Mosses, Lichens Go Digital

Did you know? Roughly half of the known mosses of North America can be found right here in Durham, tucked away in the collections of the Duke Herbarium. The Herbarium may be temporarily closed due to COVID-19, but there’s still a way to search many of its 800,000 treasures online. And soon, users will be able to browse pictures and genetic data for many more: Duke biology professor Jonathan Shaw and colleagues from 25 institutions across the U.S. received a $3.6 million National Science Foundation grant to digitize and study nearly 1.2 million specimens of lichens and mosses housed in their collections.