The SANParks Herbarium Digitisation Project
Recently, there has been a drive within SANParks for a more formal approach towards managing biodiversity data. In February 2022, a few scientists gathered in Skukuza to discuss approaches to managing parts of this process. It was decided to migrate herbarium data onto the national BRAHMS data system
Why digitise herbarium collections?
Scientific publications that use plant specimen data must be able to trace back to an actual voucher specimen to verify species identification. In addition, records housed in herbaria have proven to be essential resources for documenting biodiversity and assessing distributions over time and space. Hence, the data is important for conservation, education, research and public service. Technology has enabled herbaria to make use of platforms to link specimens and their associated data virtually, enhancing the accessibility of invaluable data.
Ikakeng and Vanessa at the Godox Lightbox used for imaging specimens
Skukuza reference collection
The planning stages of the Skukuza Herbarium Digitisation Project began in 2022. The project entails barcoding and imaging of 16 000 pressed plant specimens that are housed in the Skukuza Herbarium facility. The implementation of such an enormous project required a substantial amount of funding to purchase the necessary equipment for the initial set-up. The KZN and Bankenveld Honorary Rangers assisted greatly with the necessary equipment while the Natural Science Collection Facility (NSCF) provided digitisation training (and later assistance).
Garden Route National Park herbarium
The Garden Route National Park herbarium was started in 1998 at the then Knysna Forestry offices, with 60 specimens received from the closed-down Saasveld Herbarium. The herbarium was moved to SANParks when indigenous State Forests and forestry personnel were transferred to SANParks. Small collections from the then separate Wilderness and Tsitsikamma National Parks , as well as ongoing field collections have expanded the specimen number to 3453 specimens by 2023.
It was clear that digitising this herbarium data was not a “one-man or -woman job” and the Garden Route National Park Honorary Rangers were approached for assistance. Their wonderful can-do approach led to eight individuals starting and, as time passed, two and sometimes three people worked on this. The husband-and-wife team of Paul and Bets Kerr did the bulk of the work (441 out of 540 hours!), finishing in late May 2023. Missing data will now be added and then the final step of uploading to BRAHMS will be carried out later this year.
There are currently 1452 indigenous species in the herbarium, totalling 3457 vouchers. Of all species in the herbarium, two Erica species have 18 collections each, 725 species were collected only once, all the other species have 2 or more specimens.
The digitisation team hard at work barcoding specimens in the Skukuza Herbarium. Left to Right: Nokwanda Chauke, Ikakeng Olifant and Venessa Motlale. The digitisation process has five steps; pre-curation digitisation, imaging, import images into Lightroom Classic, editing of images, export images to external harddrive and cloud.
What is the end goal?
High-quality images with associated bio-ecological data will eventually be available on a national database. The digitisation process is integral to the longevity and legacy of the specimens. Digitising the specimens will ensure that researchers throughout the globe are able to access the data which will enable to answering of important scientific questions. Students and the public will have access to the data, and the specimens will be viable for a longer period as they will not need to be handled as often when high-quality images are available.
This article was originally published in the 2022/2023 Research Report.
