< 1.Field label: origin of data
^ 3.Annotation: locality
4.Annotation: revision >
Data Storage: Tropicos.orghttp://www.tropicos.org/Specimen/1700971
Tropicos: http://www.tropicos.org
• MOBOT’s botanical information system– 3.8 million specimen records– 1.2 million plant names– 98,000 collectors / authors– 140,000 images
• Maps via ESRI tools & other technologies…
– ArcIMS in 2000, just recently taken offline– ArcGIS Server 9.3 & JavaScript API in 2009-2010
http://www.tropicos.org/project/engelmann
http://www.tropicos.org/project/engelmann
http://www.tropicos.org/project/engelmann
Geocoding legacy collections = hard, skilled work
< Geocode? Read??
Field notebooks & historic printed literature can help
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/91553
Neat-o! But…why is this important??
• First documented occurrence of plant species in the American frontier– Westward expansion brought invasive plants,
habitat loss, other pressures on native plants
• Base data for secondary analyses– Can do things with the data after “unlocking”
them from physical storage
• American scientific & cultural heritage
These specimens represent:
Heuchera sanguinea = Coral bells
Common Name: coral bellsZone: 3 to 9 Plant Type: Herbaceous perennialFamily: SaxifragaceaeNative Range: Western United StatesHeight: 1 to 1.5 feet
Acknowledgements• ESRI• Institute of Museum & Library Services• Tropicos Development team:
Jay Paige, Heather Stimmel, Craig Geil• MOBOT Herbarium staff• MOBOT Library & Archives staff
• Botanists, scientists, students, explorers• And of course, George Engelmann!
Links & Resources
• Engelmann Project: http://www.tropicos.org/project/engelmann
• Tropicos: http://www.tropicos.org
• Biodiversity Heritage Library:http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
• Missouri Botanical Garden:http://www.mobot.org
• MOBOT Images:http://www.mobot.org/mobot/archiveshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/mbgarchives
Thanks! Questions?
Chris FreelandDirector, Center for Biodiversity InformaticsMissouri Botanical Garden
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @chrisfreeland
Blog / info: chrisfreeland.com
Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/
http://www.tropicos.org/Project/Engelmann
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