UH Herbarium receives $83,000 grant from the National Science Foundation

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Will McClatchey, (808) 956-9704
Botany Department
Arlene Abiang, (808) 956-5637
External Affairs & University Relations
Posted: Mar 17, 2005

HONOLULU — The National Science Foundation has awarded an $83,000 grant to Dr. Will McClatchey of the botany department at UH Mānoa to support streamlining and reorganizing of the UH herbarium collections.

UH Mānoa supports two small herbaria — the H. Lyon Arboretum Herbarium and the botany department herbarium. Together, these herbaria contain approximately 42,000 mounted specimens mostly from the Pacific Islands. Specimens include the entire floras, with examples of rare and endangered species, from the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, Tonga and the Marshall Islands.

The reorganization aims to combine both herbaria into one functional unit on the UH Mānoa campus and to maximize workspace through installation of a compact storage system. The grant will also provide support for botanical collection enhancement, computerization of specimen-related data and research to develop better methods for specimen curation and collection management.

Upon completion, students and faculty will benefit from enhanced access to specimens of rare and endangered species, as well as complete floras of various Pacific Islands. The broader impacts include a greater appreciation for the plant species and natural environments by more than 700 students per year who take courses and are involved in research in systematics, ecology, ethnobotany and conservation biology.