Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
The Natural History Museum of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UCHT:F) houses approximately 4,400 fungal specimens, including a recently donated collection from Austin Peay State University. We are establishing standardized protocols for ongoing curatorial practice at UCHT:F. Digitization workflow adheres directly to iDigBio and Symbiota best practices following standardized Darwin Core data capture, imaging of specimen packets and labels, taxonomic updating, georeferencing, and online publication of records in MyCoPortal, the Mycology Collections data Portal. Targeted sampling in under sampled Tennessee counties is driven by analysis of MyCoPortal data. Voucher specimens associated with prior UTC undergraduate research, including mycological surveys of the Tennessee River Gorge, Lula Lake Land Trust, and Cloudland Canyon State Park are being digitized. This work increases accessibility of the UCHT:F collections, mobilizes historical data, and establishes a sustainable framework for long-term fungal curation and digitization at UTC.
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Recommended Citation
Ledbetter, Seth N.; Currie, Ana; and Craddock, J. Hill, "Digitization and Curation of the Fungal Collections at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga". ReSEARCH Dialogues Conference proceedings. https://scholar.utc.edu/research-dialogues/2026/presentations/3.
Digitization and Curation of the Fungal Collections at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
The Natural History Museum of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UCHT:F) houses approximately 4,400 fungal specimens, including a recently donated collection from Austin Peay State University. We are establishing standardized protocols for ongoing curatorial practice at UCHT:F. Digitization workflow adheres directly to iDigBio and Symbiota best practices following standardized Darwin Core data capture, imaging of specimen packets and labels, taxonomic updating, georeferencing, and online publication of records in MyCoPortal, the Mycology Collections data Portal. Targeted sampling in under sampled Tennessee counties is driven by analysis of MyCoPortal data. Voucher specimens associated with prior UTC undergraduate research, including mycological surveys of the Tennessee River Gorge, Lula Lake Land Trust, and Cloudland Canyon State Park are being digitized. This work increases accessibility of the UCHT:F collections, mobilizes historical data, and establishes a sustainable framework for long-term fungal curation and digitization at UTC.