The primary scientific data resource for the flora of
any area is present in regional herbaria in the form of plant specimens
and data present on specimen labels. This documented sample of the
state flora, initiated in the mid-1800s, includes an estimated 1,000,000
specimens housed in Texas herbaria.
The "Herbarim Specimen Browser" system is under development
to provide the user a single portal through which information from multiple
sources can be viewed directly, as text returns from label data, or graphically,
as maps depicting species distributions or patterns of diveristy via color
coding. Version
1 of this system, now archived, established a 'build' protocol
to manage multiple data sets, a user interface, and unique mapped visualization
systems. See Schneider,
et
al., 1998 for an overview of the initial system. Work
with the current version of this system is centered on automation of the
data contribution/updating process. When this work is completed,
contributing herbaria will be able to transfer updated files and update
the system from home workstations through a web interface. Local
specimen data files are currently produced by herbarium data input systems
that are unique to a given herbarium or available on line (Tracy,
Specify).
Mapped visualization options are also being extended to provide a view
of Texas plants in context, i.e., inclusion of maps depicting Texas and
adjacent U.S. states at the county level and North America at the State/Provice
level.
