TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of North American arthropod collections
T2 - Prospects and challenges for addressing biodiversity research
AU - Cobb, Neil S.
AU - Gall, Lawrence F.
AU - Zaspel, Jennifer M.
AU - Dowdy, Nicolas J.
AU - McCabe, Lindsie M.
AU - Kawahara, Akito Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
The following National Science Foundation grants comprise all the external funding or sources of support received during this study: EF 1207371, DBI 1602081, DBI 1759966 to Neil S Cobb; DBI 1600616 to Lawrence F Gall; DBI 1561448, DBI 1601957 to Jennifer M Zaspel; DBI 1811897 to Nicolas J Dowdy; and DBI 1601369 to Akito Y Kawahara. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Funding Information:
The ADBC program has also promoted the development of a strong national investment in curation of the physical objects in scientific collections, and it contributes vitally to scientific research and technology interests in the United States. For arthropods, the impact of the ADBC program has been transformational from its inception, with the number of publicly available records having grown exponentially. Direct ADBC funding for digitization has produced about six million digitized records, and ADBC has indirectly spurred other collections to digitize their holdings. The NSF Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) program has also emphasized digitization in its more recently funded CSBR awards.
Funding Information:
The following grant information was disclosed by the authors: National Science Foundation: EF 1207371, DBI 1602081, DBI 1759966, DBI 1600616, DBI 1561448, DBI 1601957, DBI 1811897, DBI 1601957, DBI 1601369.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Cobb et al.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Over 300 million arthropod specimens are housed in North American natural history collections. These collections represent a vast hidden treasure trove'' of biodiversity ..95% of the specimen label data have yet to be transcribed for research, and less than 2% of the specimens have been imaged. Specimen labels contain crucial information to determine species distributions over time and are essential for understanding patterns of ecology and evolution, which will help assess the growing biodiversity crisis driven by global change impacts. Specimen images offer indispensable insight and data for analyses of traits, and ecological and phylogenetic patterns of biodiversity. Here, we review North American arthropod collections using two key metrics, specimen holdings and digitization efforts, to assess the potential for collections to provide needed biodiversity data. We include data from 223 arthropod collections in North America, with an emphasis on the United States. Our specific findings are as follows: (1) The majority of North American natural history collections (88%) and specimens (89%) are located in the United States. Canada has comparable holdings to the United States relative to its estimated biodiversity. Mexico has made the furthest progress in terms of digitization, but its specimen holdings should be increased to reflect the estimated higher Mexican arthropod diversity. The proportion of North American collections that has been digitized, and the number of digital records available per species, are both much lower for arthropods when compared to chordates and plants. (2) The National Science Foundation's decade-long ADBC program (Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections) has been transformational in promoting arthropod digitization. However, even if this program became permanent, at current rates, by the year 2050 only 38% of the existing arthropod specimens would be digitized, and less than 1% would have associated digital images. (3) The number of specimens in collections has increased by approximately 1% per year over the past 30 years. We propose that this rate of increase is insufficient to provide enough data to address biodiversity research needs, and that arthropod collections should aim to triple their rate of new specimen acquisition. (4) The collections we surveyed in the United States vary broadly in a number of indicators. Collectively, there is depth and breadth, with smaller collections providing regional depth and larger collections providing greater global coverage. (5) Increased coordination across museums is needed for digitization efforts to target taxa for research and conservation goals and address long-term data needs. Two key recommendations emerge: collections should significantly increase both their specimen holdings and their digitization efforts to empower continental and global biodiversity data pipelines, and stimulate downstream research.
AB - Over 300 million arthropod specimens are housed in North American natural history collections. These collections represent a vast hidden treasure trove'' of biodiversity ..95% of the specimen label data have yet to be transcribed for research, and less than 2% of the specimens have been imaged. Specimen labels contain crucial information to determine species distributions over time and are essential for understanding patterns of ecology and evolution, which will help assess the growing biodiversity crisis driven by global change impacts. Specimen images offer indispensable insight and data for analyses of traits, and ecological and phylogenetic patterns of biodiversity. Here, we review North American arthropod collections using two key metrics, specimen holdings and digitization efforts, to assess the potential for collections to provide needed biodiversity data. We include data from 223 arthropod collections in North America, with an emphasis on the United States. Our specific findings are as follows: (1) The majority of North American natural history collections (88%) and specimens (89%) are located in the United States. Canada has comparable holdings to the United States relative to its estimated biodiversity. Mexico has made the furthest progress in terms of digitization, but its specimen holdings should be increased to reflect the estimated higher Mexican arthropod diversity. The proportion of North American collections that has been digitized, and the number of digital records available per species, are both much lower for arthropods when compared to chordates and plants. (2) The National Science Foundation's decade-long ADBC program (Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections) has been transformational in promoting arthropod digitization. However, even if this program became permanent, at current rates, by the year 2050 only 38% of the existing arthropod specimens would be digitized, and less than 1% would have associated digital images. (3) The number of specimens in collections has increased by approximately 1% per year over the past 30 years. We propose that this rate of increase is insufficient to provide enough data to address biodiversity research needs, and that arthropod collections should aim to triple their rate of new specimen acquisition. (4) The collections we surveyed in the United States vary broadly in a number of indicators. Collectively, there is depth and breadth, with smaller collections providing regional depth and larger collections providing greater global coverage. (5) Increased coordination across museums is needed for digitization efforts to target taxa for research and conservation goals and address long-term data needs. Two key recommendations emerge: collections should significantly increase both their specimen holdings and their digitization efforts to empower continental and global biodiversity data pipelines, and stimulate downstream research.
KW - Arthropods
KW - Biodiversity
KW - Digitization
KW - Natural history collections
KW - North America
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075710082&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85075710082&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7717/peerj.8086
DO - 10.7717/peerj.8086
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85075710082
SN - 2167-8359
VL - 2019
JO - PeerJ
JF - PeerJ
IS - 11
M1 - e8086
ER -