#herbarium curator

[gaynaturalistghost]

I got a job at an herbarium! Which means I have a 7 foot tall cabinet of mosses to go go through. Right now I’m just putting mosses into archival paper packets instead of the paper bags, newspaper, envelopes etc they were collected in. Favorite location has been “one block from the Masonic temple”.

The first 6 things I pulled out were not mosses.

[botanyshitposts]

hey, is anybody here an herbarium curator/someone who works at an herbarium? and how did you get there? did you go for a masters’ degree?

[wellenklavier]

auughh i want to do too many things theres not enough hours in the day or dollars in my bank account

[arrozaurus]

The New York Botanical Garden, located on 250 acres across from the Bronx Zoo, possesses the largest herbarium anywhere outside of Europe. Among its treasures are wildflower specimens gathered on Captain Cook’s 1769 Pacific wanderings, and a shred of moss from Tierra del Fuego, with accompanying notes written in watery black ink and signed by its collector, C. Darwin. Most remarkable, though, is the NYBG’s 40-acre tract of original, old-growth, virgin New York forest, never logged.

Never cut, but mightily changed. Until only recently, it was known as the Hemlock Forest for its shady stands of that graceful conifer, but almost every hemlock here is now dead, slain by a Japanese insect smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, which arrived in New York in the mid-1980s. The oldest and biggest oaks, dating back to when this forest was British, are also crashing down, their vigor sapped by acid rain and heavy metals such as lead from automobile and factory fumes, which have soaked into the soil. It’s unlikely that they’ll come back, because most canopy trees here long ago stopped regenerating. Every resident native species now harbors its own pathogen: some fungus, insect, or disease that seizes the opportunity to ravish trees weakened by chemical onslaught. As if that weren’t enough, as the NYBG forest became an island of greenery surrounded by hundreds of square miles of gray urbanity, it became the primary refuge for Bronx squirrels. With natural predators gone and no hunting permitted, there’s nothing to stop them from devouring every acorn or hickory nut before it can germinate. Which they do.

There is now an eight-decade gap in this old forest’s understory. Instead of new generations of native oaks, maple, ash, birch, sycamore and tulip trees, what’s mainly growing are imported ornamentals that have blown in from the rest of the Bronx. Soil samplings indicate some 20 million ailanthus seeds sprouting here. According to Chuck Peters, curator of the NYBG’s Institute of Economic Botany, exotics such as ailanthus and cork trees, both from China, now account for more than a quarter of this forest.

“Some people want to put the forest back the way it was 200 years ago,” he says. “To do that, I tell them, you’ve got to put the Bronx back the way it was 200 years ago.”

—The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

[mossinformed]

Are you a fan of moss? Want to find out what Bryophytes even are? Well, here’s a link to 5 books published by the author for free, no paywall and no sign-up necessary! You can even view in the browser. And there’s cute pics :-o

“Bryophyte Ecology is an ebook comprised of 5 volumes written by Janice Glime, Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences at Michigan Technological University. Chapter coauthors include Irene Bisang, S. Robbert Gradstein, J. Lissner, W. J. Boelema, and D. H. Wagner. If you are a returning visitor, be sure to refresh your browser in case there have been recent updates.”

Want to curl up in the moss and never come out? Garden your own, make art, close a wound, or make human proteins by genetically engineering moss?

Why are bog bodies preserved so well? Sphagnum occupies 1/3 of the land on our planet, where can you see some? Mosses can be dead and alive (and another secret third thing).

What are mosses, why are they so much weirder than you thought?

Mosses, fish, frogs, slugs (and more!) and a checklist of bryophyte-dwelling salamanders just in case.

What you can do for mosses, how to curate your own archive, collect, identify and donate them to an herbarium so mosses can be protected! Seriously, you can’t get more mosscore than that.

Once I ID the specimen in this photo I’ll add the name : )

[thebashfulbotanist]

Hello! I was wondering if you could you talk a little about types of careers that have to do with botany, ecology, ethnobotany, etc? I do native plant landscaping and love it but I don't think it's a long-term option because it's hard on the body. I'm wondering what I can do next but my undergrad isn't related to any of this. What are some examples of jobs and what experience/degrees do they require? Are there options outside of academia? Thank you!

This is a tough question - both of us took the academic track in botany initially, and one of us is still a botanist! A lot of ecology/biology/botany jobs do want some sort of degree, although for some positions a general biology B.S. or even an associate's degree will work.

However, you have some experience with native plants from your current job, so it's possible you might be able to find something related to native plant ecology. You might potentially look into wetland delineation or a similar industry job that involves knowledge of native plants. There are a number of other ecology jobs related to botany in industry that you might be able to pursue with your experience, although they might be fairly entry-level. Friends of mine without a deep background in academia have gone into pathogen identification at plant nurseries and seed identification for independent laboratories that test nursery stock.

If you have experience with GIS programs, such as QGIS and ArcGIS, you may be able to find a GIS-related role at a university or botanical garden, too.

Volunteering can be a good way to network, although in our opinion, a lot of the best volunteer opportunities will be through academia. Botany labs and herbaria often have trouble finding volunteers, because quite simply, there are a lot of "sexier" volunteer opportunities offered by large carnivore research teams! Who doesn't want to collar grey wolves, after all?! University volunteer programs frequently email job listings to volunteer mailing lists, and if you participate in group activities, other volunteers, professors, and herbarium curators might have some job opportunity tips as well.

We also won't discount the option to go back into academia and get a master's degree or doctorate, too. We'd suggest volunteering in tandem, because this can be a great way to get really powerful references if you don't have any in the field already. If you do this, be sure to tour the universities and meet one-on-one with the advisor and program members you'd be working with. Unfortunately, if you're in the United States, studying for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) can be rather tedious, the test itself is expensive, and academic job simply do not way well, so we understand why someone would avoid this route.

We would advise staying away from bushcraft and herbalism. There's a lot of pseudoscience and overexploitation of plants occurring in these practices right now.

[botanizing]

Questions for anyone who's worked in a lichen herbarium: how are the specimens organized and how are they stored?

Where I work currently they're sorted alphabetically by family (and then alphabetically by genus and species within each family). And the specimens are in packets stapled onto herbarium sheets (like the kind you use for vascular plants) and the sheets are in folders (again like the vasculars). I hadn't really questioned any of this since it's the only place I've done herbarium work, but then I was reading something about lichens being normally sorted only by genus and not family and putting the packets in boxes and so now what I want to know is, have the curators here been doing it wrong this whole time?

[mirellabruno]

“Herbarium” by Stig Lindberg in white wallpaper by Boråstapeter

Originally designed by Stig Lindberg in 1947, this pattern is still as popular as ever. One colourway that now has iconic status is the white  variant, which had not previously existed, and was specifically created  by Madeleine Sidemo as part of the process of realising the design as   wallpaper. This variant is still sold and is also printed on textiles. Madeleine  Sidemo describes the project as an exciting, instructive journey in  which they had the opportunity to curate the design legacy of one of  Sweden’s most acclaimed designers as wallpaper.

Source: borastapeter.com

stig lindberg

swedish design.

[itsabear]

I love how PHD professors are just big nerds who have worn their fixation on their shirt for such a long time. If you email one with a genuine and polite question, you can generally get a good answer back from them. Even if you don't go to their school.

I emailed a Doctor of fungi today about how to encourage local mushroom growth, because I was curious about it. I actually got a good response back.

Right, most press is spent on pretty birds or butterflies, "important bees" (way more than non-native honeybees), or edible things, a few mushrooms included. However, the good news is that fungi just like the same things as most of us - good food and a place to call home. If you are doing biodiversity gardening then you will be providing all that. Create a native garden with diverse species, habitats (a range of soils/rocks/rotting woods), and sunlight/shade, and lots of good mulch/compost. Then sit back and watch the diverse fungi that appear. Yes, you may get oyster mushrooms on your freshly fallen hardwood logs (we had a big chunk of sugar maple, a bitternut hickory, and a white ash take out different parts of our newly built back fence, but all yielded oysters) but there will be many more, right down to the tiniest wee cups (some true "cup fungi" or Ascomycota, and some that are look-alikes in the gilled mushrooms of Basidiomycota). Wood chips are great for LBMs (little brown mushrooms), birds nest fungi, and stinkhorns, none of which are particularly edible.

There's definitely room for someone to write about this online or in the popular press. Maybe when I retire ...

I really appreciate your sentiment - just for the sake of the fungi.

Cheers,

Greg

Dr. R. Greg Thorn (he/him)

Associate Professor, Department of Biology

Curator, Dr. Laurie L. Consaul Herbarium (UWO)

[freethetrappers]

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[evoldir]

Fwd: Job: ICN_UNacional_Colombia.FiveCurators.Systematics

Begin forwarded message: > From: evoldir@evol.biology.mcmaster.ca > Subject: Job: ICN_UNacional_Colombia.FiveCurators.Systematics > Date: 6 April 2024 at 06:28:02 BST > To: rdmpage@gmail.com > > > Five full-time research curators/faculty, tenure-track jobs are open at > the Natural Sciences Institute (Instituto de Ciencias Naturales - ICN) > at the National University of Colombia (UNAL) in Bogot�. > > The ICN holds the largest biological collections worldwide of the > megadiverse Colombian biota. > > The selected faculty will be associated with the biology undergraduate > and graduate programs, and will lead the collection-based research in > systematics, taxonomy, biogeography / evolutionary biology in their field. > > Open positions: > > - Fungi (macromycetes) - curator of the fungarium at the National > Herbarium of Colombia COL - Amphibian systematics - curator of the ICN > frog/salamander/caecilian collections - Arachnida - curator of the ICN > arachnology collection - Embryophyte - curator of the ICN collections > of the mosses, liverworts, hornworts collections at COL - Magnoliophyta > (Angiosperms) - curator of a group of flowering plants (family-level) > at COL > > > Everyone with a PhD and active research in any of these 5 areas are > welcome to apply, as long as she/he demonstrates museum-based/curator > experience on top of the required teaching experience. The Colombian > official language is Spanish (and of the UNAL application process), > and we hope for a diverse pool of applicants > > UNAL is the largest public university in Colombia, with 9 campuses across > country, about 55K students. > > > Deadline: 30 April 2024 > > Documents and details: > https://ift.tt/UCsIPLR > > Twitter thread details: > https://twitter.com/ICNUNAL/status/1774830235764101532 > > Formal Contact: > concurso_fcbog@unal.edu.co > +57 1 3165000 ext. 15646 > > Informal enquiries can also be directed to Carlos Sarmiento >

[thxnews]

USDA, Smithsonian Boost Plant Health Defense

Strengthening Plant Health

In a significant move on December 27, 2023, the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have announced a strengthened partnership to safeguard U.S. plant health against invasive species. This collaboration is formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Dr. Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History, and Matthew Rhoads, APHIS Associate Deputy Administrator.   Advancing Scientific Knowledge and Protection The MoU underlines an expanding relationship between the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and APHIS in areas such as exotic insect, seed, and plant identification, agricultural quarantine inspection, entomological and botanical curation, and more. This joint effort is instrumental in advancing the scientific community’s understanding and resource collection, particularly concerning exotic insect species, weed seeds, and other plant contaminants.   Mutual Benefits for Agriculture and Natural Resources Matthew Rhoads, associate deputy administrator for APHIS’ Plant Protection and Quarantine, emphasized the collaboration's importance in ensuring accurate pest species identification. This cooperation not only supports a robust agricultural economy but also safeguards natural resources. Moreover, it reinforces a shared commitment to pioneering science, benefiting both agencies, the nation, and the international scientific community.   Enhancing Collections and Research The MoU grants USDA entomologists and botanists laboratory space within the museum, and access to the Smithsonian's collections, and libraries. In return, these scientists will contribute their expertise to the curation and enhancement of these collections, which are among the world's finest and most comprehensive. Notably, the NMNH entomology collection boasts over 35 million specimens, while the United States National Herbarium houses more than five million plant specimens.   Focused on Agricultural Importance This strategic partnership will concentrate on identifying and providing information about arthropods and plants of agricultural significance. Simultaneously, it will offer scientific services to a broad range of researchers, stakeholders, and the public. Dr. Kirk Johnson expressed excitement about renewing the collaboration, and importantly, noted that this MoU lays the groundwork for conducting mutually beneficial scientific work. Additionally, it advances collective knowledge. Significantly, the collaboration is pivotal in ensuring the accuracy, currency, and growth of the expansive arthropod and botanical collections.   Sources: THX News & U.S. Department of Agriculture. Read the full article

[sagasdesignblog]

Cambridge University's dried plant collection, established in 1761, has been awarded Designated status by Arts Council England. The herbarium, which holds over one million plant specimens from around the world, includes nearly 1,000 collected by Charles Darwin. Curator Dr. Lauren Gardiner praised the herbarium as a "unique and vital resource" and said it is now recognized officially alongside other extraordinary collections held by the University.

[artlimited]

ART LIMITED features Marta Glińska with the art work "Herbarium series 2". Visit the artist's profile https://www.artlimited.net/martaglinska Check also the artist's @martaglinskaphoto account. Published Monday 12th, June 2023 at 05:35:37. Art Limited is an artists' community since 2005. For a chance to be featured follow our rules in the profile description of our Instagram account. Featured artists are welcome to respond to any comments posted for their art works. Thank you to our curators for their selections. #modernart #contemporaryphotography #female #people #portrait #artwork #fineartphotography #digital #photography https://www.artlimited.net/martaglinska/art/photography-herbarium-series-2-digital-people-portrait-female/en/11955248

[mossinformed]

Now that I am back in the herbarium after a Series of Events, here is a running list of mosses I have collected & identified for the herbarium. My job is mostly curating old collections but I’m getting better at IDs!

Tortula brevipies

Tortula ruralis

Fontinalis hypnoides

Tortella tortuosa

Bryum gemmiparum

Encalypta procera

Didymodon tripharius

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