Sino-Tajik Collaboration Promotes Digitization of Herbarium Specimens

From October 23 to November 4, a three-member delegation led by Prof. LI Wenjun, Head of the Herbarium of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences carried out plant specimen digitization at the Pamir Biological Institute in Khorog, the capital of Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region.

The Pamir Biological Institute, a key research institute in Tajikistan since its founding in 1969, has long been dedicated to unraveling the unique biology and ecology of the high-altitude Pamir Plateau.

A key asset is its herbarium, housing approximately 15,000 plant specimens, including numerous rare and endangered species endemic to the plateau. These specimens serve as a critical baseline for understanding plateau and alpine plant diversity and assessing the impacts of global climate change.

However, these valuable specimens had been preserved with traditional paper labels and physical storage. This traditional method presented significant challenges for specimen curation and data sharing, as fluctuations in humidity and temperature could pose a tangible risk of information degradation. Consequently, the lack of digitization emerged as a major bottleneck, impeding the complete realization of the specimens’ scientific potential.

To address these challenges, Prof. LI Wenjun’s team brought professional digitization equipment to Pamir Biological Institute. Working with partners together, they set up standardized imaging platforms, attached barcodes, and standardized data entry procedures. 

The XIEG team also provided technical training to their Tajik colleagues, ensuring the adoption of unified digitization standards and data accuracy. This effort has laid a foundation for the long-term curation and accessibility of these vital specimen resources.

The collaboration on digitization has yielded impressive results. A total of 13,300 plant specimens have been imaged. These high-resolution images will provide essential resources for future research and conservation efforts for the plants of the Pamir Plateau.

This collaboration successfully bridges the digitization gap at the Pamir Biological Institute, significantly deepening cooperation in biodiversity research. This enables the Pamir Plateau's rich and unique plant resources to be ready for more systematic conservation and utilization.

During the visit, the two sides also held discussions on further collaboration, with key priorities identified including joint plant resource surveys, biodiversity catalog across the Pamir region, and the establishment of a germplasm resource collection network.

XIEG has partnered with leading herbaria in Xinjiang and botanical institutes in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Armenia on similar digital collaboration. To date, over one million vascular plant specimens across Central and Western Asia have been imaged, significantly advancing the digitization and data-sharing of herbarium specimens across the region.

Discuss with the Director of the Pamir Biological Institute. (Image by XIEG)

Provide technical training at the Pamir Biological Institute. (Image by XIEG)

Contact

LONG Huaping

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography

E-mail: longhp@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Web: http://english.egi.cas.cn