15. The Evolving Role of California Herbaria in California Botany

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15. The Evolving Role of California Herbaria in California Botany

📅 DateFriday, February 6
📍 AreaHall C
⏰ Time10:00 am – 11:45 am
Video Recording
This session will include presentations about the changing roles of herbaria in the modern era, including (1) mobilization of specimen data, rapid accumulation of genetic data, and contributions to research (2) new educational and outreach opportunities, and (3) innovative ways of enabling conservation efforts.
SESSION CHAIR
Dr. Staci Markos

University and Jepson Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

Dr. Staci Markos
University and Jepson Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Staci Markos is Associate Director of The University and Jepson Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work focuses on the protection and understanding of California’s native flora by advancing botanical research, education, and conservation through partnerships and statewide collaborations, including the Jepson eFlora and the Consortium of California Herbaria. She also plays a key role in the Jepson Workshop Program, Jepson Videos, and Jepson virtual mini-workshops—public programs aimed at making scientific resources accessible to a broad audience.

15.1 The Evolving, Fundamental Importance of Herbaria to California Floristics

Bruce G. Baldwin

University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States

Description
Willis Linn Jepson’s life-long contributions to California floristics demonstrated his commitment to the primacy of collections and herbarium specimens.  Patterns of variation that Jepson perceived from field work and collecting throughout the state informed his taxonomic concepts and allowed him to produce the first comprehensive, single-volume field manual to California’s vascular plants a century ago.  Jepson’s A Manual of the Flowering Plants of California (1925) earned its place as the primary floristic reference in the state for >30 years and was ground-breaking in its focus on patterns of endemism and geographic distribution in the California flora.  Jepson’s collections would become the nucleus of the Jepson Herbarium, established shortly after his death.  He stated that these collections would be his most important legacy, more so than his floristic works, although he could not predict the far-reaching impact of his students on the future of California botany.  In celebrating the Jepson Herbarium’s 75th anniversary, we consider the diverse ways that the herbarium and others throughout California have nurtured understanding of California’s flora. Collaborations, partnerships, and mentorship within and between herbaria have facilitated rapid progress in discovering and comprehending California’s plant diversity at a time when environmental degradation threatens that biodiversity ever more acutely. Further investment in the growth of California herbaria and the development and integration of electronic floristic resources such as the Jepson eFlora remain critical to facilitating communication and education on California’s endangered native flora, thereby ensuring that native plant research and conservation are well-informed to meet the challenges ahead.
Presenter Bios
Bruce G. Baldwin
University of California, Berkeley
Bruce is Professor and Curator Emeritus of the Jepson Herbarium and Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. He has served as Convening Editor of the Jepson Flora Project since 1994.

15.2 Herbaria as a Hub for Botanical Education and Community

Nina M. House, Dr. Staci Markos, Dr. Jason Alexander, Dr. Bruce G. Baldwin

University & Jepson Herbaria, Berkeley, CA, United States

Description
Through collaborative projects including the Jepson eFlora, the Jepson Public Programs, and the Consortium of California Herbaria, the Jepson Herbarium serves as a hub for botanical education and community. The interaction among these three programs allows for a unique synergy between taxonomists, ecologists, herbarium professionals, and everyone interested in the California flora.

This presentation will include the history of the Jepson Public Programs, with particular emphasis on our workshop series and new outreach initiatives that serve as a bridge between the scientific community and the public. We will explore how these programs, alongside the Consortium of California Herbaria, have supported the development and ongoing refinement of the Jepson eFlora, creating a forum for taxonomic experts, professional botanists, and enthusiasts to exchange information on identification, taxonomy, nomenclature, and distributional data. Finally, we will discuss the important role that these three resources have played in advancing research, fostering community, enabling conservation, and providing innovative educational opportunities.
Presenter Bios
Nina M. House
University & Jepson Herbaria
Nina House is the Managing Editor of the Jepson eFlora and a co-coordinator of the Jepson Public Programs at the University & Jepson Herbaria. She obtained a Master's Degree in Botany from California Botanic Garden. Her thesis was a vascular flora of the Manter and Salmon Creek watersheds, located in Tulare County, California.

15.3 Integrating Herbarium Specimen Data into State Conservation Planning Efforts

Katie Ferguson1, Melanie Gogol-Prokurat1, Raffica La Rosa2, Rachelle Boul3

1California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), California Natural Diversity Database, Sacramento, CA, United States. 2CDFW, Native Plant Program, Sacramento, CA, United States. 3CDFW, Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program, Sacramento, CA, United States

Description
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) uses herbarium specimen data to inform maps and information used in conservation decision-making. The CCH specimen database is an essential data source for the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) and the Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program (VegCAMP) to assist with mapping occurrence locations of California’s imperiled species and natural communities, respectively. The data is in turn used to inform plant species and natural communities rarity ranks, and rare plant status reviews, which are used to assess imperilment and inform conservation actions. The data is also incorporated into other conservation data products such as Areas of Conservation Emphasis maps, which are used to help identify important biodiversity areas in the state and are used in various conservation planning efforts, including CA Nature, the mapping component of California’s 30 x 30 initiative.

To contribute to the further development of CCH data, we have several projects in progress to 1) collect herbarium specimens throughout the state during vegetation field work; 2) assist in resolving “yellow flags”, herbarium specimens with questions about mapped locations; and 3) image rare plant voucher specimens to make them readily available online. We will describe the work we are doing to contribute to herbarium science, and uses of voucher specimen data in state products.
Presenter Bios
Katie Ferguson
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), California Natural Diversity Database
Katie Ferguson is a botanist with the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) and spends the majority of her time maintaining rare plant species information, updating rare plant occurrences, and answering questions from CNDDB users. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Horticulture and Urban Forestry from UC Davis. Since joining the CNDDB as a botanist in 2009, she has assisted in rare plant surveys and monitoring populations of state listed species on CA Department of Fish and Wildlife lands.

15.4 The Research Uses of Herbaria, with Examples from California Vascular Plants and Bryophytes

Dr. Brent D. Mishler

University and Jepson Herbaria; Department of Integrative Biology; University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States

Description
There is an ever-increasing number of research uses of herbaria, often unanticipated by the original collector of a specimen. Digitization is rapidly making specimen data available to scientists and the public, via increasingly advanced bioinformatics.

Natural history collections are the nexus where all biodiversity science comes together. Specimens are essential DNA vouchers; fundamental phylogenetic, geographic, evolutionary, and ecological data points; sole resolvers of taxonomic issues; and primary evidence for global change and other human-caused environmental modifications.

A few selected applications include: climate change modeling, mapping historical habitats and landscapes, tracking the introduction of pathogens and invasive species, phenology changes through time, identification of previously undescribed taxa, and studies of community ecology, population genetics, and biogeography.

I will illustrate one exciting area of application: the developing field of spatial phylogenetics, which integrates genetic data (via a phylogeny) and spatial data, turning the tree of life into a GIS layer. This adds a phylogenetic dimension to biodiversity assessment and thus an evolutionary depth to spatial inferences about diversity, endemism, and their causes, as well as to applied conservation assessments.

I present two spatial phylogenetic studies of the California flora using data from the Consortium of California Herbaria: vascular plants and bryophytes. For both we calculated phylogenetic diversity and related metrics, applied significance tests based on spatial randomizations, looked at phylo-turnover, and applied an algorithm that prioritizes areas for conservation using a complementarity criterion. I will conclude by comparing results of the two studies, and their implications for ecology, biogeography, and conservation.
Presenter Bios
Dr. Brent D. Mishler
University and Jepson Herbaria
Brent D. Mishler is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Integrative Biology and former Director of the University and Jepson Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught island biology, biodiversity, botany, evolution, and phylogenetic analysis. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1984. His research interests are in the ecology and evolutionary biology of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), as well as the theory of phylogenetic systematics. He has been heavily involved in developing electronic resources to present taxonomic and distributional information about plants to the public, with applications to conservation concerns. He has most recently been involved in developing new “spatial phylogenetic” tools for studying biodiversity and endemism using large-scale phylogenies and collection data in a geographic and statistical framework. He is author of over 200 scientific papers.

15.5 From Pressed Plants to Conservation Action: Leveraging Herbarium Data to Prevent Extinction

Dr. Wesley M. Knapp, Tina Stanley, Shannon Fowler

Center for Plant Conservation, Escondido, CA, United States

Description
Herbarium data (often from the Jepson Herbarium itself) guides our work at the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), the national hub for a network of 83 botanical institutions driven to save plants from extinction in the U.S. and Canada. Analyzing historical records of extinct plants reveals patterns in rarity, threats, and habitat change that inform present-day conservation and mitigation strategies. This led to the Plants of One Known Occurrence project, which uses specimen records to identify species known from a single location, focusing attention on those at the most significant risk of extinction. By linking these records to field surveys and bringing in ex situ conservation methods, CPC and its partners can intervene before these species vanish. Similarly, California, with its exceptional plant diversity and many narrow endemics, is especially reliant on historical collections. These specimens allow us to detect geographic trends, track phenological change, and guide recovery efforts, often using records that predate formal monitoring by decades.

As we confront accelerating biodiversity loss, the Jepson Herbarium’s legacy reminds us that herbaria are not just archives of the past; they are vital tools for shaping a future in which California’s unique flora endures.
Presenter Bios
Dr. Wesley M. Knapp
Center for Plant Conservation
Dr. Wesley Knapp is a lifelong plant conservationist and the new CEO at the Center for Plant Conservation. Wes worked as a field botanist for the Maryland and North Carolina Natural Heritage Programs for 20 years before becoming Chief Botanist at NatureServe for five years. Wes's work has been aimed at identifying and preventing plant extinction by prioritizing conservation action. Wes's expertise and drive are a perfect match for the Center for Plant Conservation and the 81 CPC Partnering Institutions that now touch three continents.

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