Format: ORAL

Celia C. Aceae

School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Herbaria represent vast repositories of data that are integral for conservation work and have the potential to contribute to research across biological disciplines. The value of herbaria and the data of the specimens within depends largely on the accessibility of this information and the accuracy of specimen identification, which in turn depends on curatorial work. Here, we assessed the current practices in curation and identification in a global survey for herbarium curators. The results were compared by the size of the responding herbaria, which were identified as small, medium, or large institutions based on the number of specimens held. This assessment found that there is a vast need for more global standards in herbarium curation. Curators of herbaria are limited by the resources they have available and the training in curation they have received. Curation practices are often varied within herbaria themselves and differ by size and geographical region of the herbarium. Curators each have different approaches to continually changing taxonomic information, and these discrepancies cause further challenges for the researchers using herbarium specimens and data. Here, we present the survey results, an overview of current herbarium curation practices under different resource limitations, and propose a recommended workflow for curators with varying resource restrictions. Three levels of curation standards were identified, and a checklist associated with each level was developed for use in future curatorial work.