IMAGE: Scientists can use DNA preserved in herbarium specimens, like this red trillium (
Trillium erectum) collected almost 100 years ago in Tennessee, to unravel the genetic structure of populations long since. view more
Credit: Photo courtesy of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Herbarium
A network of over 100 herbaria spread out across the southeastern United States recently completed the herculean task of fully digitizing more than three million specimens collected by botanists and naturalists over a span of 200 years. The project, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, is part of a larger, ongoing effort by natural history institutions worldwide to make their biological collections easily accessible to researchers studying broad patterns of evolution, extinction, range shifts, and climate change.
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IMAGE: Clemson University graduate student Cierra Sullivan used herbarium specimen data in her research linking temperature and aridity changes to flower color changes over the past 124 years. view more
Credit: Clemson University College of Science
CLEMSON, South Carolina - Clemson University scientists have linked climatic fluctuations over the past one and a quarter-century with flower color changes.
Researchers combined descriptions of flower color from museum flower specimens dating back to 1895 with longitudinal- and latitudinal-specific climate data to link changes in temperature and aridity with color change in the human-visible spectrum (white to purple).
The study, which was published in the journal