Phycological Resources at UC
Marine and freshwater algal specimens, specimen data, nomenclatural documentation
The University Herbarium at UC Berkeley houses a world-renowned collection of marine algae emphasizing the seaweeds of California and the Pacific Coast.
The Herbarium also hosts the Silva Center for Phycological Documentation,
including its nomenclatural database, the Index Nominum Algarum, and superb library of rare literature.
This premier research and education facility develops and maintains many online resources and welcomes requests for information from the international community as well as visitors to UC.
W.A. Setchell & H.D. Johnstone, San Pedro, California, late 1800s with Pelagophycus porra
In 2011, the University Herbarium was awarded a major grant from the National Science Foundation to image and database marine macroalgae (seaweeds) that are known to grow in California, Oregon, or Washington, wherever in the world they occur. These collections are available for viewing at:
https://webapps.cspace.berkeley.edu/ucjeps/publicsearch/publicsearch
In 2014, a collaborative NSF grant (The Macroalgal Herbarium Consortium: Accessing 150 Years of Specimen Data to Understand Changes in the Marine/Aquatic Environment) initiated the imaging and databasing of seaweed collections in herbaria throughout the United States. UC digitized collections from Humboldt State University and Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, and is currently working on completing the imaging and databasing of its worldwide seaweed collections. To see the results of this ongoing project as they accumulate, see:
http://macroalgae.org/portal/index.php
An eFlora project on California Seaweeds has been funded by a grant from the Packard Foundation. This online flora will update Abbott & Hollenberg's Marine Algae of California (1976) and provide a portal for students, ecologists, managers, and the public who wish to learn more about our 750 seaweed species.
KQED Quest interview of Kathy Ann Miller about the importance of seaweeds, the UC algal herbarium, and the specimen digitization project ... Watch video.
DeCew's Guide to the Seaweeds of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Northern CaliforniaRead more ...
Catalogue of the Benthic Marine Algae of the Indian Ocean (1996). Silva, Basson, & Moe.
All published records of species and infraspecific taxa of benthic marine algae from the Indian Ocean excluding the Red Sea are assembled in a catalogue. A history of Indian Ocean phycology precedes the systematic part of the catalogue, and extensive nomenclatural notes by P.C. Silva on various taxa are included in an appendix.
