Index Herbariorum

For the past three centuries, scientists have documented the earth’s plant and fungal diversity through dried reference specimens maintained in collections known as herbaria. As of December 1 2018, there are 3,095 active herbaria in the world today, with approximately 12,278 associated curators and biodiversity specialists. Collectively the world’s herbaria contain an estimated 387,513,053 specimens that document the earth’s vegetation for the past 400 years. Index Herbariorum is a guide to this crucial resource for biodiversity science and conservation. The Index Herbariorum (IH) entry for an herbarium includes its physical location, URL, contents (e.g., number and type of specimens), founding date, as well as names, contact information and areas of expertise of associated staff. Only those collections that are permanent scientific repositories are included in IH. New registrants must demonstrate that their collection is accessible to scientists, and is actively managed. Each institution is assigned a permanent unique identifier in the form of a one to eight letter code, a practice that dates from the founding of IH in 1935.近三个世纪以来，科学家们通过保存在被称为标本馆（herbaria）的馆藏中的干燥参考标本，记录了地球的植物与真菌多样性。截至2018年12月1日，全球现存活跃标本馆共计3095家，配套配备约12278名馆藏管理员与生物多样性专家。全球标本馆的馆藏总量预估达387513053份标本，完整记录了过去400年间地球的植被状况。国际植物标本馆索引（Index Herbariorum，IH）是面向生物多样性科学与保护领域的关键资源指南。国际植物标本馆索引（IH）针对每家标本馆的登记条目，包含其实体位置、网址、馆藏内容（如标本数量与类型）、成立日期，以及相关工作人员的姓名、联系方式与专业研究领域。国际植物标本馆索引仅收录作为永久性科学馆藏库的标本馆。新申请登记的机构须证明其馆藏可对科研人员开放，且得到积极运维管理。每家机构都会被分配一个由1至8位字母组成的永久性唯一标识符，这一惯例可追溯至1935年国际植物标本馆索引创立之时。