Digitization of G.B. Pant University herbarium
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Date
2022-09
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. PIN - 263145
Abstract
Herbaria are the main source of information in plant taxonomy and required in research on
biodiversity, ecology, and evolution. Till a few decades ago a visit to herbarium was essential to utilize this resource but with the advancement of digital technology herbaria are now accessible on the internet. A small herbarium exists in the Department of Biological Sciences, CBSH, Pantnagar but it is not accessible on the internet. The goal of the current study was to digitize this herbarium with limited resources available and to make it accessible through the internet. All the herbarium specimens were family wise arranged following APG IV classification and within family genera and species were arranged in alphabetical order. Information on specimen labels was digitized and a complete catalogue of specimens was prepared. Each species name was checked in Plants of the World Online database for its current systematic position and accepted name. Images of specimens were prepared using a DSLR camera. A website tentatively named as ‘Virtual Herbarium Pantnagar’ was created on Google site tool with 07 main pages and 89 subpages. Resized images of one specimen for each species were uploaded on the subpages dedicated to each seed plant family. Few more images of the same species are also accessible through embedded hyperlinks. Currently accepted name, accession number, collector’s name and links to more specimens were also provided with each image. There are a total 1,342 herbarium sheets stored in the physical herbarium which represent 34 orders, 84 families, 301 genera, 416 species of angiosperms, 01 order, 02 families, 03 genera, 03 species of gymnosperms and 35 voucher specimens. In virtual herbarium 454 images of herbarium specimens are displayed while 365 images are accessible by hyperlinks. Voucher specimen images (35) are displayed on two separate pages under ‘Voucher specimens’. Caryophyllales (204 specimens, 07 families, 34 genera, 64 species), Lamiales (159 specimens, 11 families, 37 genera, 49 species), Poales (92 specimens, 02 families, 36 genera, 48 species) are three largest orders and Asteraceae (123 specimens, 23 genera, 23 species), Fabaceae (118 specimens, 34 genera, 51 species), Caryophyllaceae (110 specimens, 18 genera, 43 species) are three largest represented families in the herbarium. The ‘Virtual Herbarium Pantnagar’ after publication on the internet will make the herbarium accessible globally and it may serve as a template for very small herbaria to display their wealth of herbarium specimens to all interested researchers in the world arena by developing similar databases.