A Protocol for Standardizing Measurements and Enabling Global Harmonization of Herbarium Leaf Reflectance Spectra
Resumo
Reflectance spectroscopy offers a powerful approach to integrate high-throughput phenotypic data from herbarium specimens into the digital landscapes of ecology, evolution, and systematics. Spectral digitization complements specimen metadata capture and photographic imaging by generating high-dimensional optical data from herbarium tissues that encode information about plant chemistry and structure. Because inconsistencies in instrumentation and measurement practices can increase noise and limit dataset compatibility, the International Herbarium Spectral Digitization Working Group (IHerbSpec) has published the Protocol for Spectral Digitization of Herbarium Specimens, currently in version 1.3, as an open resource that will continue to evolve through community use and collaboration (https://iherbspec.github.io/protocol). The protocol defines a stepwise measurement workflow, standardized filename conventions, structured metadata tables with controlled vocabularies, and guidance on tissue selection, materials, and instrumentation quality control to support spectral datasets that are interoperable across projects and reusable through well-documented metadata. By embedding standardized practices at the point of data collection, it provides a scalable foundation for data synthesis and new quantitative insights into plant diversity across taxonomic, geographic, and temporal scales.
Caroline C. Vasconcelos
Professora Assistente
Meus interesses de pesquisa incluem taxonomia e sistemática (especialmente Sapotaceae neotropical), espectroscopia como ferramenta integrativa, flora amazônica, modelagem de distribuição de espécies, estudos florísticos, e ecologia de florestas tropicais.