Paul White
Capstone Project
07-08-04
Herbarium specimens are the basis of plant nomenclature, in that all scientific names are linked to specific
(voucher) specimens. Having them digitized will alleviate the confusion faced by sequence databases
regarding taxonomic classification. Once digitized, specimen data could be analyzed to predict the
characteristics of a species’ habitat at which point queries about the ecological role of a particular gene is
possible.
My effort focuses on the front-end functionality of the upcoming computerization of the IUB Herbarium by
developing a searchable interface that gives a hierarchical taxonomic overview and a visualization tool that
combines specimen data and geographical distribution data. This entails compiling multiple sources of data
in different proprietary formats into a single self described file format (XML) described according to the
Darwin Core. The standardized form of the data is then queried using XPath and is integrated with a
visualization interface that shows the geographic distribution of plant species. The application, written in
Java, is deployable on the internet.