In the 2012 President's Budget Request, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is terminated. As a result, all resources, databases, tools, and applications within this web site will be removed on January 15, 2012. For more information, please refer to the NBII Program Termination page.
"A central annotated index of biodiversity collections from around the world. The Biodiversity Collections Index (BCI) is a community-driven, open-access project initiated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) through a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed in December, 2007. The objective of the MoC is to develop infrastructure that can be used by the natural history and collections community worldwide, freely and openly, to contribute towards discovery, access and use of biodiversity collections."
From genetic and molecular level, to field techniques including visual inspection, taste, touch, and other physical measures, plant identification provides an exciting and interesting challenge to botanists all over the world. Search the pages in this section for online interactive keys, image galleries, and other plant identification tools. The pages on the left, list just some of the tools and technologies available on the Internet for plant identification. If you know of an online plant identification tool that should be listed in this section please send an email to Elizabeth Sellers (esellers@usgs.gov).
The HERBARIA Listserv Building and sustaining a broad basis of support for herbaria.
Maintaining support for herbaria and keeping them relevant in academia and society has long been problematic, but the pressures are increasing in the current environment. Most of those who manage herbaria are challenged with a full roster of duties besides those directly related to the herbarium, and therefore don't have time to be full-time fundraisers, public relations gurus, or field-trip leaders. Yet to have a successful program, these are among the many hats that herbarium managers are expected to wear.
Because of the increasing pressures on herbaria, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) is sponsoring this mailing list for sharing ideas and experiences relating to herbarium development and management.
