Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40384489›Full record

ReviewThe New phytologist2026

The promise of digital herbarium specimens in large-scale phenology research.

Natalie Iwanycki Ahlstrand, Richard B Primack, Matthew W Austin, Zoe A Panchen, Christine Römermann, Abraham J Miller-Rushing

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in The New phytologist, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  4. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Natalie Iwanycki AhlstrandNatural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2060-777X
Richard B PrimackBoston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3748-9853
Matthew W AustinHerbarium, Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, MO, 63110, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1231-9081
Zoe A PanchenDepartment of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, B4P 2R6, Canada.
Christine RömermannPlant Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, 07743, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3471-0951
Abraham J Miller-RushingUS National Park Service, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbour, ME, 04609, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3203-0143

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The online mobilization of herbaria has made tens of millions of specimens digitally available, revolutionizing investigations of phenology and plant responses to climate change. We identify two main themes associated with this growing body of research and highlight a selection of recent publications exemplifying: investigating phenology at large spatial and temporal scales and in understudied locations and testing long-standing theories and novel questions in ecology and evolution that were not previously answerable. We explore strengths and limitations of using digitized herbarium specimens in phenology research, including: issues of sampling; reliability, transferability, and biases; and ethical and social justice considerations. This field will see further breakthroughs as herbaria around the world continue to mobilize and digitally interlink their collections. New developments will likely come from advances in technology, international collaborations, and including understudied plant taxa and regions such as the Arctic and the tropics. Advances in technology are already improving digitization workflows and speeding the collection of phenology data from digital specimens.

Indexed as

PlantsResearchClimate Changeclimate changedigitizationherbarium specimeninternational collaborationplant phenologyspatiotemporal scale

Identifiers

PMID40384489
PMCPMC13278664

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.