Starting in 2010, the Herbarium began to digitize our specimens – that is, to build detailed database records of specimen label data and add high-resolution photos of the specimens themselves. Digitized specimens are far more widely available, easily accessed, and highly searchable, which opens a broad range of new uses for research and conservation.
Our digitized specimens can be found at the following search portals
Vascular Plants: Consortium of Great Plains Herbaria
Bryophytes: Consortium of Bryophyte Herbaria
Lichens: Consortium of Lichen Herbaria
Fungi: Mycology Collections Portal (MyCoPortal)
History of Digitization Projects
Vascular Plant Digitization Projects (2010-present)
Our vascular-plant digitization efforts began in 2010 with the Tri-Trophic Project, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded multi-institutional grant to digitize plant and insect specimens. The project sought to improve the study of tri-trophic interactions: the ecological interplay between plants, the herbivorous insects that eat them, and the parasitoid insects that use and prey on the herbivores.
Lichen and Bryophyte Digitization Projects (ca. 2017-2021)
Dr. Jim Colbert (now professor emeritus) and the students in his Lichens and Bryophytes class digitized the label data of over 6700 lichen and nearly 40,000 bryophyte specimens, which was uploaded to the corresponding consortium websites. The project ended only when Dr. Colbert retired in 2021.
Fungal Digitization Projects (ca. 2013-2018)
All fungi held by ISC through 2018 were digitized as part of the Mycology Collections Portal Project. MyCoPortal currently holds over 61,000 digital specimens of fungi from 361 families and over 13,000 species.