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Extant Brazilian mammals in scientific collections of Europe: an update. In: 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, 2016, Berlin. Green Museum - How to practice what we preach? 2016 SPNHC Conference.

June 2016

DOI:10.3372/spnhc2016

Conference: 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
At: Berlin
Volume: 1

Authors:

Alexandra M R Bezerra

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http://dx.doi.org/10.3372/spnhc2016

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GREEN MUSEUM – HOW TO

PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH?

2016 SPNHC conference

31st

Annual Meeting

June 20–25, 2016

Berlin, Germany

The 18 partner institutions offer access via 11 national Taxonomic Access Facilities (TAFs).

AT-TAF: Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna

BE -TAF: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural

Sciences, Brussels; Royal Museum for

Central Africa, Tervuren

CZ-TAF: Národní Muzeum, Prague

DE -TAF: Botanischer Garten und Botanisches

Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Berlin;

Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin;

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für

Naturforschung, Frankfurt, Dresden,

Görlitz and Müncheberg; Staatliches

Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart

DK-TAF: University of Copenhagen

ES -TAF : Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

& Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid

FR-TAF: Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle,

Paris

GB -TAF : Natural History Museum, London;

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew;

Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

HU -TAF: Hungarian Natural History Museum,

Budapest

NL-TA F: Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden

SE -TA F: Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholm

SYNTHESYS offers unique research opportunities to scientists from all over Europe.

Access is provided to:

• European collections comprising more than half of the world’s natural history specimens

• world class libraries

• state-of-the-art facilities including imaging, chemical, and molecular laboratories

• support from in-house scientists, including researchers, facilities staff, and collections managers

Participation is free of charge and is provided on the basis of scientific excellence of a proposal,

reviewed by a Selection Panel. Priority is given to new users. A typical project is 1-6 weeks in duration.

Contact SYNTHESYS for details of the online application process and deadlines:

Annual Calls for proposals in October (2013 - 2016)

Visits will be scheduled between January 2014 and August 2017

email: synthesys@nhm.ac.uk

www.synthesys.info

Access to research infrastructures

SYNTHESYS will provide finance for:

research costs

international travel and accommodation

per diem contribution towards living costs

logistical support at the host institution

SYNTHESYS is a project supporting an

integrated European infrastructure for natural

history collections funded via the EC Research

Infrastructure Activit y, FP7 Programme

GREEN MUSEUM – HOW TO

PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH?

2016 SPNHC conference

31st

Annual Meeting

of the Society for the

Preservation of Natural

History Collections

June 20–25, 2016

Berlin, Germany

SPNHC 2016

Contents

Welcome 4

from your Berlin hosts 4

from the SPNHC 2016 LOC 6

from the President of SPNHC 8

Travel Grant Recipients and Mentors 10

Tradeshow and Sponsors 12

General Conference Information 14

General Information 14

Locations 20

Field Trips 24

Conference programme 26

Schedule at a Glance 26

Conference Programme at

andel's Hotel 32

List of Poster Presentations 52

Abstracts 56

Keynote Lectures 58

Symposia and Panel Discussions 60

Workshops 66

Oral and Poster Abstracts 70

Imprint 200

SPNHC 2016 – Welcome SPNHC 2016 – Welcome

4 5

The Museum für Naturkunde and the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin welcome

you to the 31st annual meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History

Collections and the 2nd Global Genome Biodiversity Network conference. We are proud to be

the ﬁrst in Germany to host these events, where professionals from natural history collections

originating from 31 countries come together and share their knowledge, discuss ideas and

develop projects. Berlin, the largest city in Germany with its history both in politics and

science is an exciting choice for this event and we wish you a very pleasant stay during the

congress week.

Sharing a mutual history of scientiﬁc research and serving the community in the education

of the general public, the two institutions, the Museum and the Garden, pursuit similar

purposes but have different origins. Whereas the collections of the Museum für Naturkunde

were founded as a central part of the new Berlin University (Alma mater berolinensis, now

Humboldt University Berlin) in 1810, the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin

predated the University by more than a century. It can be traced back to the kitchen garden

of the Berlin palace of 1679 via a model agricultural garden in a then suburban location (the

Kleistpark Schöneberg) to the present location in Dahlem. Due to the growth of the collections

and the scientiﬁc impact, both institutions had to relocate at the turn of the last century. The

zoological, anatomical, paleontological, and mineralogical collections of the Berlin University

(renamed Friedrich Wilhelm Universität in 1828) were united in 1889 and established the

Museum für Naturkunde at its present Invalidenstraße location. There, the collections have

grown tremendously, now encompassing more than 30 million specimens, the largest number

of specimens in one location for any German natural history institution. In 2009, the Museum

für Naturkunde left the Humboldt University and joined the Leibniz Association, a science

organization which – due to the national and international status and importance of its

institutions – is jointly funded by the Federation and the Länder. The Botanic Garden moved

in 1910 to its present location in order to accommodate the growing Herbarium, a Museum

and the living collection. Together with the foundation of institutes of the Kaiser-Wilhelm

Gesellschaft it created a science campus in Dahlem in the south-west of Berlin. With 20,000

different species of plants on 43 hectares the Berlin Botanic Garden and Museum houses

the largest botanical collections in Germany, today complemented by a DNA bank and a seed

bank. Its location in the American Sector of post World War II Berlin led to an afﬁliation with

the Freie Universität Berlin at its establishment in 1948. There, the Botanic Garden and

Botanical Museum Berlin now has the status of a Zentraleinrichtung.

Both institutions have closely worked together in many projects and initiatives and now

have joined forces to host this year's SPNHC and GGBN meetings. Each conference has an

exciting program with keynote lectures, symposia, demo camps and workshops along with

social activities where both conferences come together. We wish you a successful conference,

exciting ﬁeld trips and interesting workshops – welcome to Berlin!

Professor Johannes Vogel, Ph.D. Professor Dr. Thomas Borsch

Director General Director

Museum für Naturkunde Botanic Garden and

Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Botanical Museum Berlin

Biodiversity Science Freie Universität Berlin

WELCOME

from your Berlin hosts

SPNHC 2016 – Welcome SPNHC 2016 – Welcome

6 7

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to Germany and the City of Berlin.

This is the ﬁrst time that the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections has

come to meet in Germany. The Museum für Naturkunde and the Botanic Garden and Botanical

Museum Berlin are proud to host the 31st annual meeting of the Society. Delegates from more

than 30 countries have made their trip to SPNHC 2016. To all of you a very warm welcome to

Berlin. – Herzlich Willkommen in Berlin!

This year’s theme “Green Museum – How to practice what we preach?” reﬂects in many ways

the challenges and changes natural history collections are facing at the moment.

In a world of climate change and ever decreasing biodiversity, sustainability should be the

criterion that determines all planning and decisions, ranging from ﬁeld work to construction

projects, from ethical aspects to cost-beneﬁt analyses. In practice this often is compromised

by constraints beyond the control of the institution, be it monetary, legal or other.

The rapidly growing digital world has long reached the natural history collections. Digitization

is the key word for opening up hidden treasures and information – for scientiﬁc questions as

well as societal challenges, and a fascinated public. Digitization changes the way of how we

look at collections and how we work with them. It leads to new users and uses and novel types

of collections along with new requirements. Digital mobilization of collections from processes

to databases and standards for their integration in research and education has become a whole

world in its own. This is also reﬂected by the SPNHC 2016 conference.

The same is true for new analytical methods and research ﬁelds such as molecular

systematics. DNA and tissue collections (so called ‘cold archives’) are standard in research

institution holding collections. The work of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN)

focuses on standards and best practice of these collections and the exchange and use of

material according to international regulations. It was more than logic to bring together both

societies for their meetings to stimulate exchange and common understanding.

A conference of this size would not be possible without the support from many sides. It all

starts at the hosting institutions. Without an enthusiastic home base from director to student it

simply would not be possible to organize a SPNHC conference.

A big THANKYOU from all of us goes to our sponsors and vendors for their signiﬁcant ﬁnancial

support. Please use the opportunities during the breaks and vendors lunch on Thursday to visit

them at the Rubin conference hall.

Right from the beginning, all the way down from our ﬁrst thoughts about SPNHC in Berlin

to the actual event, it has always been your enthusiasm as SPNHC members, conference

attendees, and colleagues with common understanding that has carried us and driven us

forward. In these times of immense changes in our world of natural history collections it is

even more important to come together, share knowledge, learn from each other and join forces

regardless from which country in the world you come. We think, SPNHC is an excellent place

for this, and we hope that SPNHC 2016 will contribute to this spirit.

In this sense we wish all of us a fruitful meeting and a lot of fun!

Enjoy SPNHC 2016 and don’t forget to take some time for your very own Berlin experience.

Christiane Quaisser

Chair, SPNHC 2016 Local Organizing Committee

SPNHC 2016 Local Organizing

Committee

Team MfN

Peter Giere

Christiane Quaisser

Daniela Schwarz

Manja Voss

Team BGBM

Eva Häffner

Lena Kempener

Cornelia Löhne

Patricia Rahemipour

Team Agentur Konsens

Karlheinz Blackert

Susanne Kessler

Kirsten Merdanovic

Constanze Sürken

We would like thank all who

have contributed to the

success of the SPNHC 2016

conference!

HERZLICH WILLKOMMEN!

Welcome from the SPNHC 2016

Local Organizing Committee

SPNHC 2016 – Welcome SPNHC 2016 – Welcome

8 9

On behalf of SPNHC Council, it gives me great pleasure to welcome all participants to Berlin,

Germany for our 31st Annual Meeting. Once again we spread our wings internationally by

visiting the European continent and hope that this provides an interactive and collaborative

environment for all of our members. Our annual meetings provides us the opportunity to

network with colleagues, learn more about advancing techniques in collection management,

highlight and celebrate our accomplishments and socialize in a unique setting.

Once again, the Local Organizing Committee from Berlin has done a tremendous

job of providing a full and engaging program of events including exciting and engaging oral and

poster sessions, informative workshops and some fun social

events. We thank them for the huge amount of work they have put in to make this event a

success. The conference theme “Green Museums – How to Practice what we Preach?” is very

timely as we all feel the effects of climate change and environmental degradation and attempt

to ﬁnd ways to combat its effects not only on the specimens we collect and preserve, but also

in our day to day practices as museum professionals. This is an interesting time for collections

with both challenges and opportunities presenting themselves at every turn. Budgetary

restrictions are necessitating new and innovative mechanisms of caring for our collections

while the world-wide digitization initiative and ongoing community collaboration is providing

new and exciting opportunities for collections use by an ever growing external user community.

Collections advocacy and exposure in public and social media is also highlighting collections

role in predictive modeling, climate change and many of the core environmental problems of

our day.

Meetings such as these would not be possible without the valued ﬁnancial support of our

vendors and sponsors. We thank them for their continued support and encourage you to do the

same by visiting their booths at the vendor show to see their new products and technologies.

The society as a hole functions through the valuable work of its committees and I would

encourage all of you to become involved in the work of the society by volunteering your time

with one of our many committees. If there is a committee

you are interested in please attend their meeting on Tuesday morning and offer up your help

with their important work. If you are a member of another like-minded society, consider

becoming a representative from and to that society and SPNHC

so that we can continue our work of building a powerful collections community.

If you are new to the Society we welcome you to your ﬁrst meeting and hope that you will

take advantage of all our meetings have to offer. Engage with established and new members

through our Emerging Professionals Committee to ﬁnd out ways in which you can become

involved and get the most out of the meeting or ﬁnd a Council member who will be happy to

assist you navigate the meeting.

Our Travel Grant assistance has once again assisted in funding the attendance of ﬁve members

who will be mentored by established collections professionals who will assist before, during

and after the meeting. We thank our mentors for their help.

If you need any assistance during the meeting please ﬁnd one of the members of the Local

Organizing Committee or a Council member who are all identiﬁed on their name tags.

All that remains is for me to wish you a productive, engaging, fun-ﬁlled meeting.

Andrew Bentley

President

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC)

WELCOME

TO SPNHC 2016!!

SPNHC 2016 – Travel Grant recipients SPNHC 2016 – Travel Grant recipients

10 11

SPNHC 2016 Travel Grant Recipients and Mentors

Christine Allen Travel Grant Recipient

Mariana Di Giacomo

University of Delaware, Department of Art Conservation, Newark, DE, 19716, United States

Conference Mentor: Matt Brown

Fitzgerald Travel Grant Recipients

Julian Carter

National Museum Wales, Dept of Collection Services, Cardiff, CF10 3NP, UK

Conference Mentor: Miranda Lowe

Erica Krimmel

Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Biology, Chicago, 60614,

United States

Conference Mentor: Elana Benamy

Suzie Li Wan Po

Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, Conservation, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK

Conference Mentor: Cathy Hawks

Brian Rankin

University of California, Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, California, 94720, United States

Conference Mentor: Ann Molineux

SPNHC and the 2016 Local Organizing Committee would like to congratulate all recipients

and welcome them to this year's conference. We would also like to thank the reviewing team

and the mentors of this year's travel grant recipients for their efforts.

SPNHC 2016

Travel Grant Recipients and Mentors

SPNHC 2016 – Sponsors

12 13

THE NEXT GENERATION IN BEST PRACTICES

JUNE 18 – 24, 2017

HOSTED BY

The local organizing commiee, a partnership between the Denver Museum

of Nature & Science and the Denver Botanic Gardens, is honored to host the

32nd annual meeng of the Society for the Preservaon of Natural History

Collecons. Kelly Tomajko, SPNHC Member-at-Large, will chair the commiee,

and it will include Society members who are already acve parcipants in the

Society’s annual meengs and acvies.

The theme of the meeng is “The Next Generaon in Best Pracces.” This broad

theme is intended to reect the core aim of SPNHC to codify and disseminate

best pracces for the development, management, and care of natural history

collecons. Stay tuned for meeng informaon at www.spnhc2017denver.org.

Conveniently located, Denver is the gateway to both the Rocky Mountains and

the eastern plains. It has a great deal to oer those who wish to explore its

vibrant cultural community as well as those who are interested in more remote

areas of Colorado. To learn more about travel in Denver and across Colorado,

please see Visit Denver at www.denver.org.

We thank all conference sponsors and vendors who

contribute towards the 31st Annual Meeting of

the Society for the Preservation of Natural History

Collections.

DIAMOND

› Delta Designs Ltd.

› Synthesys c/o Natural History Museum

PLATINUM

› Axiell ALM Germany GmBH

GOLD

› iDigBio

› JSTOR

› Picturae B.V.

SILVER

› Anton Paar GmbH

› Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

› Testo AG

BRONZE

› Alcomon Company

› Biologische Beratung Ltd.

› CollectionSpace

› Digitarium, University of Eastern Finland

› Panko Set Bartlomiej Pankowski

SUPPORTING PARNERS

› Springer Verlag

› University Products, Inc.

LITERATURE TABLE

› Bruynzeel Archiv & Bürosysteme GmbH

› Rowman & Littleﬁeld

FLYER/INFORMATION MATERIAL ONSITE

› Kodex, Inc. X-Ray Associates East LLC

EP LUNCHEON

› All Packaging Company, Inc.

› Hollinger Metal Edge, Inc.

› iDigBio

PROMOTIONAL ITEMS

› Schweizerbart / Borntraeger Science Publisher

SPNHC 2016

TRADESHOW AND

Other topics

Integrating diverse resources at

the New York Botanical Garden

for specimen-based botanical

research

Lisa Campbell* 1

Kimberly Watson1

Melissa Tulig2

1 New York Botanical Garden

2 The New York Botanical Garden

* lcampbell@nybg.org

iDigPaleo is currently running with one pilot project, focusing on fossil insect collections.

With the help of project partners from 11 institutions, over 500,000 fossil insect specimens

will be digitized and made available through iDigPaleo. Project participants are working with

K-12 educators to develop and reﬁne curricula and classroom activities for middle and high

school students that use collections data to explore topics in the U.S. Next Generation Science

Standards (NGSS).

The applications of iDigPaleo extend beyond education usage. The ability to create, save, and

share datasets that was designed for classroom activities also has the potential to support

research collaborations. In addition, the annotation tool has a feedback mechanism to data

providers, which can be used to support crowdsourced curation projects. These aspects will

form the focus of future development projects. The beta version of iDigPaleo will be available

to the public later this year.

iDigPaleo currently exposes only data from participating collections, but one of key facets of

the national digitization program is the sharing of information – one shouldn’t waste resources

trying to capture information that someone else has already caught. With this in mind, over

the next two years collaborators from iDigPaleo, iDigBio, the Geological Society of America,

and the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB) are going to be working on a new project called

ePANDDA: Enhancing Paleontological and Neontological Data Discovery API.

ePANDDA addresses one of the major barriers to effective use of on-line collections data;

specimen data are often separated from the contextual information needed to adequately

interpret and analyze them. Although these resources are digitized, and contain common

elements (e.g. taxonomic IDs) that would permit sharing of data, the data are contained within

digital silos and combining datasets often requires time-consuming manual work.

For iDigPaleo, our collaboration with educators quickly identiﬁed a need for extensive access

to neontological specimen data. These data are critical for comparative studies of fossils; for

example, mapping changes in taxon distribution over time that might be associated with global

climate change, or reconstructing the appearance of an extinct organism by reference to its

living relatives. Such data access can be done on a local, institutional basis, as is currently

the case for the pilot version of iDigPaleo, but a more efﬁcient, long-term solution is to use

the ePANDDA API to facilitate sharing with the U.S. national hub for biological collections,

iDigBio. This will be one focus of the ePANDDA project.

The Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB) is an example of a non-specimen based data resource.

PaleoDB is a crowdsourced, literature-based (including unpublished dissertations and theses)

database. Taxa are tied to publications, not specimen records, even though the records in the

publications are often derived from collections. PaleoDB currently contains over 1.2 million

records, and includes authority ﬁles for taxonomic hierarchies and synonymies, multiple

classiﬁcation schemes, and multiple time scales. It is an extraordinarily rich resource,

which was cited as a data source by nearly 3,000 academic papers in 2014. But with a very

different architecture from iDigPaleo and iDigBio, linking its data to specimen records is not

straightforward.

ePANDDA will facilitate this linkage by developing a set of application programming interfaces

(APIs) that will enable iDigBio, iDigPaleo, and PaleoDB to seamlessly share data; neontological

collections data from iDigBio, paleontological collections data from iDigPaleo, and research

and publication-derived paleontological and geological data from PaleoDB. The project is also

working at developing APIs and plug-ins (i.e. “widgets”) that will allow sharing of data with

other groups, including the Encyclopedia of Life, and provide resources for researchers and

amateur collectors. Rollout of ePANDDA and associated APIs is scheduled for late 2017.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We are grateful to our ePANDDA collaborators from PaleoDB (Jocelyn

Sessa & Mark Uhen), iDigBio (Shelley James & Gil Nelson) and Yale (Larry Gall & Harry

Shyket), and to the members of the Fossil Insect Collaborative. Development of iDigPaleo is

supported through NSF EF 1305027: Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: Fossil Insect

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

98 99

ABSTRACT. In 2013 a Clothworkers Foundation funded project was initiated by Chris Collins

(then of the NHM London) to consider bringing together standards in a number of specialist

natural science collection areas. This included looking at the challenges presented by ﬂuid

preserved collections (http://conservation.myspecies.info/node/33). This presentation will look

at current work that is attempting to develop and progress the initial ﬁndings of the original

Clothworkers Foundation project. Current challenges include signiﬁcant areas where there are

gaps in both consensus and knowledge regarding such collections. Developing a framework to

address such issues and to produce a mechanism that the natural science community can use

and feed into will be an important part of progressing the original project. The development

of effective and achievable standards will in turn enable more cost effective and sustainable

approaches for the care and conservation of ﬂuid preserved collections to be achieved.

MAIN TEXT. In 2013 a project was initiated to look at developing standards in a number of

specialist areas of natural science collections (Collins 2014). The project was funded by the

UK based Clothworkers Foundation and brought together a number of expert groups to look at;

• Standards in the care of botanical collections.

• Standards in the care of skin and taxidermy collections.

• Standards in the care of wet collections.

The results of these expert reviews were then presented at the Society for the Preservation of

Natural History Collections (SPNHC) annual meeting in 2014, and published online,

http://conservation.myspecies.info/node/36.

The work of these groups provides a framework to further develop the concept of standards in

each specialist collection area, and further provides a baseline for training and development.

The project also highlights signiﬁcant areas where there is either a lack in our knowledge, or a

variance in consensus amongst the specialists in the collection community.

A good example of this is with the challenges presented by wet collections. As Simmons

(2014) points out many of our 'standards' used with such collections have been derived by trial

and error rather than speciﬁc research. Nevertheless some of these methods have now been in

use for over 300 years, and preserve some of the oldest specimens found in our natural science

collections. However there is still much that we do not understand about the preservation of

these collections.

Thus the work presented by the Clothworkers Foundation project on wet collections is being

used as a framework that can be developed to progress our understanding of their care and

conservation. It is progressing this work that this presentation discusses within a topic that

is often confusing and complex. As the resources and personnel become scarcer for the

preservation, care and conservation of wet collections, then it is more important than ever to

establish effective and achievable standards to support the natural science community.

The key question is how to bring this about? Within this presentation some of the key areas

requiring greater consensus and research will be highlighted, and concepts of a framework to

bring this together in an interactive way for the natural science museum community will be

considered. Bringing together our knowledge and understanding of wet collections in a coherent

way will do much to address the confusion within this ﬁeld, and provide a more sustainable way

forward for their care and conservation in the future.

REFERENCES

Collins, C. 2014. Clothworkers and Standards. http://conservation.myspecies.info/node/36

Simmons, J.E. 2014. Fluid Preservation. A Comprehensive Reference. Rowman and Littleﬁeld.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

'Avoiding a pickle' – Developing

standards for the sustainable

care and conservation of ﬂuid

preserved collections

Julian Carter* 1

Dirk Neumann2

1 National Museum Wales, Dept of Collection Services,

Cardiff, CF10 3NP, UK

2 Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Ichthyology Section,

81247 Munich, Germany

* julian.carter@museumwales.ac.uk

exhibit a variety of ﬂoral forms; and some species are achlorophyllous and mycotrophic

(Stevens et al., 2004). Several major clades of Ericaceae, such as Vaccinieae (Kron et al.,

2002), which has been a focus of NYBG research, are especially diverse in neotropical

montane forests and occur in endangered Andean habitats (see Mast et al., 1999). Palser’s

collections came from around the world and include taxa from all eight subfamilies (see

Stevens et al., 2004).

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

Collections refurbishment and integration. The majority of the Ericaceae Laboratory

Collections were in lots that were organized separately by ﬁve researchers: Steven E. Clemants,

James L. Luteyn, Palser, Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa, and Nelson Salinas. Fluid-preserved samples

were transferred from plastic into glass containers, ﬁlled with 70% ethanol, and sealed with

polypropylene foam lined lids. All collections were labeled with human and machine readable

barcode labels, and re-organized into a single taxonomic sequence. The ﬂuid-preserved

samples are stored in plastic lidded boxes to maximize efﬁciency.

Databasing and imaging specimens. Database modules for an existing KE EMu application

were enhanced to integrate laboratory collections with the existing herbarium specimen

database.

Information about the nature, condition, and storage location of the laboratory sample was

recorded and a record containing similar data for the associated herbarium specimen appended

to it. All Ericaceae from the Chrysler Herbarium of Rutgers University (CHRB) were borrowed to

capture specimen data that voucher the Palser laboratory donations. These data and high

resolution images were given to CHRB. Voucher specimens for all Ericaceae laboratory

collections were located, annotated as vouchers, and databased and imaged as needed,

populating the growing database at NYBG with over 65,000 Ericaceae herbarium specimen

records. Laboratory and herbarium specimen database records may include images of

specimens, their derivates (e.g., micrographs), living plants (in situ or cultivated), and

literatureand database (e.g., GenBank) references.

Conclusions. An Ericaceae collections website, pointed to by hyperlinks on several prominent

NYBG portals, will enable searching these data and images by several criteria. The webpage

will include information about Ericaceae biology and systematics, and will have broad research

and teaching applications and will be useful to scientists, students, educators, government

agencies, conservation organizations, and others interested in biodiversity. Moreover, the wealth

of the resources both at NYBG and Rutgers, will be made readily accessible to scientists. The

electronic resource now at Rutgers compliments their Philip E. Marucci Center for Blueberry

and Cranberry Research and Extension. The curation techniques and database modules

developed here for data and specimen management of laboratory collections can be replicated

or tailored for use in other collections.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science

Foundation under Grant

No. (CSBR: 1203278). We thank the numerous technicians, interns, and volunteers who

contributed to the project. The Curator and staff of the Chrysler Herbarium, Rutgers University,

kindly facilitated a loan of their material.

REFERENCES

Kron, K.A., E. A. Powell & J. L. Luteyn 2002. Phylogenetic relationships within the blueberry tribe (Vaccinieae, Ericaceae)

based on sequence data from matK and nuclear ribosomal ITS regions, with comments on the placement of Satyria.

American Journal of Botany 89: 327–336.

Mast, R. B., J. V. Rodríguez-Maecha, R. A. Mittermeier & C. G. Mittermeier. 1999. Tropical

Andes. Pp. 68–85, in: Hotspots: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial

Ecoregions (R. A. Mittermeier, P. Robles-Gil & C. G. Mittermeier, eds.), CEMEX, Mexico.

Rusby, H. H. 1920. Descriptions of Three Hundred New Species of South American Plants. The

author, NY.

Stevens, P. F., J. Luteyn, E. G. H. Oliver, T. L. Bell, E. A. Brown, R. K. Crowden, A. S. George,

G. J. Jordan, P. Ladd, K. Lemson, C. B. McLean, Y. Menadue, J. S. Pate, H. M. Stace & C. M.

Weiller. 2004. Ericaceae. Pp. 145–194, in: The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. VI.

Kubitzki, K. (ed.), Springer, Berlin

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

100 101

ABSTRACT. Since the Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG) meeting in September

2015, the authors have continued to develop processes for analyzing entire biodiversity data

sets using Apache Spark. This collaboration has led to the development of the GUODA (Global

Uniﬁed Open Data Access) service, now in alpha status, which aims to ease the systems

administration and cognitive load burdens of large-scale data processing by providing a place to

collect and run analysis code written for the Apache Spark data processing engine.

Jorrit Poelen has built a web service that compiles taxonomic checklists from geospatial,

taxonomic, temporal, and trait constraints. He has also create a service called Fresh Data that

sends notiﬁcations whenever new occurrence records are available that match user-speciﬁed

queries.

Alex Thompson has been prototyping workﬂows that provide a communication channel back to

the original sources of the data by using the iDigBio data quality assessment process to drive

an annotation system at iDigBio.

While Spark removes an enormous amount of expertise traditionally required to make parallel

analyses, it is not simple. Matthew Collins has been working on ways to make the power of

GUODA available to bioinformatics researchers using libraries and interfaces in scripting

language like R and Python.

ABSTRACT. GRSciColl (http://www.grscicoll.org) is an online registry for scientiﬁc collections-

holding institutions around the world. This database contains records for institutions,

institutional and personal collections, and staff members. Information available for the more

than 7,000 institutional records includes staff, institutional and associated collections, and

governance type. GRSciColl acts as an up-to-date resource which increases awareness and

accessibility of collections.

GRSciColl is run by Scientiﬁc Collections International (SciColl) and the Consortium for the

Barcode of Life (CBOL), which update the website and address user needs. GRSciColl is an

expansion of the Global Registry of Biodiversity Repositories (GRBio) and includes a variety of

scientiﬁc disciplines.

GRSciColl is a community curated clearinghouse and is therefore dependent upon

curators, collection managers, researchers, and other staff members to provide summary-

level information on these institutions. GRSciColl requires only basic contact and location

information and checks for global uniqueness through institution codes and the collection

codes within each institution. Once records are created or updated, these changes go into a

moderator queue and become public after review, usually within ﬁve days.

ABSTRACT. A sustainable collections facility is centered on opportunities during planning and

design to use passive solutions (minimizing energy use, complicated mechanical systems and

the associated system maintenance) rather than active solutions (requiring inputs of energy

and regular maintenance) to perform to the project standards and mitigate risk to collections.

Fewer active systems also provide fewer failure points in the case of an incident, whether ﬁre,

smoke, bulk water, changes in environmental conditions, pest infestation or theft). The design

of space with a focus on passive design starts with understanding points of interaction with the

collections: staff work protocols and access requirements and how new protocols will mitigate

one level of risk and use less operational resources. By considering location with the facility

and adjacencies of work spaces, another level of sustainability may be addressed. A sustainable

facility would differentiate between places for people and collections and attempt to provide

the necessary conditions for each. The building would also anticipate changes in programmatic

development over its life and allow for a reallocation of space in the future to accommodate

new institutional goals, with limited new investment in construction. This presentation focuses

discussion on the Avenir Collections Center at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science as

an extended case study (supplemented with other recent examples to conﬁrm this trend) – a

project that achieved very high levels of sustainability under major US metrics, as well as

sustainability under non-measured metrics.

POSTER

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

(General session)

Updates on whole-dataset

analyses using Spark and the

GUODA data service

Matthew Collins* 1

Jorrit Poelen2

Alexander Thompson1

1 Advanced Computing and Information Systems Laboratory,

University of Florida, Gainesville, 32607, USA

2 Independent, Global Biotic Interactions, Oakland, 94610,

USA

* mcollins@acis.uﬂ.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

DemoCamp

Global Registry of Scientiﬁc

Collections (GRSciColl):

Function and application

Adele Crane* 1

Eileen Graham1

David Schindel2

1 Scientiﬁc Collections International, Washington,

DC 20560, USA

2 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA

* cranea@si.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Design strategies for

sustainable solutions

Walt Crimm* 1

1 Walt Crimm Associates, 6868 Scotforth Road,

Philadelphia, 19119, USA

* wcrimm@waltcrimm.com

ABSTRACT. As entomologists we study small animals. It also happens that our study

objects are highly diversiﬁed. Insects are one of the largest group of animals on earth with

approximately 1.000.000 species.

This means that related species are very similar and to identify them you need to look at

small details. As a consequence it is rather impossible to identify insects in the ﬁeld or from a

picture (except perhaps bigger ones like dragonﬂies and butterﬂies).

Traditionally entomologists collect insects by killing them, pinning them and looking at

the morphological characters under a microscope. Natural history museums have large

entomological collections. You could think that there is enough material already and that

there is no need to collect further. So why do entomologists still collect insects? First of all to

study the DNA. DNA research is changing our concept of species and has given new insights

in species delimitations. Second, many museum specimens are old and to study genital

characters you need fresh material (it is very difﬁcult to extract genitals from older specimens).

Nevertheless we should try to avoid killing if not necessary.

In this presentation some of the pro and cons about this topic will be discussed.

ABSTRACT. Digitization of museum collections objects is a laborious task. While OCR and

machine learning can assist with the manual keying of label information, the process of

extracting properties from notes and descriptions requires both time and biological expertise.

However keying and OCR can be used to simply transcribe additional label information and

natural language processing algorithms can be used to perform some interpretation of the

results. The formatting of notes and remarks data like the Darwin Core ﬁeldNotes ﬁeld varies

widely from semi-structured attribute:value pairs to phrases to full sentences which complicate

the automated analysis of these ﬁelds. Using text mining techniques such as entity recognition

and libraries like Python’s Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK), attributes and values as well as

broader understanding can be extracted and ground-truthed to known data available from

sources like the Encyclopedia of Life’s TraitBank or previously expert-digitized specimens.

Computation engines like Apache Spark combined with whole datasets from multiple

biodiversity data sources are ideal for performing these investigations. Global Uniﬁed Open

Data Access (GUODA), hosted at iDigBio, provides resources where your Python, Scala, or R

code can be run on a cluster to quickly explore algorithms and data at a scale not available

previously.

ABSTRACT. Writing your own code to analyze snapshots of biodiversity data providers’ entire

datasets is an important capability: It allows broad questions to be asked across multiple

data providers without needing to wait for the providers to develop uniﬁed data models and

import each other’s data or develop graphical interfaces or application programming interfaces

(APIs) that perform the analyses you want to run. Drawbacks to large snapshot approaches

include storage space, processing power, and programming expertise. This is where the Global

Uniﬁed Open Data Access (GUODA) service, now in alpha status, aims to ease the systems

administration and cognitive load burdens of large-scale data processing by providing a place

to collect and run analyses code written for the Apache Spark data processing engine.

In this demo we very brieﬂy introduce the computation ideas of Spark and the structure of

the GUODA service. We will then show ways you can use GUODA to perform searching and

matching, joins between datasets, and simple machine learning on and between the entire

datasets stored at iDigBio including iDigBio (>55 million rows), TraitBank (>11 million rows)

and GBIF (>640 million rows) using a few lines of Python, R, or Scala code.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

To kill or not to kill: ethics of

collecting insects

Pasquale Ciliberti* 1

1 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333CC

Leiden, The Netherlands

* pasquale.ciliberti@naturalis.nl

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Text mining whole museum

datasets for expanding

understanding of collections

with the GUODA service

Matthew Collins* 1

1 Advanced Computing and Information Systems Lab,

University of Florida, Gainesville, 32607, USA

* mcollins@acis.uﬂ.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

DemoCamp

Whole-dataset processing of

biological collections and other

data sources as a service –

Demonstration of GUODA

Matthew Collins* 1

Jorrit Poelen2

Alexander Thompson1

1 Advance Computing and Information Systems Laboratory,

University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611, USA

2 Independent, Global Biotic Interactions, Oakland, 94610,

USA

* mcollins@acis.uﬂ.edu

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

102 103

ABSTRACT. Over the last 15 years the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) has been

making the digitised collection data from both the living collection of plants and herbarium

collections available over the internet via our own website. In addition, over the last ten years

we have been sharing these data with over 10 data aggregators (compilers) such as GBIF, BGCI

and Europeana, to allow greater visibility and context for the data and to open our collections to

new audiences.

Yet, in recent years we at RBGE have been asking questions like: What is the market for

these aggregated data, who is using them and why is it worth doing? Also, there are issues of

duplication of records, update cycles, secrecy of data & the devaluing of unique items of the

collection.

In this study, we review the usage of RBGE data in two of the largest aggregators (GBIF &

Europeana) as well as our own collections website for the month of January in the years 2014,

2015 & 2016. We also look at the ease of getting hold of these usage statistics and question if

the websites are open to this type of query.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This work was carried out with funding from SYNTHESYS3 under EU

7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7). Project reference: 312253

ABSTRACT. While the Entomology collections at the Natural History Museum, London, have

been fully indexed at species level, specimen level digitisation has been used sporadically only.

In the Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) collection, fully populated specimen records were typically

created for unique specimens such as types or historic specimens, each record requiring a large

time investment. More recently, as the emphasis shifted towards generating large numbers of

records with basic information only, workﬂows and software geared towards mass digitisation

have been developed. In parallel, specimen digitisation is still taking place on a smaller scale

as part of curatorial work, and use of the program Inselect, an open-source desktop application

developed originally for digitisation of drawers, has contributed to streamlining the process.

I present a curator's perspective on how the Inselect program can be used outside of mass

digitisation projects, and how the use of such tools can potentially change the way digitisation

is done in the course of routine curatorial tasks.

ABSTRACT. Museums are rightly concerned about managing risks of damage when considering

the display of organic materials, particularly of vulnerable colored materials. One of the main

concerns is the potential for color loss due to exposure to light while a specimen is on exhibit.

Recently the Yale Peabody Museum planned to display some Native American baskets with

painted decorations in their temporary exhibit case located in the lobby of the museum.

This case receives both direct and indirect natural and ﬂuorescent lighting, and the mixed

lighting and variable intensities make estimation of the light dose a challenge. In order to

assess the risks to those objects we decided to measure the cumulative light exposure during

the exhibition with dosimeters (Blue Wool fading standards). The impact of that light on the

colored decorations of the baskets was also measured, using spectrophotometer readings before

the exhibition and after its deinstallation. From this study we gained experience in estimating

the light exposure dose in this complicated lighting environment, and in monitoring the color

changes to track the impact of exhibition lighting on these objects.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Are people using natural history

specimen data? A comparison

of usage from an institutional

website versus large data

aggregators

Robert Cubey* 1

1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

* r.cubey@rbge.org.uk

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Streamlining specimens

digitisation through the

use of Inselect - a curator's

perspective

Natalie Dale-Skey* 1

1 The Natural History Museum, Department of Life

Sciences – Insects Division, London SW7 5BD, UK

* n.dale-skey@nhm.ac.uk

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

To fade or not to fade…

Monitoring exhibit light levels

and color changes to manage

risk of light damage

Maureen DaRos White* 1

Paul Whitmore2

Catherine Sease3

1 Peabody Museum, New Haven, 06511, USA

2 Aging Diagnostics Lab., Institute for the Preservation of

Cultural Heritage, West Haven. 06516, USA

3 Peabody Museum, New Haven, 06511, USA

* maureen.daros@yale.edu

ABSTRACT. External forces are driving how collections care spaces are designed and

collections are stored and accessed. Some of these forces challenge basic preventative

conservation and safety protocols. Every force needs an equal and opposite force to maintain

balance. An examination and understanding of each of these forces is fundamental to

understand how to maintain preservation goals that may be in conﬂict with these other

institutional priorities. Through active engagement during the planning and design process,

collections care staff can maintain standards and navigate to solutions that respond

constructively to these challenges.

MAIN TEXT. Active engagement, advocacy and education are needed by collections

professionals when their institutions are planning and designing new space. To wait for

design is to wait ‘too long’. Work should begin before overall institutional planning is started.

Preparation pays off by adopting clear protocols based on preventative conservation well in

advance.

Even if it is collections space, the project may impact collections. Through current work

with ﬁve natural history museums and informal benchmarking and discussions with others,

consistent trends are emerging that impact preventative conservation. Understanding these

trends and how other collections professionals are responding in their institutions provide

constructive guidance to address these challenges.

Trending forces operating on collections care spaces:

• The ‘back of house’ label on being a project priority

• How ‘invisibility’ and ‘visibility’ hurts collections

• Decisions without representation

• Lack of ﬁscal resources and co-location of spaces

• Sustainability goals and work space

• Safety protocols – who and what types of equipment.

Solutions and points of discussion:

• Advance preparation and education

• Daylighting the ‘real work’ of the museum

• What can visitors see that is of interest

• How sustainability goals are aligned with best practice in collections access

• Tall collections storage solutions: What is the deﬁnition of ‘tall’?

• Deferring ﬁrst costs to address long-term needs.

• Flexibility in care and storage spaces

Images and diagrams will be used to illustrate how collections staff at various institutions are

addressing these trends in various building projects.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. Being prepared and being part of the discussion:

• Adopting best practices and standards

• Positioning representation at the leadership level.

• Understanding institutional goals and what you can contribute to desired outcomes

RESULTS. Engagement equals inﬂuence and impact:

• Alignment

• Gain added resources

• Easier to meet preservation goals

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Institutions who gave permission for the material to be used will be

acknowleged during the presentation.

C/D

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

External forces on collections

care & storage spaces:

Recommendations for

balancing with equal and non-

oppositional forces

Walt Crimm* 1

1 Walt Crimm Associates, 6868 Scotforth Road,

Philadelphia, 19119, USA

* wcrimm@waltcrimm.com

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

104 105

was helium at a constant ﬂow of 0.9 mL min-1. Ionization was carried out in the ion volume

of the ion trap mass spectrometer under the standard EI positive mode at 70 eV. The mass

spectrometer was scanned in the 35–500 amu range, with a cycle time of 0.5 s.

57 resins were acquired on the commercial market to be analyzed, including different

specimens of Larix ‘Venetian’ turpentine, ﬁr and spruce resins, ambers, benzoin,

camphor, colophony, copaiba balsam, copals from different locations (Congo, Kauri,

Manila, South-American, Zanzibar), elemi, gamboge, mastic, sandarac and various

types of shellac. These commercial samples were compared with samples granted by

renowned historical resin collections (Botanic Garden Meise and Museum for Middle

Africa, Tervuren), by literature review and –to a lesser extent- with samples granted by

researchers of other cultural heritage institutions. At least two reference samples were

used for every commercial resin to be controlled.

THE HISTORICAL EXUDATES COLLECTION OF MEISE: A RICH SOURCE OF

REFERENCE MATERIAL. Due to its variation and dimensions, the collection of resins,

gums and other exudates in the Botanic Garden Meise was of the most important source

of trustful reference material for this study. The collection, still in original glass jars and

recently reinstated, dates back to the second half of the 19th century, and contains

several hundreds of resin samples. They entered the Garden as part of different high

quality herbarium collections.

The oldest collection, by Carl von Martius (1794-1868), was purchased in 1870 at

the time of the foundation of the Botanic Garden. Later, the Botanic Garden beneﬁtted

from important contributions by Mr. Delacre, a pharmacist in Brussels, the Museum of

(former) French Colonies in Paris, and Mr. Bernardin, the curator of the commercial-

industrial Museum in Melle close by Ghent. In 2009, an extensive collection once

belonging to the Botanical Museum of Henri Van Heurck (1838-1909), was acquired.

Van Heurck networked intensively with the Antwerp Rigouts family, Planchon and

Guibourt from the High School of Pharmacy in Paris, and E. Morren from the University

of Liège, who obtained material from the second Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. This study revealed 19 out of 57 resins showing

adulterations or mislabeling, including one specimen of copaiba balsam, Congo copal,

Manila copal, benzoin, mastic, African elemi and Venetian turpentine, and not less than

12 specimens of sandarac, the resin produced by Tetraclinis articulata (Vahl) Mast.

The reason for the observed deviations in composition is not clear. Some confusion

exists with respect to the correct identiﬁcation of a tree and its corresponding resin,

possibly leading to mislabeling. Economic considerations, i.e. fraudulent practices, are

not excluded. Adulterations, such as the addition of oils, might also be related to the

enhancement of the natural product’s properties for speciﬁc end-user purposes. For the

production of sandarac, a different botanical source might be used nowadays than the

one used historically.

CONCLUSIONS. Historical resin collections prove their usefulness in the quality control of

natural resins sold today. Various resins sold today are impure, deliberately adulterated or

mislabeled.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The authors kindly acknowledge the institutions for granting access

to their resin collections and/or to collect a resin reference samples: the Botanic Garden

Meise, Museum for Middle Africa Tervuren, RCE Amsterdam, Doerner Institute München, Getty

Conservation Institute Los Angeles, Hochschule für Bildende Künste of Dresden.

REFERENCES

Cattersel, V., L. Decq, C. Indekeu, E. Van Binnebeke, D. Steyaert, W. Fremout, S. Saverwyns. 2015. European Lacquer in

Context, an interdisciplinary and systematic approach to the study of the tradition of European lacquering. Pp 56-62, in:

Furniture Finishes (Miko Vasques Dias ,ed.), Stichting Ebenist, Amsterdam.

Figure 1. Small subset of the extensive historical collection of botanical

material of the Van Heurck collection, conserved at the Botanic Garden Meise,

Belgium (photo credit: Louise Decq, © KIK-IRPA).

Figure 2. Writing desk decorated with European lacquer (early 19th century),

part of the collection of the Museums for Art and History, Brussels (photo

credit: Jonas Veenhoven, © KMKG-RMAH).

ABSTRACT. The Anthropology Division of the Yale Peabody Museum holds a collection of 180

Paciﬁc tapa, or barkcloth. These wonderful examples of art and cultural heritage continue to

be of interest to researchers and professors. Made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree and

decorated with natural paints and dyes, they range in length from 1.5ft (0.5m) to 14ft (4m).

In 2014 the Division received a grant to rehouse 8,000+ objects in the Oceania Ethnographic

collection from sub-standard conditions into modern storage at a new facility. During that

process it was clear that these fragile objects had been either tightly rolled on narrow (1.5in

or <4cm) tubes or folded into wooden drawers. They therefore needed a signiﬁcant amount

of care, and a new storage solution. With museum conservators, we undertook a project to

systematically relax, mend, photograph, reroll, and add a protective cover to each before

rehousing them on new hardware.

To make these objects visible to others, and limit the amount of handling to them in the future,

photography was performed in the visible, ultraviolet and infrared spectra. The images are now

available on the Peabody Museum’s website: http://collections.peabody.yale.edu/search/

ABSTRACT. A wide variety of natural resins, such as mastic, sandarac, shellac and copals,

have been traded and imported in Europe for centuries. These resins were of key importance

for the production of European varnishes and lacquer. During the on-going four year research

project “European lacquer in context – ELinC”, resins available on today’s market were

chemically compared with specimen of historical collections, in order to verify correct labeling

and purity.

INTRODUCTION. Oriental lacquerware was imported from Asia towards Europe starting from

the 16th century. Soon after, their popularity stimulated European craftsmen to imitate these

luxury items, using their own familiar materials and techniques. Although the basic raw

materials used differ strongly - lacquer in Asia and conventional natural resins in Europe - the

ﬁnal visual aspect of European lacquer coatings resembles closely to that of their oriental

equivalent. European lacquers are complex, multi-layered coatings mainly composed of various

natural resins.

The “European lacquer in Context” project focuses on the technological evolution of European

lacquers with special attention to a selected number of historical European lacquer objects in

the collections of the Royal Museums of Art and History of Belgium (KMKG/MRAH), . Three

Belgian partners are involved: the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK/IRPA, Brussels),

mainly for all chemical aspects; the University of Antwerp (UA), mainly for the technological

study of lacquer recipes and physical aspects; and the Royal Museums for Art and History

(KMKG/MRAH), mainly for all art historical aspects concerning the collection studied.

Additionally, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) supports the project with their expertise

on the analysis of lacquer. During this project, European lacquer is reconstructed following

historical recipes and aged artiﬁcially. For the reconstruction experiments, bulk quantities of

natural resins were bought on today’s market.

METHODS. Before using commercially available natural resins to reconstruct historical

lacquers, the raw materials were analyzed and compared to their respective reference samples

in order to check the resin’s purity and commercial labeling, using mainly gas chromatography

mass spectrometry with thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation (THM-GC/MS). All

analyses were carried out on a TraceGC gas chromatograph (Thermo5), hyphenated with a

PolarisQ Ion Trap mass spectrometer (Thermo). Pyrolysis was carried out at 550°C (later

additionally at 480°C) during 12s in a helium atmosphere. The split/splitless injector of the

chromatographic system was kept at 250°C. Separations were accomplished on a SLB-5ms

capillary column (Supelco, 20 m x 0.18 mm i.d. x 0.18 µm ﬁlm thickness) applying following

temperature program: initially the oven temperature was maintained at 35°C for 1 minute

during split injection (split ratio 20). Next, a 60°C min-1 gradient was applied until 110°C,

followed by a 14°C min-1 gradient until 240°C; ﬁnally the column was heated to a temperature

of 315°C at a rate of 6°C min-1; this temperature was maintained during 3 min. Carrier gas

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

Rehousing Tapa – a project to

repair, photograph and improve

the storage conditions of

barkcloths at the Yale Peabody

Museum

Rebekah DeAngelo* 1

Aliza Taft2

Catherine Sease2

1 Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Anthropology

Division, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

2 Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Conservation,

New Haven, CT 06511, USA

* rebekah.deangelo@yale.edu

POSTER

Collections for the future –

future of collections

Natural resins sold today: are

they correct and pure?

Louise Decq* 1, 2

Vincent Cattersel3

Piet Stoffelen4

Viviane Leyman4

Charles Indekeu3

Delphine Steyaert5

Emile Van Binnebeke5

Wim Fremout1

Steven Saverwyns1

1 Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, 1000 Brussels,

Belgium

2 Gent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

3 University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

4 Botanic Garden Meise, 1860 Meise, Belgium

5 Royal Museums for Art and History, 1000 Brussels,

Belgium

* louise.decq@kikirpa.be

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

106 107

ABSTRACT. The effects of light on fossils have not been studied in depth. Visible light and

ultraviolet radiation (UV) have been deﬁned as agents of deterioration for adhesives and

consolidants, including those used in paleontology, and have been described to be damaging

for fossils as well. Light and UV are said to fade colors and to cause adhesives to yellow and

become brittle. In this study, colorimetry was used to assess changes in fossils and their

coatings/consolidants after long-term exposure to various light sources during exhibitions. Forty-

nine specimens from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History were

examined in the study. Five samples from the stored collection were coated and artiﬁcially aged

to assess the effects coatings have on the colors of these fossils. A colorimeter was employed

to take measurements of the colors in both exposed and non-exposed areas of the fossils

from exhibition and the stored collection. The fossils from the exhibit halls and the collection

showed less damage than the samples that were aged artiﬁcially, which in some cases showed

darkening after aging.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. The effects of visible light and ultraviolet radiation (UV) on

fossils have not been studied in depth, and there is little literature on the impact of these on

the surface or internal structures of fossilized bone (Rogers and Krause 2007, Shelton 1994).

There is some information on the impact of various wavelengths on minerals (Nassau 1992).

A few sources describe the use of ﬁlters for lighting but do not explain the reasons for the

ﬁltration (Andrew 2006, Bertram 1967, Douglas 1972, Hall 1998, Pavlogeorgatos 2003).

Visible light and UV have been deﬁned as an agent of deterioration for adhesives and

consolidants in paleontology (Down et al. 1996) and has been described to be damaging for

fossils as well, but there has been minimal research on this topic (Chadefaux et al. 2009,

Richards et al. 2012). In these descriptions, light is said to fade colors and make adhesives

yellow and brittle, suggesting that color change can be used to identify the damage.

Colorimetry is the discipline of studying colors and their perception by the human eye. The aim

of this work was to study the effects of light on fossils with the use of colorimetry. Because

visible light and UV have been said to make colors fade, colorimetry would detect these color

differences in fossils that have been exposed to museum lighting for many years. If these

assumptions are correct, fossils, particularly those with coatings/consolidants that have been

exposed to high levels of light should appear lighter or at least, yellower, on the exposed

surfaces.

Specimens from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History were used in this

research; thirty-one of them had been exhibited in the fossil halls, thirteen were in collection

storage on open shelving, and ﬁve were aged artiﬁcially. The times of exposure of these fossils

to lighting varied but all, except for the artiﬁcially aged ones, spent over ﬁve years under those

conditions. There was no UV ﬁltration for the ﬂuorescent lamps used in the storage area or

for the broad array of lighting ﬁxtures used in the exhibits. Parts of the ﬁve artiﬁcially aged

specimens were coated in order to assess the effect of coatings on their aging. The adhesives

employed were Ambroid, Glyptal and shellac, and the aging methodology was either in an oven

or with UV.

Color change was assessed by measuring areas of the fossils that had been exposed and

not exposed to the light sources, using a QPI-180D High-Quality Handheld colorimeter by

Qualtech. The software used for the interpretation of the color differences was Qualtech

Products Industry Colorimeter System Software. PatchTool was also employed to generate a

map of the averaged colors. The statistical analyses were performed using Past software version

2.17b (Hammer et al. 2001).

RESULTS & DISCUSSION. In the case of the exhibited specimens, 45% of the samples

(exposed side) were lighter than the standards (non-exposed side). In the case of the collection

specimens, 62% of the samples were lighter than the standards, and in the artiﬁcially aged

samples, 79% of the samples were lighter than the standards. The mean values for the three

parameters measured (L*, a*, b*) show there is virtually no difference between the standards

and the samples. However, by looking at the color simulations, it is easily observable that this

is not entirely accurate.

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

The effect of light on vertebrate

fossils: Exhibition, collection

and artiﬁcial aging

Mariana Di Giacomo* 1

1 University of Delaware, Department of Art Conservation,

Newark, DE, 19716, USA

* marudigi@udel.edu

ABSTRACT. In 2014, Botanic Garden Meise received a grant from the Flemish Government to

optimise its current digitisation infrastructure and digitize the entire Belgian Herbarium along

with 500,000 specimens from the tropical African collection. The project was named DOE

after the acronym of the project’s title ‘Digitale Ontsluiting Erfgoedcollecties’ (Digital Access to

Cultural Heritage Collections). The work started in January 2015 and will be completed before

the end of 2017.

The herbarium (BR) of the Botanic Garden Meise houses around 3.5 million specimens. The

Vascular Plant Herbarium contains three main collections: the General Herbarium with more

than one million specimens; the Belgian Herbarium with about 200,000 specimens; and the

African Herbarium comprising at least one million specimens (of which over half are from

central Africa). The 800,000 specimens in the Cryptogam Herbarium consist of mosses,

lichens, algae, fungi and myxomycetes.

OPTIMISING THE CURRENT DIGITISATION INFRASTRUCTURE. Formally, our digitisation

equipment consisted of two EPSON 10000 XL scanners on HerbScans and one Pentacon scan

camera. In 2015, these systems were replaced by ﬁve imaging systems. Four of these will be

used for photographing vascular plant herbarium specimens, fruits, seeds & wood collections.

Each of these systems consists of a continuous light source and a PENTAX 645Z camera. The

ﬁfth system is a digital microscope, Keyence VHX 5000, which will be used to make images

of lichens, myxomycetes and seeds etc. This optical microscope has a large depth of ﬁeld and

takes razor sharp images in seconds.

The new infrastructure has transformed the pace of work, enabling us to digitise specimens

considerably faster than before and resulting in high resolution and high quality images.

THE DIGITISATION PROCESS OF THE BELGIAN AND AFRICAN COLLECTION. In February

2015, we developed a procedure to tackle this project. Sixteen of our herbarium technicians,

volunteers and student workers, under the supervision of a curator, prepared the herbarium

specimens for the imaging process. This required ﬁxing a barcode to each specimen;

re-mounting and restoring specimens where it was necessary and deciding which specimens

to exclude from imaging. The unique barcode will link the specimen with its images and its

transcribed data. So far, early in 2016, two thirds of the collection is ready for imaging.

We found a company to image up to 1,200,000 Belgian and African herbarium specimens by

an open tendering process. The selected company will start imaging in spring 2016 and will do

this in-house to reduce transportation costs and minimise damage to the collections.

Another important step in the digitisation process is transcribing label data into our database

‘BG-Base’. Since June 2015, our herbarium technicians have been entering a minimal

requirement for data, the barcode, ﬁling name, collector, collector’s number and country of

origin. So far, more than 140,000 records have been entered in the database for the African

collection. The remaining label data will be added to the database after digitisation. This will

be done by retrieving information from the ﬁeld notebooks of the collectors, via itineraries and

using published specimen data from the Flora of central Africa and through the help of an

external company which will be recruited during 2016. For the Belgian Herbarium we intend

to recruit the general public in crowdsourcing the transcription of labels. The newly digitised

images will be stored in TIFF format at the Flemish institute for Archiving (VIAA) at three

locations. The Botanic Garden Meise will keep JPEG2000 and JPEG ﬁles for daily use.

Our ﬁnal goal is to make all images and data available to the public on a new virtual

herbarium. This portal will be fully operational by the end of 2017.

POSTER

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

DOE! Mass digitisation of

the BR Herbarium at Botanic

Garden Meise

Soﬁe De Smedt* 1

Ann Bogaerts1

Piet Stoffelen1

Quentin Groom1

Henry Engledow1

Marc Sosef1

Paul Van Wambeke1

Steven Dessein1

1 Botanic Garden Meise, Meise, B1860, Belgium

* Soﬁe.desmedt@plantentuinmeise.be

Figure 1. Logo of the DOE! Project

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

108 109

ABSTRACT. At Naturalis Biodiversity Center the largest ﬂuid specimens (specimens up to

5-7 m.) have always been stored in formalin in a large steel tank outside the building. The

advantages of this way of storing are the relatively low maintenance costs and efforts. By

keeping them in formalin however, the accessibility of the specimens is greatly diminished.

Working with formalin is considered unhealthy and there is a chance that it will eventually get

banned from natural history collections wherever possible.

Because Naturalis Biodiversity Center is going to renew its entire museum, merging all the

different locations together into one main building, and adding a completely new exhibition

building in the coming years (2016-2018) the formalin tank was one of the things that had

to be removed to make way for new labs and ofﬁces. This gave us the opportunity to ﬁnd a

better solution for the larger specimens, transferring them to a more workable environment

where they could be better accessible. For short term storage and transport the specimens

were vacuum sealed into plastic tube bags, made of a polyetheen innerlayer and a polyamide

(nylon) outerlayer. For long term storage in the new situation the specimens were transferred to

glycerin.

This project showed us that it can be very challenging to work with large specimens and to

create a safe storage environment that still ensures their accessibility. For the future we have

found a way to transport and store these large specimens and we made a part of our collection

accessible again for research and education.

ABSTRACT. These two natural history museums have collections from California dating back

to David Douglas from the 1830’s and some of the ﬁrst records for living and preserved

plants, algae, and fungi from this state. Early records, such as the state geological survey,

have provided invaluable insight into the historic distribution of rare plants. A commitment to

collecting, recording, and preserving specimens dates back to the inception of both museums

and continues to this day with increased digital resources to connect and share data between

them. This interoperability is enabled by CollectionSpace, a community source collections

management system developed by a partnership of institutions and web applications built at

Berkeley that leverage the CollectionSpace API and database.

Speciﬁc examples will be presented throughout the last two centuries to record, document,

and conserve plant specimens. The resulting searchable database is a resource for botanists,

conservationists, agencies, etc., to search and obtain information for use in research and

conservation.

MAIN TEXT. The UC Botanical Garden and Herbaria have over 125 years of documenting

plant collections and facilitating botanical research. The Botanical Garden, and Herbaria have

always maintained detailed accession data making them some of the most well documented

collections in the United States, particularly with regards to specimen label data and living

collections with wild provenance. There has been a commitment to making vouchers from the

garden since the garden was located on central campus and this has continued after it moved

in the 1920’s to Strawberry Canyon, up slope from the main campus. Directors of both

museums have ensured that this commitment to data continues to this day and are

forging ever closer links to research.

A potted history of the museums will introduce the audience to their commitment to

data and the methodology that continues to enable these collections to be documented.

An attempt was made in the early 1990’s to connect the two collections because of

their overlapping nature but the two databases in use at that time did not communicate

very effectively despite the museums continuing to work closely to physically document

the collections. Ten years ago campus Information Services and Technology decided

to collaborate in the development of a collections information management system

that would work for campus museums and beyond. Now maintained by the non

proﬁt organization LYRASIS, CollectionSpace has a permanent home and has been

adopted by a wide range of museums, including the Pheobe Hearst Museum of Anthropology

and The Paciﬁc Film Archive on the Berkeley campus, and in the Bay Area, the Oakland

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

Zipped up: sealing large

formalin specimens for storage

and transport.

Esther Dondorp* 1

1 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. box 1917,

2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

* esther.dondorp@naturalis.nl

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Connecting Conservation

and Collections: The On-line

Resources of the University &

Jepson Herbaria and the UC

Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Andrew Doran* 1

Holly Forbes2

1 University of California, Berkeley, University & Jepson

Herbaria, Berkeley, 94720, USA

2 University of California, Berkeley, University of California

Botanical Garden, Berkeley, 94720, USA

* andrewdoran@berkeley.edu

Figure 1. The Botanical Garden has a long history of vouchering from living

collections and depositing specimens in the Herbaria supported by almost

unrivalled provenance. Linking this relationship on-line is essential.

Vertebrate fossils are dynamic structures made of minerals and in some cases, collagen. These

materials are present in different proportions throughout the specimen and are responsible

for its color. It is possible that the areas measured as standards and samples within the

same specimen were not comparable due to intrinsic color differences. Another factor is that

the instrument measures the L parameter as the amount of black and white in the sample,

suggesting a light or dark color. Because fossils have many colors in their surface, the

instrument will see all those colors and average them. For this reason, by measuring different

areas across the same specimen, it is possible to obtain darker colors from highly exposed

areas than those in the unexposed areas.

In the artiﬁcially aged fossils, the standards and samples were taken in exactly the spots and

are therefore, provide more reliable readings. Twenty-two out of twenty-eight samples were

lighter than their respective standards after the artiﬁcial aging process. Of the six samples that

were darker, three were just slightly darker. The remaining three were samples coated with

shellac, which were the ones that were the darkest after aging. Prior research has suggested

that this is indicative of poor aging properties for this coating (McGowan-Jackson 1992,

Shelton and Chaney 1994).

CONCLUSIONS. The work demonstrates that light and UV radiation is are, indeed, agents of

deterioration in vertebrate fossils and that additional studies are required to show the extent

of the damage to the material. This could help in designing lighting in museums, as well as

inﬂuence the decision to exhibit a real specimen or a replica. Although results for specimens

exposed in either collection storage or via exhibition were not conclusive, the artiﬁcially aged

specimens suggest that there will be damage, given enough time. This suggests the fossils do

lighten in color after exposure to radiation, even after being coated with Glyptal and Ambroid.

If coated with shellac, the specimens will darken. Further studies are required to assess the

real damage to the structure of the fossils.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The conservation team at the Smithsonian National Museum of

Natural History, including conservator Catharine Hawks and then Kress Fellow Rebecca

Kaczkowski were crucial in helping me gather data and literature on this topic, and in hearing

some of my complaints when technology was not on my side. The NMNH Paleobiology

collections team was extremely helpful in ﬁnding the best specimens for my research.

REFERENCES

Andrew, K. J. 2006. Minimizing the Risks from the Ten Agents of Deterioration in Two New West Midlands Museum

Resource Centres, UK. Collection Forum, 21(1-2):70-84.

Bertram, B. 1967. The Design of a New Hall of Fossils. Curator: The Museum Journal 10(2):164-176.

Chadefaux, C., C. Vignaud, E. Chalmin, J. Robles-Camacho, J. Arroyo-Cabrales, E. Johnson, & I. Reiche. 2009. Color

origin and heat evidence of paleontological bones: Case study of blue and gray bones from San Josecito Cave, Mexico.

American Mineralogist 94:27-33.

Douglas, R. A. 1972. A Commonsense Approach to Environmental Control. Curator: The Museum Journal 15(2):139-144.

Down, J.L., M.A. MacDonald, J. Tetreault, & R.S. Williams. 1996. Adhesive Testing At The Canadian Conservation

Institute-An Evaluation Of Selected Poly (Vinyl Acetate) And Acrylic Adhesives. Studies in Conservation 41:19-44.

Hall, K. 1998. Storage Concerns for Geological Collections. Conserve O Gram 11(2):1-4.

Hammer, Ø., D.A.T. Harper, & P.D. Ryan. 2001. PAST: Paleontological statistics software package for education and data

analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica 4(1):1-9.

McGowan-Jackson, H. 1992. Shellac in Conservation. AICCM Bulletin 18(1-2)29-32.

Nassau, K. 1992. Conserving light sensitive minerals and gems. Pp. 11-24, in: The Care and Conservation of Geological

Material: Minerals, Rocks, Meteorites and Lunar Finds, ed. F. M. Howie. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

Pavlogeorgatos, G. 2003. Environmental parameters in museums. Building and Environment 38:1457-1462.

Richards, G.D., R.S Jabbour, C.F. Horton, C.L. Ibarra, & A.A. MacDowell. 2012. Color Changes in Modern and Fossil Teeth

Induced by Synchrotron Microtomography. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 149:172-180.

Rogers, R.R., & Krause, D.W. 2007. Tracking an ancient killer. Scientiﬁc American 296(2):42-51.

Shelton S.Y. 1994. Conservation of vertebrate paleontology collections. Pp. 3-33, in: Vertebrate Paleontological

Techniques, Vol. One, ed. P. Leiggi and May, P. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shelton, S.Y., & D.S. Chaney. 1994. An evaluation of adhesives and consolidants recommended for fossil vertebrates. Pp.

35-45, in: Vertebrate Paleontological Techniques, Vol. One, ed. P. Leiggi and May, P. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

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110 111

For undergraduates working in our digitization lab, we have employed well over 50 work-study

(income supplemented by the University) students in the last 5 years. Students are interviewed,

employed, and started on simple tasks such as barcoding and moved on to imaging, data entry,

and eventually, geo-referencing, invaluable skills for enhancing geography and attention to

detail, scientiﬁc nomenclature, history of science, etc.

Students are also employed in our archives, working to digitize media such as letters, slides,

photographs, ﬁeld books, and manuscripts. This project is set to enter a new phase with more

collaborative approach across the Berkeley Natural History Museums because our archives have

so much overlap across museums and departments.

ABSTRACT. Naturalis’ collections hold approximately 37 million objects, of which one million

are microorganisms ﬁxated on glass slides. In 2013 Naturalis launched its ﬁrst digitization

project using an online crowdsourcing platform called ‘Vele Handen’ (‘Many Hands’),

presenting 100,000 pictures of glass slides on a website. Through this project ‘Glashelder!’

(‘Clear as Glass!’) the institute wanted to investigate if, and in what way, people would be

interested in contributing to the digitization of this part of our natural history heritage.

Participants were presented pictures of slides and accompanying digital data forms, and were

asked to transcribe data from the slides into concurrent ﬁelds. Slides were presented multiple

times to different participants and transcribed data was veriﬁed by controllers. Support to

participants was offered through an online forum and instructions.

Participants collected points for every glass slide that was transcribed, which could be

exchanged for a Meet & Greet with collection managers or tours through the collection. At

the same time, through digitization of the glass slide collections, the accessibility of these

collections for research and education and a wider public in general is greatly enlarged - which

is a great proﬁt for Naturalis.

ABSTRACT. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a standard part of the digitisation workﬂow

at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). It has primarily been used as a tool for

adding further data to records, and for searching for ‘keywords’ within type written labels. We

have recently successfully used OCR as a tool in our Quality Control process, by comparing

the barcode ‘read’ by the OCR to that the specimen image is associated with. This method

has allowed us to ﬁnd records where the data record does not match that of the specimen in

the image, a mismatch that we would otherwise have been unable to ﬁnd. Around 50% of

the records that were found to have mismatched barcodes were due to the OCR software not

successfully reading the barcode, with the remaining records having a number of different

problems which led to the mismatch in barcodes.

POSTER

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

Clear as glass: digitizing

100,000 glass slides from the

Naturalis collection using an

online crowdsourcing platform

Karen van Dorp* 1

1 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Department of Invertebrates,

Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR Leiden, The Netherlands

* Karen.vanDorp@naturalis.nl

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Using OCR for QC in the

digitisation workﬂow of RBGE

herbarium

Robyn Drinkwater* 1, Elspeth

Haston1, Sally King1, and

Erzsebet Gyongy1

1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh,

EH3 5LR, UK

* r.drinkwater@rbge.org.uk

Figure 1. Glass slide from Oudemans collection with mite ‘from brains of a coachman, Berlin, April 1927’

Museum of California, The Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt, and the Bolinas Museum. Beyond

California, we have users and developers working on sharing open source code and ideas

between institutions. Speciﬁc specimen examples will be used to highlight the close working

relationship between the museums.

We have achieved success in linking some of our archives such as literature, unpublished

manuscripts, photographs, illustrations, correspondence, from ﬁeld books to specimens. All

this helps to piece together the bigger picture of California plants, algae, and fungi, past,

present, and future.

ABSTRACT. Through its commitment to conserving and serving data, the Botanical Garden

and Herbaria at the University of California, Berkeley run courses and graduate assistantships

to train undergraduates and graduate students in collection and preparation techniques and

to gain experience in taking museum specimens through all the necessary digitization steps

to making high quality museum data available on the web. This is done working on ambitious

digitization projects, internships, seminars, classes in the use of specimens in research, donor

funded projects, class projects, and graduate assistantships.

Students from varied University departments use digitization to learn skills needed to become

the next generation of botanists and responsible leaders of botanical gardens and/or herbaria.

Students learn about this often overlooked relationship, particularly when the Botanical Garden

is a separate administrative unit. They learn digitization techniques in both museums so that

they are prepared to take on the challenges and job market requirements for careers in botany

today.

MAIN TEXT. The Herbaria are physically large as a whole, so projects have focused on subsets

of our collections; Baja California Peninsula, west coast seaweeds, lichens, and bryophytes, the

numerous small herbaria from our ﬁeld stations, orphaned collections maintained separately

such as The Charterhouse School Herbarium (GOD), and our Horticultural Herbarium. Small

collections arriving as a result of us being part of a thematic collection network have ended

up being digitized at the Herbaria such as Hopkins Marine Laboratory, and even John Muir’s

Herbarium, which is being digitized at Berkeley for the National Park Service who provided

funding to put it online.

At the University & Jepson Herbaria and the University of California Botanical Garden, a

long-term commitment to data has led to many projects, assisted by students and interns.

University courses and seminars introduce and train students in digitization techniques

as well as curatorial practices. Freshman seminars in biology introduce the museums to

students arriving at Berkeley as well as the possibility of becoming work-study students

in our digitization pipelines. Students are told about staff career paths in botany and the

maintenance of living and preserved collections and why we maintain them. For several

years, the Department of Integrative Biology has an undergraduate course called, Natural

History Collections in Research and students have small assignments accompanied by

presentations based on hypotheses or a small digitization project. Examples include

digitization of historic, bound volumes to searching for missing voucher specimens, cited

in ﬂoras but not seen. Projects at the graduate assistant level have been documenting

historic gardens such as Beatrix Farrand’s Reef Point Garden in Bar Harbor, Maine, and

Adelante, now the Blake Garden in Berkeley managed by the College of Environmental

Design. Covering such a diverse range of plant material is invaluable experience to

graduate students who will be teaching assistants in courses such as Systematics of

Vascular Plants, Introduction to California Plant Life, and Medical Ethnobotany.

Graduate Assistantships are also available in the Botanical Garden, where students

are paid to voucher the collections. The Botanical Garden has wild provenance for a

high proportion of their collections and they work with the Curator to select material

for accessioning into the Herbaria. The real value of doing this is not only to make high

quality research specimens but also to make a permanent record of living accessions,

which in many cases may be short lived.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Training the next generation

of botanists: small collections

at the University of California,

Berkeley Herbaria and

Botanical Garden

Andrew Doran* 1

Holly Forbes2

1 University of California, Berkeley, University & Jepson

Herbaria, Berkeley, 94720, USA

2 University of California, Berkeley, University of California

Botanical Garden, Berkeley, 94720, USA

* andrewdoran@berkeley.edu

Figure 1. The Herbaria have trained more than 50 undergraduate students to

enter specimen data and georeference over 35,000 specimens in the last 5

years and some have gone on to pursue graduate work in botany.

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

112 113

To make the investigated information about collectors more easily available to a broader

community a Wiki on collector data was created at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin.

For collectors which are relevant for the museum complete names, biographical data as

well as information about collecting regions and the whereabouts of the collections are

given. There are also links to other repositories as Wikipedia, Integrated Authority File

(GND) of the German National Library, and other natural history collections (Figure 2).

REFERENCES

Frahnert, S., Päckert, M., Tietze D.T. & Töpfer, T. (2013): Aktuelle Schwerpunkte sammlungsbezogener

Forschung in der Ornithologie. Vogelwarte 51: 185-191.

Mlíkovský, J. & Frahnert, S. (2009): Type specimens and type localities of birds collected during the Eduard

Eversmann’s and Christian Pander’s expedition to Bukhara in 1820–1821. Zootaxa 2297: 15-26.

ABSTRACT. The Biodiversity Heritage Library is a complex initiative to provide global, open

access to digitised Natural History (NH) literature. The digitisation workﬂow is based on an

international partnership of over two-dozen institutions supporting the digitisation, ingestion,

data mobilisation, and data mapping (including species names, localisation, paginations and

ﬁgures) of NH literature. All digitised literature and associated data is openly available via a

dedicated portal (http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org) with a robust API. Fundamental to the full

exploitation of this literature is facilitating linkages with other data infrastructures such as the

Encyclopaedia of Life (http://eol.org) and GBIF (http://www.gbif.org). Through these linkages

we are exploring the role of digitisation on demand into BHL digitisation workﬂows to support

the needs of professional researchers and citizen scientists. This presentation will include an

overview of how data in the digitised literature, including ﬁeld notebooks, might be harnessed

and incorporated into NH collections institutional workﬂows.

ABSTRACT. Sustainable development is ﬁrmly established as a guiding principle in many

areas of society since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. A systematic integration of economic, environmental and

social aspects in the form of sustainability management has become a cornerstone of many

companies and organizations. But in spite of this widespread adoption, the museum world still

displays a lack of coherent und uniformly implemented sustainable practices. Several museums

do interpret their societal role broader than the mere collection, interpretation and preservation

of cultural heritage. Still, a holistic approach to sustainable development in collecting

institutions is paid surprisingly little attention – even though sustainability is an intrinsic

element of the museum mission. In most cases, a comprehensive sustainability strategy and

reporting on par with those in other domains is lacking. Also, museums have not yet deﬁned

speciﬁc indicators to assess the implementation of long term improvements in accordance with

GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), as set up by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for their institutes for

example. Against this background, the paper discusses the need for implementing policy and

guidelines allowing an optimized monitoring of sustainable processes in museums, to evaluate

the current situation and to set clear priorities for future sustainability targets.

POSTER

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Harnessing biodiversity

literature for Natural History

collections curation and

research – a digital library

perspective

Jiri Frank* 1

Carolyn Shefﬁeld2

1 National museum, Václavské námřstí 68, Prague 1,

115 79, Czech Republic

2 Biodiversity Heritage Library | Smithsonian Libraries,

PO Box 37012, MRC 154, Washington DC 20013

* jiri_frank@nm.cz

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Sustainable Museum – more

than just "going green"

Constanze Fuhrmann* 1

Johanna Leissner2

1 Fraunhofer IGD, Competence Center Cultural Heritage

Digitization, Darmstadt, 64283, Germany

2 Fraunhofer Brussels, Fraunhofer Sustainability Network &

German Research Alliance Cultural Heritage,

Brussels, 1000, Belgium

* constanze.fuhrmann@igd.fraunhofer.de

Figure 2. Wiki on collector information at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

ABSTRACT. During its inaugural year, the Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections

Event, WeDigBio 2015, involved thousands of citizen scientists from >50 countries in

transcribing biodiversity specimen labels from a variety of taxonomic groups over four days.

Participants at onsite events at museums, universities, and science classrooms, as well

as those distributed individually throughout the world, used online platforms at DigiVol,

Les Herbonautes, Notes from Nature, Smithsonian Institution’s Transcription Center, and

Symbiota to transcribe tens of thousands of specimen labels. We developed resources

including an undergraduate lesson plan, a media kit, logistical documents, and planning tools

for events hosts. During the event, participants learned about collections and biodiversity

science, interacted with researchers, played games, shared experiences via social media, and

contributed to the growing database of digital biocollections information.

For WeDigBio 2016, October 20-23, we aim to double the size of the event. We have

developed new resources for educators, collections managers, and participants to help make

the event even more educational, enjoyable, and productive. In this presentation, learn about

these resources and how citizen scientists from around the world can help to transcribe

images of specimens from your collection. We are enthusiastically recruiting hosts – join us for

WeDigBio 2016

ABSTRACT. The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin was founded as a scientiﬁc collection of

the Friedrich-Wilhelms- University in 1810. The ornithological collection started with 600

specimens. A high amount of them was donated by Johann Centurius Graf von Hoffmannsegg.

As the number of museum specimens increased rapidly in the following decades (around

15.000 bird specimens in the 1850s) the collection comprises a large stock of historical

specimens today. Those specimens have been collected in a certain area and time. Therefore

they are important voucher specimens of a former biodiversity and are used as a basis for

diverse scientiﬁc studies today (Frahnert et al. 2013).

Information accompanying museum specimens greatly affects their scientiﬁc value. Thus

locality and collection date are very important for most studies on taxonomy, distribution,

migration, etc. However, interested scientists normally only ﬁnd handwritten historical labels

and/or catalogue entries with more or less equivocal data, unknown historical names or even

missing or wrong information. Therefore the scientiﬁc potential of these historical specimens

is often not adequately used in modern studies. These shortcomings in historical collections

can be mitigated by analyzing and combining all available information from publications,

notebooks, diaries, shipping lists, etc. Based on examples it will be demonstrated here how

data related to historical bird specimens at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is being

improved.

In a ﬁrst step, the actualization of the name of the collecting locality and the print of new,

readable labels of a standardized format take place within the process of data digitization.

The declaration of more detailed information about locality and date can often be achieved

within special projects on collectors and expeditions only. Collecting this information from

libraries and archives is a process which requires detailed knowledge about the history

and documentation of the collection. This is very time consuming but can change the

knowledge about the origin of the specimens fundamentally. For instance the historical

label of the desert ﬁnch (Rhodospiza obsoleta) ZMB 6910 was partially lost and gives

only the species name and the information that it is a type specimen today. The catalogue

entry for this type specimen gives Eversmann as a collector and Karaata as locality. No

collection date is given. Based on the diary of Eduard Eversmann, Mlikovsky and Frahnert

(2009) speciﬁed the locality to Chengeldy, Uzbekistan and gave as collection date April

9th 1821 (Figure 1).

E/F

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Educational opportunities for

small and large collections with

the Worldwide Engagement for

Digitizing Biocollections Event,

WeDigBio 2016

Elizabeth R. Ellwood* 1

Paul Kimberly2

Paul Flemons3

Robert Guralnick4

Kevin Love5

Austin R. Mast1

1 iDigBio, Florida State University, Department of Biological

Science, Tallahassee, FL, 32306 USA

2 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013 USA

3 Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia

4 Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL,

32611 USA

5 iDigBio, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611 USA

* eellwood@bio.fsu.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Improving the collecting data of

historical museum specimens

Sylke Frahnert* 1

1 Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut for Evolution

and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstraße 43; 10115

Berlin, Germany.

* Sylke.frahnert@mfn-berlin.de

Figure 1. Labels of the desert ﬁnch (Rhodospiza obsoleta) specimen ZMB

6910. Photo: MfN Berlin

Upside down oldest label, only partially available; printed label with the

complete investigated information

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114 115

and suggestions for revisions were sent to the author. This process was iterative until the author

was ready to forward the procedure for staff review. Each completed procedure became a

building block for the manual, following the outline developed earlier.

RESULTS. The Herbarium Procedures Manual has created an unambiguous, shared

understanding of how the collection operates in service to the staff, external scholars, and the

collections themselves. It has saved time during training of new personnel. It has provided a

consistent modus operandi to which everyone can subscribe.

We found that procedures require updating as time passes. Necessary change comes from

multiple sources. Modiﬁcations of collections policies may dictate changes to procedures.

Newly hired staff, based on previous collections experience, may offer suggestions for change.

Because communication of procedures is critical, we found that by providing electronic access

using our intranet and public site, as well as offering periodic meetings and workshops to

inform staff, was quite effective.

Having an abridged version of our manual will prove to be valuable for providing documentation

about our collection to our various permitting agencies; CITES, Drug Enforcement Agency,

United States Department of Agriculture, and others.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. Creating a procedures manual requires adequate time and

planning. It also requires full engagement from various staff in the museum. The manual is

constantly evolving and will need to be revised periodically. It will save time training staff,

interns, and volunteers. People performing standard operations in the collection become more

accountable for the accuracy and quality of their work. The value of a well prepared procedures

manual cannot be overestimated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I would like to thank the Department Chair, Larry Dorr, for his

support, the Collections Advisory Committee for their input and my colleagues in the

herbarium.

REFERENCES

Buck, R.A. & J.A. Gilmore. 2010. Museum registration methods 5th edition (ed. Buck, R. A., & J.A. Gilmore). The

American Association of Museums Press. Washington D.C. United States.

D.J. & A. K. Walker. 1999. Policies and procedures. Pp 177-192, in: Care and conservation of natural history collections.

(ed. Carter. D.J. & A. K. Walker). Butterworth-Heinemann. Oxford, England.

Simmons, J.E. 2010. Collections management policies. Pp 24-29, in: Museum registration methods 5th edition (ed.

Buck, R. A., & J.A. Gilmore). The American Association of Museums Press. Washington D.C. United States.

Yang, M. 1989. Manuals for museum policy and procedures. Curator, 32: Pp 269-274

Smithsonian Institution. 2016. Department of Botany. www.botany.si.edu.

ABSTRACT. The USNM Bird Collection contains many scientiﬁc study skins from the mid to

late 1800s. Many of these older specimens suffer from deterioration mechanisms such as poor

preparation, improper handling and chemical deterioration. They could go undetected for years

or simply ignored without the help of others. Procedures were put in place to help collection

staff detect these deteriorating specimens by utilizing the visiting researchers, volunteers and

staff that work throughout the collection. The specimen deterioration ranges broadly and some

of the most common examples will be illustrated.

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

See something, say something.

Using visiting researchers to

help locate deteriorating avian

study specimens

Christina A. Gebhard* 1

1 Smithsonian Institution, Department of Vertebrate Zoology,

Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History,

Washington, D.C. 20560, USA

* gebhardc@si.edu

ABSTRACT. A manual that assembles standard operating procedures is an extremely valuable

tool for supporting day-to-day functions of a collection. The contents of such a manual describe

every procedure that is speciﬁc to an individual collection. Procedures implement collections

policies which are, therefore, a pre-requisite for the development and documentation of

procedures. At the United States National Herbarium, we’ve begun redrafting our Herbarium

Procedures Manual to support a modiﬁed Smithsonian collections policy (SD-600) and the

National Museum of Natural History’s most recent version of a Collection Management Policy

(CMP). In this latest iteration of a procedures manual, we have returned to the design phase,

drawing on traditional management analysis tools in order to construct an outline into which

we can plug existing and newly developed procedures. At each stage of the effort, internal staff

and external advisors are playing key roles in outlining and writing draft procedures, developing

and testing workﬂows, editing new and existing documentation, and ﬁnally stitching together

the manual. A manual is not static. It must be ﬂexible to change as collections policies

inevitably change. Additionally, a procedures manual conveys a consistent message, assists in

the training of new staff, and contributes to time-saving and cost-effectiveness.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. Without written procedures, information in any type of

organization can be inadequately transferred from person to person. Staff can be forced to

conduct their work using trial and error (Yang 1989; Carter et.al 1999). Having a manual to

support a Collections Management Policy (CMP) can minimize risk and save valuable time and

personnel energy (Carter et al. 1999; Simmons 2010).

The Herbarium Procedures Manual of the U.S. National Herbarium begins with the Collections

Management Policies of both the Smithsonian Institution (SD-600) and the National Museum

of Natural History (CMP). The CMP deﬁnes authority and responsibility, accountability,

compliance, and ethics. It includes policies for acquisition of collections, lending, borrowing

and disposing of collections, access and collections care, inventory, emergency preparedness

and risk management, and intellectual property rights. It includes collecting plans, that is,

strategies for managing growth and use framed by the mission and scope of the collection

as suggested in the “Museum Registration Methods” 5th edition (Beck 2010). Procedures

provide the mechanism for implementing policies (Simmons 2010). Procedures should be

speciﬁc, ﬂexible and unambiguous.

Creating a procedures manual involves planning, designing, writing, editing, approving,

installing, and communicating. The task of communicating procedures to a diverse audience

can be a challenge. Testing the manual on various staff members provides valuable feedback.

The feedback helps strengthen the usability and content of the manual. It is important

that the manual is clear and concise, and include imagery and diagrams to assist in user

comprehension.

Policy. Before a departmental policy can be created, the institution and museum collections

policies (SD-600 and CMP) have been carefully reviewed. The departmental policy then

informs the tasks of outlining, drafting and creating collections procedures. Once a

departmental policy is drafted, it is reviewed by the department’s Collections Advisory

Committee (CAC). The penultimate draft of the departmental policy is sent to the department

chair for review. The department chair returns the policy for ﬁnal edits and departmental

approval. It then goes to the director for ﬁnal approval and circulation to department staff.

Revision of the Museum’s Collection Management Policy is on a ﬁve year cycle and is being

modiﬁed this year, which made this an opportune time to address our own policies. The CMP

becomes an appendix to the Herbarium Procedures Manual and is posted to the department

website, http://www.botany.si.edu, which is publicly available.

Procedures. Following the creation of an amended CMP, we began to address procedures.

Using multiple sources of non-traditional business operations outlines, we began to design a

structure that would provide a place for every existing or newly created procedure. For new or

modiﬁed procedures, designated authors were assigned the task of creating a ﬁrst draft. For

each procedure, both text-based and visual workﬂows were produced. Procedures were tested

ORAL PRESENTATION

Collections stewardship and

policies

From policy to procedures:

designing, constructing and

documenting a complete

herbarium procedure manual

Erika M. Gardner* 1

Rusty Russell1

1 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural

History, Department of Botany. 10th and

Constitution Ave NW, Washington D.C., USA

* gardnere@si.edu

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ABSTRACT. The SERNEC (SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections)

collaborative TCN (www.sernec.appstate.edu) “Key to the cabinets: Building and Sustaining a

Research Database for a Global Biodiversity Hotspot” began digitizing collections more than

a year ago. In this time, Marshall University herbarium (MUHW) has trained 20+ students

in digitization, beginning as early as freshman year. In addition to working with student

employees and research students, we successfully partnered with the Federal Work Study

program. Multi-year students have permitted us to establish best practices and robust, error-

reducing protocols. Our students have not only participated actively in photography and other

technical aspects of the project, but they have also been instrumental in project management.

Our organizational model 1) fully acknowledges the strengths and training needs of students,

2) meets the need for faculty to document their effort in the form of student beneﬁts, 3)

addresses the need to be creative in an increasingly budget-limited environment, 4) reduces

the need for direct PI oversight, and 5) provides students with strong management and peer-

training skills while facilitating rapid completion of this important collaborative research effort.

This model demonstrates that students at all levels can and should be included as equal

partners in our emerging and continuing biodiversity informatics efforts.

ABSTRACT. Fluctuations in food security have been felt on different timescales, from short-

lived famine to prolonged declines in staple crops, livestock and wild prey. As our population

has grown, we have consumed wild species, selected and cultivated them as dietary staples,

altered them through selective breeding, and mitigated ﬂuctuations in their supply with

agricultural advances. An international and interdisciplinary symposium, hosted by Scientiﬁc

Collections International (SciColl), explored the evidence that object-based scientiﬁc

collections in a variety of disciplines may contain that could prove valuable to researchers

involved in food security. Collections can reveal details about the origins and characteristics

of the species we select as food sources, the ways we have and can modify them to meet our

needs, and the histories and causes of their changing abundance. Through this understanding

we become better able to predict and protect our future food supply.

ABSTRACT. Historic herbaria are complex artifacts and pose a challenge for both scientists

and conservators. There are actually no data justifying conservation treatment methods as

absolutely safe for the structure of botanical material. While there are many publications

concerning pesticide treatment and its inﬂuence on DNA material on natural history

collections, the literature on conservation treatment is not very numerable.

Analytical non-destructive methods such as MacroXRF scanning and GC/MS combined with

SPME (solid microphase extraction) are very helpful to determine preliminary policy for

conservators. Micro-destructive methods, such as microfading tests are good tool to investigate

the artifact’s vulnerability to light, what can determine the policy of exhibiting and handling

of artifacts. The paper presents some of the analyses carried out on 18th and 19th century

herbaria. It also announces a 3-year long project aiming at identifying a possible inﬂuence of

conservation treatment methods on genetic material comprised in historic herbaria.

INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND TECHNIQUES. Herbaria are a valuable

source of information for scientists and specialists in different domains. At the same time they

are very complex artifacts that are not easy to maintain, as they consist of various materials.

The oldest examples that survived until nowadays date back in the 16th century and are

attributed to the pupils of Luca Ghini, professor of botany in Bologna, assumed to create the

ﬁrst herbarium with dessicated plants as a scientiﬁc aid. Up to 18th century herbaria were

arranged in a form of the album, until Linnaeus developed a method of attaching specimens on

separate sheets, positioning one specimen on each sheet. This method is still used as it allows

moving particular specimens within the collection, according to the changes in taxonomy. It

also enables to correct misidentiﬁed specimens in the collection. The bound herbaria have a

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

The Marshall University

Herbarium: A model for

engaging student curators in

small herbarium digitization

efforts

Emily Gillespie* 1

1 Marshall University Herbarium (MUHW), Department of

Biological Sciences, Huntington WV, 25755, USA

* gillespieE@marshall.edu

ORAL PRESENTION

Collections for the future –

future of collections

Scientiﬁc collections and food

security: their role in predicting

and protecting our future food

supply

Eileen Graham* 1

David Schindel2

1 Scientiﬁc Collections International,

Washington, 20560, USA

2 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

Institution, Washington, 20560, USA

* grahame@si.edu

ORAL PRESENTION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Challenges of conservation

treatment of historic herbaria

Magdalena Grenda-Kurmanow* 1

1 Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Faculty of Conservation and

Restoration of Works of Art, Warsaw, postcode, Poland

* grenda.magdalena@gmail.com

ABSTRACT. Botanical research and expenditure started with the establishment of the

Department of Biology in 1950s, and then the Herbarium was established in 1959, now it

is called the National Herbarium (ETH). The National Herbarium is one of the biggest and

oldest Herbariums in the country where all the country ﬂora and botanical research is mainly

based on. The Flora of Ethiopia project was started in 1980s through the united effort and

support from Addis Ababa University and the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission

(now Ministry of Science and Technology) in Ethiopia in cooperation with the Department of

Systematic Botany of Uppsala University in Sweden, ﬁnancially supported from the Swedish

Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC). Now it is part of the

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The Flora of Ethiopia and

Eritrea project was completed in 2009 and resulted in the publication of eight ﬂora volumes

with ten books. In these, about 6,027 vascular plant species with 10% endemism have been

documented. These plant species are grouped into four vascular plant groups (lycopodiophytes,

pteridopytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms), which comprise 243 vascular plant families

(Kelbessa and Demissew, 2014). The National Herbarium contains more than 100,000

plant specimens, about 400 of which are type specimens found in the herbarium. The type

specimens and the invasive species specimens were digitized in collaboration with Global

Plants (GPI). Now, the National Herbarium is in the process of replacing all its old wooden

cabinets by metal space-saving cabinets and is planning to digitize all specimens of the

herbarium. This poster presents the Ethiopian National Herbarium activities that have been

done so far and future planned activities to upgrade the herbarium to the virtual level.

REFERENCE

Kelbessa, E. & S, Demissew. 2014. Diversity of vascular plant taxa of the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Ethiop. J. Sci.

13:37-45.

ABSTRACT. The Nagoya Protocol for Access and Beneﬁt Sharing entered into force on October

12, 2014. At the same time, many Parties, i.e. countries that ratiﬁed this international

agreement, had their national Access and Beneﬁt Sharing legislation already in place, often

restricting access to the genetic resources within their respective boundaries. This has wide

implications for the feasibility of biodiversity research involving the collection of specimens

("access"). Since these specimens will in many cases eventually end up in museum collections

for current or future research, museums must be aware of the implications of the Nagoya

Protocol and are advised to develop internal policies and procedures to ensure compliance. The

efforts of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities and of several German Museums

to deal with international and national requirements are illustrated and a mutual baseline is

recommended.

ABSTRACT. Due to its regional and national importance over the past 200 years, Berlin has a

varied and deeply rooted museum tradition. This is reﬂected in an accumulation of museums,

collections and museum related institutions that include tertiary education for museum

professionals located in the Berlin area. The Museum für Naturkunde and the HTW Berlin

(University of Applied Sciences) have initiated a network from some of these museums and

institutions focusing on collection issues, especially in larger collections. The network with

the working title "Zentrum für Sammlungen Berlin" is in its initial phase and intends to gather

the expertise of collection professionals and those who train them both at a university level

and in continuing education to form a visible center for collection related topics. These range

from working groups to conservation issues, documentation and education and knowledge

transfer to common projects. Besides mutual beneﬁcial effects, the network aims at increasing

recognition of the collections by decision makers and funding bodies.

POSTER

Other topics

Brief Summary of the National

Herbarium (ETH)

Fiseha Getachew* 1

1 College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University,

Ethiopia

* ﬁseha.getachew@aau.edu.et, P. O. Box 34405

ORAL PRESENTATION

Collections stewardship and

policies

Access and Beneﬁt Sharing:

implementation and

implications

Peter Giere* 1

Dirk Neumann2

Conny Löhne3

1 Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and

Biodiversity Science, 10115 Berlin, Germany

2 Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Ichthyology Section,

81247 Munich, Germany

3 Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig-

Leibniz-Institut für Biodiversität der Tiere, 53113 Bonn,

Germany

* peter.giere@mfn-berlin.de

POSTER

Other topics

"Zentrum für Sammlungen" – a

Berlin network of museums and

museum related institutions

Peter Giere* 1, Dorothee

Haffner2, and Alexandra

Jeberien2 for the members of

the network

1 Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and

Biodiversity Science, 10115 Berlin, Germany

2 Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin University of

Applied Sciences Berlin, 12459 Berlin, Germany

* peter.giere@mfn-berlin.de

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118 119

applied on the interleaves), so it may be difﬁcult sometimes to predict where it exactly should

be sought. Moreover, in situations when pesticide migrates from the plant to the paper, a point

measurement can be misleading. The solution is MacroXRF, an XRF scanner, which enables

to map the distribution of present elements. A series of scans made on 18th century herbaria

show that the distribution of pesticide can be very unintuitive and surprising (Fig. 2, in this

case: lead arsenate).

Another technique is gas chromatography coupled with solid microphase extraction (GC SPME).

In this method, a needle with a sorbent is introduced in the object (eg. a bound herbarium)

and absorbs the air from inside (Fig. 3). The absorbed air is then analysed by the gas

chromatograph, which enables to identify volatile organic compounds, such as naphthalene,

formaldehyde or thymol.

Additionally, microfading may be a helpful tool to determine item’s stability in regard to light

exposure when exhibited or accessed in the collection. This method is micro-destructive as it

uses a spot of light of very high intensity, but the colour change in the measured spot is hardly

perceptible (Fig. 4).

Another perspective is an investigation on ethical aspect of conservation of historic herbaria.

The project "Heritage preservation and ethnobotany. Analysis of the inﬂuence of conservation

treatment on genetic material comprised in historic herbaria" aims at evaluation of conservation

treatment and popular mending methods in regard to genetic material. This is a 3-year

interdisciplinary project involving cooperation of conservators, botanists, molecular biologists

and other researchers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The analyses and queries are a part of a research project funded by

the National Science Centre in Poland, no. 2014/13/N/HS2/03118, started in April 2015. The

author is the project leader.

ABSTRACT. The Botanic Garden Meise is in the process of building a new portal to access

images and data of its collections. Owing to the constraints of time and money, spending

resources on an analysis of user requirements can seem frivolous. Nevertheless, the success of

a project is hard to evaluate if you do not know what you were trying to achieve and we felt it is

important to give the users a voice in the ﬁnal outcome. This will help us build a better portal,

but will also engage the users from the beginning of the process; rather than imposing our

vision. We decided to subcontract the user requirements analysis to an independent external

company who could be more objective in their assessment. Our initial vision was a broad

consultation with all stakeholders including the general public, schools, policy makers and, of

course, scientists. Nevertheless, it soon became clear that such an approach would have been

too expensive so we had to restrict ourselves to our core user-group of researchers. However,

we divided those researchers into taxonomists, ecologists and historians. Consultations were

conducted in multiple small workshops with participants recruited from inside and outside

the botanic garden. Each workshop was structured to discuss the tasks and data requirements

to conduct research and how an online portal can make those tasks easier. In addition, the

current shortcoming and strengths of the current virtual herbarium were discussed. The results

showed many areas of common interest between different user groups, everyone wanted access

to as much data as possible and also comprehensive links to metadata, but there were more

subtle differences. It is clear that although we can create suitable software for users it will take

longest to satisfy their demand for data from specimens.

POSTER

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

What do users want from a

herbarium’s web portal?

Quentin Groom* 1

Henry Engledow1

Soﬁe De Smedt1

Paul Van Wambeke1

1 Botanic Garden Meise, Meise, B1860, Belgium

* Quentin.Groom@plantentuinmeise.be

ﬁnished form and the order of specimens cannot be changed. The specimens are put often

in a not intuitive order, so that may be not useful for the scientists. Nevertheless they

usually still comprise a lot of historical information.

Different methods were used to create bound and loose sheet herbaria. The specimens

were either sewn, attached using strips of paper, or stuck plain to the paper support.

Sometimes the method of attachment was a combination of solutions. The adhesives

used to attach the specimens were animal glue (ﬁrst mentioned by Tournefort), isinglass

(described by Linnaeus), gum Arabic, starch adhesives or mixtures (e.g. Felix Platter used

a mixture of animal glue and starch adhesive).

The block of the album could be sewn and bound in leather, parchment or cardboard

binding. The bindings and the block often suffered deformation because of the

composition of paper, specimens and adhesives. The other aspect was conservation of

plant’s colour. This was achieved by different techniques, either chemical treatment in

recent decades or simply by colouring the surface of selected specimens (Fig.1).

CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION ISSUES. Materials used to create herbaria cause

many conservation issues. Deformations and tensions between specimens and adhesives

often result in cracking and crushing of plant specimens. Spaces in the deformed paper

allow dust deposits and become attractive to pests. Insufﬁcient mounting causes the

loss of information. Extraordinary elements, as paint layer, can ﬂake from the specimen,

and being historical evidence they require conservator’s intervention of consolidation and

introduction of another material to the object.

Another big problem is the usage of pesticides in herbaria. The one that is known best

and covered in literature is mercury chloride, but the list of other pesticides used is

very long, e.g.: lead arsenate, naphtalene, DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane),

barium ﬂuorosilicate, paradichlorobenzene (1,4-dichlorobenzene), phenol, LPCP-

pentachlorophenyl laureate, Zyklon B (hydrogen cyanide with adsorbent), ethylene

oxide, phosphine, para-chloro-meta-crezol (4-chloro-3-metylphenol), ethylene dichloride

(1,2 dichloroethane), sulfuryl chloride, carbon disulﬁde, carbon tetrachloride,

dichlorvos (DDVP, 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate), methyl bromide, thymol

(2-isopropyl-5-methylphenol), formalin, methyl iodide, creozote, Lindane (gamma-

heksachlorocyklohexane), pyridine, aldrin, endrin and dieldrin. All these substances are

not only harmful to pests but also to human health. In an unpublished report on pest

management methods used in Polish herbaria (survey conducted by the author) some

institutions are proved to still use phosphine, para-chloro-meta-crezol and pesticides based

on dilchlorvos. The report also showed very poor documentation concerning the usage of

particular methods. Awareness of the possible threats when handling herbaria is crucial for

health and safety measures.

Another big issue is the wide range of proﬁles of institutions that have herbaria in their

collection. Herbarsheets can be found the most in institutional herbaria, but they are often

part of the collection in museums, libraries, national parks or independent institutes.

Each institution may have different preservation and conservation policy according to their

needs, habits, knowledge and budget.

PERSPECTIVES ON RESEARCH CONCERNING HISTORIC HERBARIA. Instrumental

analysis of historic herbaria provides information on almost all the elements used to

construct and preserve herbaria. The most promising is the usage of non-destructive

techniques that can provide a lot of information on the object structure. One of the

methods broadly used is X-ray ﬂuorescence (XRF) analysis, which is suitable for

identiﬁcation of some of pesticides, but also inks, certain pigments and metal elements

that may be possibly used in binding. However the most popular method to identify

arsenic and mercury compounds is portable XRF analyser, it has limitations as it can

measure one speciﬁc point during one measurement. Pesticides could be applied in

different ways (onto the specimen, on the paper support, introduced in the adhesive or

Figure 1. Herbarium of Johann Friedrich Zeidler, 1732. An example for

colouring of specimens in order to “preserve” the natural colour of the plant.

Figure 3. Two 18th century herbaria during GC SPME analysis. The needles

with the sorbent are injected in the objects wrapped in aluminum foil to

concentrate the volatile organic compounds.

Figure 4. Specimen during microfading test. The diameter of the spot is

0.6mm.

Figure 2. A fragment of Zeidler’s herbarium scanned with MacroXRF. The

mapping shows strong signals from arsenic (bottom left) and lead (bottom

right) in the same area. The pesticide area doesn’t match to the shape of the

specimen.

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120 121

ABSTRACT. In February 2013, nine students at Arkansas State University (A-State) came

together to form the Natural History Collections Curation Club (NHC3). This club was an

innovative approach to resolving many issues facing the natural history collections at A-State.

The students of the club made it their goal to restore the collections by dedicating their time

and helping to secure funding. These efforts have resulted in funding from the Dean of the

College of Sciences and Mathematics for a part-time student worker in the collections, supplies

for several projects including jars and ethanol for restoring the ﬁsh collections and materials

to create two large specimen mounts, and trips to visit several natural history museums.

This concept has also helped other universities increase student interest and involvement in

collections. To date, three other universities have active natural history collections clubs as

a result of the A-State model. Beginning in the fall of 2015 these four clubs have formed a

network to outreach to other universities that may beneﬁt from this model. Our goal is to use

the Natural History Collections Club Network (NHCCN) as a platform to motivate students

across the globe to become interested and involved in university specimen collections.

ABSTRACT. Between 1821 and 1864 the Horticultural Society of London [now the Royal

Horticultural Society (RHS)] commissioned ten plant hunters (including Fortune and Douglas)

to travel the world and between them they visited nearly every continent. As was common at

that time, plants, bulbs and seeds were sent back with their herbarium specimens to be grown

in the Society’s gardens for assessment as to their merits in cultivation. A large proportion of all

plant introductions to British gardens during this period were a result of the RHS collectors, so

the herbarium specimens are of utmost importance to the history of ornamental horticulture.

The Society, facing ﬁnancial difﬁculties, sold the herbarium specimens at auction in January

1856. Their whereabouts after auction has long been unknown, as a search in the RHS‘s

Library and Archives proved fruitless. By chance a ‘pop-up’ display (January 2016) of some of

their purchased collections residing at the Natural History Museum, London (herbarium code

BM), acted as a catalyst to solve the mystery. We now know that other collections are held in

a number of European herbaria. It is now conceivable to recreate the herbarium from digital

images of the scanned specimens in these collections.

MAIN TEXT. The collections held by the Royal Horticultural Society give a unique insight into

gardening, gardening design, gardening history, botanical and horticultural science, and are

an important part of Britain’s cultural heritage. This period following the foundation of the

Horticultural Society of London in 1804 was the golden age of plant collecting for gardens and

the Society’s collectors were the source of a great many of the plants that are still growing in

our gardens today.

Between 1821 and 1864 the Horticultural Society of London (which became the Royal

Horticultural Society in 1861) commissioned ten plant hunters to bring back plants for the

gardens, initially at Kensington and subsequently at Chiswick. As was normal at the time, the

majority of our plant hunters also made collections of herbarium specimens (with duplicates

distributed to other herbaria) which contributed to the creation of the Horticultural Society’s

herbarium. The herbarium collections linked to expeditions made by the collectors are not only

of huge scientiﬁc signiﬁcance to taxonomists (they include many type specimens and samples

from places hitherto botanically unexplored), but also to garden historians, garden designers,

artists and many more besides. The RHS’s Lindley Library still holds journals and plant lists for

many of the commissioned collectors and is actively seeking funds to help restore and digitise

the records.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Involving undergraduates in the

digital community: Leveraging

collections preservation,

research, and outreach through

a network of natural history

collections clubs

Kari M. Harris* 1

Travis D. Marsico1

1 Arkansas State University, Biological Sciences,

State University, AR, 72467, USA

* kharris@astate.edu

ORAL PRESENTION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods, ideas,

and uses

Recreating a long-lost herbarium

Yvette Harvey* 1

Jonathan Gregson2

1 Keeper of the Herbarium, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking,

Surrey, GU23 6QB, UK

2 Collection Manager (Flowering Plants), Department of Life

Sciences, Plants Division, Natural History Museum, Cromwell

Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

* yvetteharvey@rhs.org.uk

ABSTRACT. Notes from Nature (http://www.notesfromnature.org; NFN) is a citizen science

tool focused on public engagement and label transcription of natural history specimens. The

project was developed collaboratively by biodiversity scientists, curators, and experts in citizen

science, within the well-established Zooniverse platform. Notes from Nature launched in

April 2013 and has been successful by any measure, with over 9190 registered participants

providing 1,340,000 transcriptions. While successful, NFN has been difﬁcult to scale up for

broadest community use, both for natural history collections providers and citizen scientists.

This talk introduces the newly re-launched Notes from Nature, which leverages new tools

produced by both the natural history collections community and the Zooniverse to revolutionize

how to bring new collections online. The key innovation are two tools, Biospex and the

Zooniverse Project Builder, that together dramatically simplify and automate creation of new

expeditions. The new Notes from Nature also has streamlined and enhanced transcription

tools, provider dashboards, and soon to be upgraded user proﬁle pages. Work is ongoing to

build services to return "best transcripts" along with data quality assessments to our providers.

We also discuss engagement efforts and overall interoperability with other biodiversity

informatics tools. Such improvements help cement Notes from Nature's place as a critical

component of an ecosystem of tools needed to unlock the vast legacy biodiversity data for

broad public good.

ABSTRACT. The Large Tropical Conservatory, built in 1906/07, is still the largest greenhouse

in the Botanic Garden Berlin. The column-free steel construction, 60 m in length and

almost 27 m in height, was a pioneering technical work and a proud object of representation

for the imperial capital of Berlin at the time. From 2006 to 2009, this construction was

fundamentally renovated under energy-saving aspects. Meeting the requirements of botany,

economy and monument preservation at the same time seemed almost impossible. However,

in close cooperation with engineers and producers new solutions have been developed that

fulﬁll all demands. Now, the tropical plants enjoy the full spectrum of sunlight required for

optimal growth, the energy costs have been reduced by 70% and the impressive glass dome

corresponds to the original version of 1907, thus meeting the requirements of monument

preservation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The project was realized under the Umweltentlastungsprogramm

II, Senatsverwaltung für Gesundheit, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz (Berlin), project

no.10876UEP/W7, 2006-2009, funded by Europäischer Fonds für die Regionale Entwicklung

(EFRE) of the European Union.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Notes from Nature 2.0: Citizen

science at scale

Robert Guralnick* 1

Michael Denslow1

Austin Mast2

1 Department of Natural History, Florida Museum of

Natural History, Gainesville FL 32601

2 Department of Biological Science, Florida State University,

Tallahassee, FL 32306-4295

* rguralnick@ﬂmnh.uﬂ.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Restoring the Large Tropical

Conservatory (Großes

Tropenhaus) in the Botanic

Garden of Berlin to energy

efﬁciency while considering

aspects of monument

preservation

Friedhelm Haas* 1

1 Haas Architekten BDA, Pariser Straße 6, 10719 Berlin,

Germany

* haas@haas-architekten.de

G/H

Figure 1. Large Tropical Conservatory after the renovation, Victoria House in the

front (Photo: Dirk Altenkirch).

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

122 123

of digitising its collections, which the virtual herbarium would complement. Follow up work is

likely to include highlighting the taxa that were successfully introduced to gardens following

the relevant expedition, and, as far as possible, their subsequent cultivars.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The authors would like to thank John David for his discovery of the

article about the 1856 auction in The Gardener’s Chronicle.

REFERENCES

Elliott, B. 2004. The Royal Horticultural Society: A History 1804-2004. Pp. 432. The Royal Horticultural Society, UK.

ISBN 1 86077 272 2.

Holmgren, P.K., Holmgren, N.H. & Barnett, L.C. (Editors). 1990. Index Herbariorum. Part I: The Herbaria of the World.

Eighth edition. Pp. 693. New York Botanic Garden, USA. ISSN 0080-0694.

ABSTRACT. The SYNTHESYS3 project is funded by the European Union through the 7th

Framework Programme for Research. The aim is to produce an accessible, integrated

European resource of natural history specimens for researchers. The need for the development

and implementation of tools to speed up the process of data capture from natural history

specimens is generally recognised, and one objective within the project focussed on automating

capture of specimen metadata. The work was divided into four sections, each focussing on a

different technology and process. The partners involved have collaborated to review, trial and

develop tools for Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Natural Language Processing (NLP),

Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), template matching and pattern recognition. The results

are summarised and presented here along with the next steps for the project.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This work was carried out with funding from SYNTHESYS3 under EU

7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7). Project reference: 312253

ABSTRACT. Findings from the material sciences and research in conservation technologies are

changing our understanding of best practices in collection storage and exhibition environments.

Consensus has shifted away from standardized criteria for all material and has instead moved

towards a deeper analysis of the needs of individual media and materials. Understanding more

about the impact of ranges of temperature and humidity on cultural heritage allows institutions

to consider new approaches to collection care that require less energy to maintain, impose less

of a burden on buildings and their systems, but still protect collections for future generations.

Debate over the last few years has questioned how museums set norms for collection

environments and review options for energy management, whether the latter are related to

structured setbacks/ shutdowns in system operations, or to levels of enclosure to reduce

reliance on mechanical systems. The research and discussions promise new ﬂexibility in how

institutions approach the resources necessary to effectively protect their collections.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Automating capture of metadata

for natural history specimens

Elspeth Haston* 1, Laurent

Albenga2, Simon Chagnoux2,

Robert Cubey1, Robyn

Drinkwater1, James Durrant3, Ed

Gilbert4, Falko Glöckler5, Laura

Green6, David Harris1, Jörg

Holetschek7, Lawrence Hudson3,

Philip Kahle8, Sally King1,

Agnes Kirchhoff7, Alexander

Kroupa5, Jiří Kvaček9, Gwénaël

Le Bras2, Laurence Livermore3,

Günter Mühlberger8, Deborah

Paul10, Sarah Phillips6, Larissa

Smirnova11 and František Vacek9

1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

2 Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France

3 Natural History Museum, London, UK

4 Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

5 Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany

6 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK

7 Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Berlin,

Germany

8 Innsbruck University, Innsbruck, Austria

9 Narodní Muzeum, Prague, Czech Republic

10 Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA

11 Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium

* e.haston@rbge.org.uk

ORAL PRESENTION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

The collection environment

Catherine Hawks* 1

1 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA

* HawksC@si.edu

Very early contributions to the Kensington garden came via different sources, including living

plants (and seeds) sent by tea factors based in China, contributions from tropical botanical

gardens and even plant enthusiasts employed by embassies. Many ships captains would also

cooperate in this exercise, seeking advice on carrying live plants home before embarking on

expeditions (Elliot 2004: 197). The Society’s plant hunters (to 1856) are listed in Table 1.

Regrettably due to ﬁnancial problems, the Horticultural Society of London sold the herbarium

collection at auction in January 1856, in a sale that made c. £225 (Elliott 2004: 22)

(equivalent of £21,780 today (http://inﬂation.stephenmorley.org). No record of where the sale

items went could be found and small searches on jstor.org proved fruitless, but tantalising

since it wasn’t possible to say for certain where the top set of specimens were housed. For

instance, a search for David Douglas types indicates herbarium specimens stored in BM,

G (Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève), G-DC (Herbier de Candolle,

Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève), GH (Harvard University), K (Royal

Botanic Gardens, Kew), M (Botanische Staatssammlung München), MIN (University of

Minnesota), NY (The New York Botanical Garden), US (Smithsonian Institution) and PH

(Academy of Natural Sciences, Pennsylvania) to name but a few. Early in 2016, a small exhibit

laid out in the herbarium of the Natural History Museum for visitors from the RHS was the

key to us ﬁnding our long-lost collections. Specimens made by Douglas, MacRae and Don had

been purchased by the BM for £74 10 shillings (today’s equivalent £7211.60). A subsequent

further search of the RHS library found more evidence. Because of obscure indexing

terminology, an article written about the sale (The Gardener’s Chronicle, Feb. 2nd 1856: 68)

that included the names of some of the successful bidders had remained undiscovered, so

until the ﬁnd at the BM, we were uncertain as to where the Horticultural Society’s collections

were re-housed. Table 1 shows where the Society’s collections went.

The RHS prides itself on being the deﬁnitive place to go to for advice on anything about the

horticulture of plants, and this is why it is most appropriate that we create a virtual herbarium

of the long-lost collections that are of such enormous signiﬁcance to the horticulture of

ornamental plants. This opportunity exists because so many herbarium specimens have been

digitised and it is technically possible to link these dispersed collections together through the

internet. This is the ﬁrst time such an exercise has been attempted. Our plans are to prioritise

the collectors whose specimens are more likely to be of most importance to horticulture

by searching the Lindley Library archives in order to produce collecting lists and collectors

itineraries. It should then be possible to ﬁnd all the digitised specimens (and duplicates in

other herbaria) to bring back together all the specimens that once comprised the RHS’s ﬁrst

herbarium, hosted on the RHS website. The RHS has a herbarium (WSY) and is in the process

Plant Hunter Collecting Localities Where collections are currently stored

John Potts (-1822) China & India (mostly collecting from gardens)

(1821-1822)

(no known herbarium collections)

George Don (1798-1856) West Africa, Brazil and the West Indies (1821-1823) BM

John Forbes (1798-1823) Madagascar, South African, East & Southern East

Africa (1822-1823)

P (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris) & G (Dr Planchon

buying for P and Baron de Lessert for G)

John Damper Parks (c. 1791-1866) China (1821-1824) [CGE (Cambridge University) (Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries

database ‘botanist‘ seach)]

David Douglas (1798-1834) North America (1823-1827, 1829-1834) BM

James MacRae (-1830) Brazil, Chile, Sri Lanka, Galapagos & Hawaii

(1824-1826)

BM (Hawaii & Sri Lanka), P & G (Chile) (Dr Planchon buying for P and

Baron de Lessert for G)

Karl Theodor Hartweg (1812-1871) Mexico & South America (1836-1848) LD (Lund University) (& PC (Herbier Cryptogamique, Muséum National

d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris) (Prof. Agardh)

Robert Fortune (1812-1880) China (introduced tea to India) (1843-1846) P & G (Dr Planchon buying for P and Baron de Lessert for G)

Mateo Botteri (1808-1877) Mexico (1854-1856) [K (Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries database ‘botanist‘ seach),

CGE, GH (Index Herbariorum ed. 8: 517)]

Table 1. The Society’s early plant hunters, their collecting localities, and herbaria where the collections are now stored

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124 125

ABSTRACT. Designing, constructing and maintaining a large-scale Biorepository for natural

history tissue collections is a complex and challenging endeavor. This is particularly so when

one tries to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certiﬁcation,

as we did at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. One must consider factors,

such as physical layout requirements, air conditioning, ventilation, water systems, electrical

power (including back-up), liquid nitrogen delivery and regulatory compliance when designing

the facility. Consideration for freezers (both mechanical and liquid nitrogen) must be taken into

account as part of the design process, as these are the primary collection storage container.

Maintenance of the facility is critical for the security of the frozen collections, as a single

freezer failure can jeopardize years of expensive collecting efforts. Care must be taken to

ensure that freezers receive regular, professional maintenance by a reputable vendor. Building

systems should also receive regular preventative maintenance to help identify critical system

components that may soon fail. The costs for utilities, liquid nitrogen, stafﬁng, maintenance

and equipment replacement make a steady budget an absolute must to maintain collection

stability and should be the ﬁrst consideration given before undertaking the construction of a

tissue storage facility.

ABSTRACT. Inselect is an open-source desktop application for Mac and Windows that greatly

simpliﬁes many of the challenges of dealing with images generated by museum mass-

digitisation programmes.

Inselect produces, from a whole-drawer or similar scan, individual specimen image crops and

associated metadata. The software combines image processing, barcode reading, validation of

user-deﬁned metadata and batch processing to offer a high level of automation.

Inselect has been used in the Natural History Museum, London, to process in excess of

100,000 microscope slides and is being used by several institutions on objects including

pinned insects, microscope slides and paleontological specimens.

This demo will give an overview of the software and how it can be integrated into existing

workﬂows. Inselect is under active development - we are very excited to engage with the wider

museum community in order to increase the software’s capabilities and to make it as broadly

applicable as possible.

INTRODUCTION. The world’s natural history collections contain an estimated two billion

specimens (Ariño 2010) and constitute a large evidence base for scientiﬁc research on the

natural world. These collections also have enormous cultural, historical and aesthetic value yet

the vast majority of specimens are not easily accessible.

In order to simplify access to collections and to make new areas of scientiﬁc research possible,

many natural history organisations are carrying out major digitisation programmes that require

the bulk processing of specimens, images and unstructured metadata, while at the same

time ensuring data quality (Bearman and Cellinese 2012; Blagoderov et al. 2012). The sheer

scale of collections often mandates the use of ‘whole-drawer imaging’ in which high-resolution

photographs (typically many hundreds of megabytes in size) of tens, hundreds or possibly

thousands of specimens are taken (Dietrich et al. 2012; Mantle et al. 2012; Schmidt et al.

2012).

Whole-draw imaging presents two substantial challenges. First, each individual specimen,

along with associated barcodes and labels, must be identiﬁed so that specimen-level images

can be cropped. Second, metadata such as catalogue numbers, location within the collection

and possibly transcribed information on labels, must be captured and associated with the

cropped images. The lack of standard software for these activities has forced organisations to

resort to laborious and potentially error-prone manual processes.

THE SOFTWARE. Inselect is an easy-to-use desktop application that addresses several of the

needs of these large-scale mass-digitisation projects (Hudson et al. 2015). The software is

open-source, hosted at https://github.com/NaturalHistoryMuseum/inselect, where installers for

both Mac OS X and Windows PCs can be downloaded. Inselect offers

• automatic detection of specimens within images and the placement of a bounding box

around each one;

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to pratice

what we preach? (General

session)

Constructing and maintaining

a large-scale tissue collection:

Lessons learned

Christopher J. Huddleston* 1

1 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural

History, Suitland, MD, 20746, USA

* huddlestonc@si.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

DemoCamp

Inselect – applying computer

vision to facilitate rapid record

creation and metadata capture

Lawrence N Hudson* 1,

Elizabeth Louise Allan1,

Vladimir Blagoderov1, Natalie

Dale-Skey1, Alice Heaton1,

Pieter Holtzhausen2, Laurence

Livermore1, Benjamin W Price1,

Emma Sherlock1, Stéfan van der

Walt2,3, and Vincent S Smith1

1 Natural History Museum, Department of Life Sciences,

London, SW7 5BD, UK

2 Stellenbosch University, Division of Applied Mathematics,

Stellenbosch, South Africa

3 University of California, Berkeley Institute for Data Science,

Berkeley, USA

* l.hudson@nhm.ac.uk

ABSTRACT. The cost of construction directly shapes capital projects, and understanding its

process and methodologies helps stakeholders navigate a complicated and often frustrating

part of a building renovation. Realizing the potential costs early and assessing the institution’s

capacity to raise funds makes for productive early planning, creates conﬁdence in the project’s

feasibility and expedites decision-making for all involved. Folding environmental sustainability

into the mix complicates the issue because, particularly in the past, going green increases

the initial costs of building projects. These are critical to manage, but considering life cycle

costs allows projects to study the long-term ﬁnancial implications of measures that reduce

energy use or increase staff efﬁciency and productivity, thereby contributing to institutional

sustainability. This presentation will treat project costs as a risk to manage alongside other

collection issues, explain the methodology for organizing (and understanding) construction

estimates and suggest strategies for navigating ﬁnancial concerns before, during and after a

building project.

ABSTRACT. Georeferencing is becoming an established practice across natural history

collections worldwide, and a core component to research spanning ﬁelds as diverse as

conservation and human health. However, the uncertainty surrounding historic data can span

tens of thousands of meters and is rarely acknowledged in research studies. Using data from

the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCSM) as a case study, I highlight several

important questions regarding georeferencing with uncertainty. The NCSM collection mirrors

the historical evolution of ideas surrounding the calculation of uncertainty, beginning with the

use of conﬁdence levels based on scales of relative certainty to using the guidelines within

“The Guide to Best Practices for Georeferencing”. Although better matching the level of

accuracy to reﬂect the actual uncertainties of our locality data, these practices raise several

questions. Are we possibly creating a false impression of the distribution of species? How can

we best provide the high-throughput required by funding agencies, yet still provide research

ready data? Moreover, how can we ensure use of uncertainty by researchers? Addressing these

and other open questions concerning spatial data will allow us unlock the true potential of our

historic records, as they become a central component of 21st century biodiversity science.

ABSTRACT. The Leibniz Association unites 88 institutions throughout Germany which are

legally, scientiﬁcally and economically independent entities. They include both research

institutes and facilities that mainly provide infrastructure for research and society. Leibniz

institutions are evaluated by the Leibniz Senate every seven years at the latest. One special

feature of the Leibniz Association is its eight research museums of different disciplines,

ranging from cultural history to natural sciences. They deﬁne themselves as integrated

research museums, as they produce collection-based research and excellent science, care for

and develop its collections as part of a global scientiﬁc infrastructure, and serve as a bridge

between science and society. The talk will present the concept of an integrated research

museum and will show examples for the realization of this concept and it´s evaluation at

the Deutsches Museum, the German Mining Museum, the German Maritime Museum, the

Germanisches Nationalmuseum, the Museum für Naturkunde, the Römisch-Germanisches

Zentralmuseum, the Senckenberg Museums and the Zoological Research Museum Alexander

Koenig.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Understanding cost

management

Jeff Hirsch* 1

1 EwingCole, Federal Reserve Bank Building 100 N,

6th Street ,Philadelphia, PA 19106-1590, USA

* jhirsch@ewingcole.com

ORAL PRESENTATION

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

The Art of Georeferencing:

A case study at the North

Carolina Museum of Natural

Sciences

Gabriela M. Hogue* 1

1 North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences,

Ichthyology Unit, Raleigh, 27601, USA

* gabriela.hogue@naturalsciences.org

ORAL PRESENTATION

Collections for the future –

future of collections

The Leibniz Association and its

eight research museums

Britta Horstmann* 1

1 Leibniz Association, 10115 Berlin, Germany

* horstmann@leibniz-gemeinschaft.de

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126 127

DISCUSSION. The software lacks some of the polish that users expect of software such as

localization, an ‘undo’ feature and comprehensive documentation. Inselect is being actively

developed - we are keen to add these features and to rapidly expand its capabilities. We would

like Inselect to be used on as many different specimen types and within as many different

workﬂows as possible and we are keen to assist institutions with integrating the software into

their pipelines. We welcome and greatly value all comments, suggestions and bug reports,

which we maintain at https://github.com/NaturalHistoryMuseum/inselect/issues/.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This research received support from the SYNTHESYS Project,

http://www.synthesys.info/, which is ﬁnanced by European Community Research Infrastructure

Action under the FP7 Integrating Activities Programme (Grant agreement number 312253),

and from the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council.

REFERENCES

Ariño A.H. 2010. Approaches to estimating the universe of natural history collections data. Biodiversity Informatics.

7(2):81–92.

Beaman R.S. & N. Cellinese. 2012. Mass digitization of scientiﬁc collections: new opportunities to transform the use of

biological specimens and underwrite biodiversity science. ZooKeys. 2012; 209: 7–17.

Blagoderov V., I.J. Kitching, L. Livermore, T.J. Simonsen and V.S. Smith. 2012. No specimen left behind: industrial scale

digitization of natural history collections. ZooKeys 12:133–146.

Dietrich C., J. Hart, D. Raila, U. Ravaioli, N. Sohb and C. Taylor. 2012. InvertNet: a new paradigm for digital access to

invertebrate collections. ZooKeys. 209:165-181

Hudson, L.N., V. Blagoderov, A. Heaton, P. Holtzhausen, L. Livermore, B.W. Price, S. van der Walt and V.S. Smith. 2015.

Inselect: automating the digitization of natural history collections. PLOSONE. 10(11):e0143402.

Mantle B.L., J. La Salle and N. Fisher. 2012. Whole-drawer imaging for digital management and curation of a large

entomological collection. ZooKeys.209:147-163.

Schmidt S., M. Balke and S. Lafogler. 2012. DScan – a high-performance digital scanning system for entomological

collections. ZooKeys. 209:183-191

ABSTRACT. Tracking natural history specimens, from curation to distribution, along with the

conversion of data from ﬁeld notebook into digital format, delivery to data aggregator, and

its ultimate use in research, can be a complex process. Legacy collections are expensive and

time consuming to digitize, and errors are often complicated to correct. As such, developing

best practices for new ﬁeld collections for efﬁcient digitization and data sharing, reproducible

research and rapidly discoverable data is critical for eliminating efforts of digitization being

repeated within multiple natural history collections and for avoiding the transcription errors

that can result. Data sharing and use of aggregated ecological and biological data sets require

knowledge of the appropriate use of identiﬁers, understanding data standards, and developing

new skill sets in order to efﬁciently and accurately use biodiversity data. This presentation

will highlight these concepts as they apply to research using biological collections data, with

lessons learned from experiences of ﬁeldwork and challenges and successes in using natural

history data for studying the biodiversity of the tropical islands of Melanesia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iDigBio is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's

Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Program (Cooperative Agreement

EF-1115210). This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science

Foundation under Grant Numbers DEB-0950207 and DBI-1057453

ORAL PRESENTATION

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural History

Collections Data and Integrating

Data for Research (iDigBio

Symposium)

Field to database to aggregator

and beyond: documenting the

ﬂora of Melanesia

Shelley A James* 1

1 Florida Museum of Natural History, iDigBio, Gainesville,

FL, 32611, USA

* sjames@ﬂmnh.uﬂ.edu

• `cookie-cutter` bounding box templates, for workﬂows in which objects are always at

the same locations within image e.g., when specimens are placed within templates;

• manual creation and editing of bounding boxes;

• barcode reading;

• association, validation and export of user-deﬁned metadata at object-, group- and

drawer-levels;

• export of full-resolution crops of individual objects.

The ‘boxes’ view (Figure 1) shows the zoomable image together with bounding boxes

around individual specimens. The ‘segment’ command runs an algorithm that attempts

to detect specimens and places a bounding box around each. The user can create,

delete, move and resize boxes using the mouse and/or keyboard, making it a simple task

to reﬁne the outputs of automated segmentation.

The panel on the right contains metadata ﬁelds. The user can create metadata

templates (simple structured text ﬁles; examples and documentation at https://github.

com/NaturalHistoryMuseum/inselect-templates) that deﬁne the ﬁelds, their types and

any associated validation. It is a simple task for the user to deﬁne ﬁeld-level validation

such as

• an integer greater than zero;

• a latitude in one of several formats;

• a value from a pre-deﬁned list;

• a date in the form YYYY-MM-DD;

• a more complex scheme deﬁned by a regular expression.

Metadata templates also specify how the ﬁlenames of exported crops will be assembled

from the ﬁeld values.

The ‘objects’ view shows individual images either in a grid (Figure 2) or with a single

image expanded (Figure 3). This view allows the user to rotate images individually or in

groups, making it easier to transcribe label information into metadata ﬁelds. Rotation is

also applied to the cropped object images, when these are saved.

The most important and time-consuming functions on an Inselect workﬂow are

also accessible through command-line tools that operate on batches of images and

documents (Figure 4)

• ingest – creates the ‘.inselect’ ﬁle (which will contain bounding boxes and

metadata) and the thumbnail image that is displayed by the desktop application;

• segment – runs the automated segmentation algorithm;

• read_barcodes – reads barcodes and populates metadata ﬁelds with barcode values;

• save_crops – saves cropped images for each bounding box;

• export_metadata – writes metadata to a Comma-Separated Values (CSV) ﬁle.

Users can assemble these batch-processing tools into a pipeline that, together with the

use of the desktop application, metadata templates and cookie cutter ﬁles, constitutes

an efﬁcient and highly automated workﬂow.

Figure 1. The boxes view, showing a zoomable thumbnail image of a drawer

of Ephemeroptera (mayﬂies), together with bounding boxes that can be edited

using the mouse and keyboard.

Figure 2. The objects view, showing objects (microscope slides containing

Sialidae - alderﬂies) in a grid. The ﬁrst box (selected) lacks a value for the

mandatory ‘Catalog number’ ﬁeld so both the box and the ﬁeld are shown in

red.

Figure 3. The objects view with a single Sialidae object expanded.

Figure 4. A typical Inselect workﬂow. Each of the blue boxes has a corresponding command-line tool that operates on batches of images.

H/J

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128 129

ABSTRACT. Mobilisation of specimen metadata is one of today’s most pressing issues in

collection management. In herbaria, this is facilitated by the fact that most specimens are

largely 2-dimensional, mounted on a cardboard sheet, with labels glued alongside containing

the metadata like the scientiﬁc name, collection site and date, collector, barcode, etc. Capture

of digital images thus includes this information, albeit initially not in a searchable form. Data

extraction itself is still done in most cases in a time consuming manual process. The StanDAP-

Herb Project funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) develops a standard process

for (semi-) automatic detection of meta-data on herbarium specimens in order to replace

the manual data input where possible. StanDAP-Herb evaluates existing tools and methods

for automatic information extraction and attempts to integrate them into an open software

architecture based on established IT standards. As a result, a standard workﬂow is deﬁned to

guide the extraction process. The software modules of the architecture become available for

work ﬂow processing, in order to verify data quality, facilitate data discovery and enhance the

application of collection data in research.

ABSTRACT. College-level plant diversity courses often involve a collection project, which

is designed to help students learn to correctly identify, document, and preserve specimens

for scientiﬁc study. While these projects are invaluable teaching tools, the specimens and

associated data are often not incorporated into herbaria or online biodiversity data aggregators

due to lack of quality, herbarium backlog, or both. Furthermore, students are not exposed to

the emerging online citizen science initiatives and herbarium databases of our information-rich

digital age. Here we present a new project and associated website (http://collectionseducation.

org) designed to enhance traditional collection projects that can easily be incorporated into any

plant diversity course. The project integrates traditional taxonomic practices, ongoing citizen

science initiatives, and digital-age curatorial skills, with the ﬁnal goal of producing archival-

quality, research-ready plant observations and collections that will become part of our national

biodiversity archive. Due to the importance of collections in hand and online, this project

emphasizes the skills and best practices required to facilitate downstream applications of

student collections and documentation of plant biodiversity. Over the past two years, we have

implemented this project in 11 courses taught at four American universities. This poster will

present preliminary data analysis from pre- and post-course student responses, which provides

an assessment of the project’s value not only to the biodiversity collections community, but to

the students’ learning.

ABSTRACT. A collection management system (CMS) enables collection managers to do their

jobs more efﬁciently and with more impactful results. In this case study, the Chicago Academy

of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (CAS/PNNM) shares its experience choosing

between four CMS options: EMu, Specify, Arctos, and CollectionSpace. Each was evaluated

on its functionality – including its ability to accurately represent our diverse collections

and to enable efﬁcient workﬂows – its provision for data discoverability, and its feasibility

for implementation. Because the technical speciﬁcities of software inherently have a short

lifespan, this case study offers evaluation through a broader framework of information science

that should continue to be relevant even as the CMS options evolve.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. Many museums have faced the task of acquiring a new

collections management system (CMS) that is relational database software designed to

speciﬁcally address the needs of collections. Investing in the right CMS should enable

collection managers to do their jobs more efﬁciently and with more impactful results. The task

POSTER

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural History

Collections Data and Integrating

Data for Research (iDigBio

Symposium)

Information Extraction from

Herbarium Sheets - The

StanDAP-Herb Project

Kirchhoff, A.1, Röpert, D.1,

Güntsch, A.1, Berendsohn, W.

G.* 1, Santamaria, E.3, Bügel,

U.3, Chaves-S., F.3, Guan, C.2,

Zheng, H.2, and Steinke, K.-H.2

1 Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin (BGBM),

14195 Berlin, Germany

2 Hochschule Hannover University of Applied Sciences

and Arts, 30459 Hannover, Germany

3 Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and

Image Exploitation (IOSB), 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany

* Corresponding author: W.Berendsohn@bgbm.org

POSTER

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

CollectionsEducation.org:

Connecting students to citizen

science and curated collections

Erica R. Krimmel* 1, Debra L.

Linton2, Travis D. Marsico3, Anna

K. Monﬁls2, Ashley B. Morris4,

Brad R. Ruhfel5

1 Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature

Museum, Biology, Chicago, 60614, USA

2 Central Michigan University, Biology, Mount Pleasant,

48859, USA

3 Arkansas Statue University, Biology, Jonesboro, 72401, USA

4 Middle Tennessee State University, Biology,

Murfreesboro, 37132, USA

5 Eastern Kentucky University, Biology, Richmond,

40475, USA

* ekrimmel@naturemuseum.org

ORAL PRESENTATION

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural History

Collections Data and Integrating

Data for Research (iDigBio

Symposium)

Evaluating collection

management systems for

interdisciplinary natural history

collections

Erica R. Krimmel* 1

Dawn Roberts 1

1 Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature

Museum, Biology, Chicago, 60614, USA

* ekrimmel@naturemuseum.org

ABSTRACT. The University Museum of Zoology Cambridge was excited to acquire a collection

of deep-sea material from the British Antarctic survey in 2015. These specimens will be an

exciting addition to the new central displays within the museum, and will be an exceedingly

rare display in the U.K.

The hydrothermal vent and associated barnacles, Vulcanolepas scotiaensis, were collected in

2010 in the Scotia Sea at a depth of 2394m. The collection also includes examples of the

‘Hoff’ crab, Kiwa tyleri, and other species that live on the vent. The preservation and display of

this material is of huge interest as is contains examples of many species at differing life stages

and to have it displayed together will be an exciting exhibit for the museum.

This poster will detail the preservation and display of this iconic specimen.

ABSTRACT. Over the last 25 years, curation standards have improved for ﬂuid and dry

specimens. Increased general market demand for the production of archival documents and

photographs has led to a variety of innovative inks and paper stock that meets collection

management needs. Museums are beneﬁtting from these advancements, but long term

studies of these media must be established to ensure the security of our specimen data.

Thermal transfer labels have been in use for two decades, allowing for longitudinal study of

the product’s durability in varied ﬂuid environments. These products have performed well,

but are vulnerable when exposed to certain specimen processing chemicals (e.g. surfactants).

To hedge against failure of a single label product, we have been testing alternate printers

and inks for back-up potential. In late 2014, the Department of Invertebrate Zoology and the

Division of Fishes began testing pigment-based color inkjet printers. We replicated ﬂuid test

environments from the original thermal printer studies with the inclusion of several commonly

used chemicals (e.g. DMSO, surfactants, liquid nitrogen, xylene, etc.). We present the results

of the preliminary study and make recommendations for additional curation approaches using

these relatively recent labelling products.

ABSTRACT. Digitizing natural history collections has long been an idealized goal and is often

an overwhelming challenge. The relevant question is how collections usability can be improved

through digitization. The digitizing of vertebrate collections of the Canadian Museum of Nature

(CMNVC) was initiated for collection management purposes in 1972 with the implementation

of the Fish Information Retrieval System. At the same time, the National Museums Corporation

of Canada advocated for a national directory based on computer technology. Digitizing CMNVC

was a very slow process at that time. Various other challenges had to be overcome since then,

including detecting and editing numerous errors that were introduced through successive data

migrations. Today, 91% of the CMNVC are digitized, and core specimen data are retrievable

on the Web for most of the collections. Digitizing, however, requires regular updates to

reﬂect changing needs in scientiﬁc communities, and to capitalize on new opportunities that

arise with the advances of computer technology. We critically reviewed European and North

American digitizing initiatives to develop an innovative, systematic approach that should

maximize in situ and remote use of both the data and physical objects. To optimize CMNVC

collections usability, we advocate for interactivity of online biodiversity data portals.

POSTER

Other topics

Palms and Carl von Martius in

the Botanic Garden Meise

Viviane Leyman* 1

Soﬁe De Smedt1

Piet Stoffelen1

1 Botanic Garden Meise, Collections Department, Meise, 1860,

Belgium

* viviane.Leyman@plantentuinmeise.be

ABSTRACT. Worldwide, bio-collections institutions face a challenging dilemma: how to

prioritize the digitization of massive amounts of data associated with millions of voucher

specimens of animals, plants, fungi and other organisms that document the planet’s

biodiversity. Setting “demand-driven” digitization priorities is essential to having the best

biodiversity data enable the best science for understanding and sustaining Earth’s biological

systems – and to do so in time to make a difference. But setting digitization priorities involves

serving competing institutional, local, regional, national and global imperatives: individual

research interests; institutional mandates; science agendas; and various environmental

concerns (e.g., endangered species, invasives, disease vectors/hosts, pollinators, pests).

Moreover, each imperative has its particular calculus of taxonomic groups, geographic areas,

time periods, and ecosystems/habitats. Overlying these permutations are the missions of

different stakeholders and funders: intergovernmental bodies (e.g., IPBES, CBD), government

agencies, NGOs, private foundations, and corporations. In a resource-limited world, a

digitization strategy of maximum efﬁcacy will require all parties to collaborate on setting

demand-driven, overarching priorities that, simultaneously: (1) target the most urgent

environmental and biodiversity science imperatives of our time; (2) are underpinned by

sophisticated gap analyses; (3) include the greatest commonality among competing interests;

(4) tackle what is most pragmatic; and (5) promise the most immediate impacts.

ABSTRACT. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH)

Department of Mineral Sciences’ Rock & Ore Collection was offered 20,000 samples

related to teaching collections and 174 graduate theses from Princeton University’s Geology

Department in 2009. The collections were heavily culled and 101 theses were accepted along

with nine additional lots of teaching collections. In 2013, Collections Program Technicians

(CPT) organized the samples within each thesis by collector’s ﬁeld number, and scanned

the corresponding paper for reference to the sample in order to further cull the collection

at the specimen level. Any rock that did not have a sample label or was not referenced in a

thesis was donated to NMNH’s Education and Outreach Collection or discarded. A total of

7,854 documented rocks, powders, and thin sections were accessioned, assigned a catalog

number, and curated into the museum collections database, allowing for immediate research

opportunities. When integrating orphaned collections, it is important to determine if a given

sample has enough associated information, such as identiﬁcation, precise locality, or formation

name, before incorporating it into a permanent collection. If the entire collection had been

kept and cataloged without systematic high-grading, there would have been a signiﬁcant

increase in time, storage space, and funding needed to sustain the collection with little to no

gain for scientiﬁc research.

ABSTRACT. Paleontologic fossil occurrence information is stored in both collection and

research databases. The former are mostly only accessible at institutional websites as

existing (biodiversity) portals like GBIF do not adequately support the essential geologic

information component of paleontologic records (geologic age and stratigraphic context).

Research database projects have, by contrast, long been widely used in paleontology, and

include the Paleobiology Database, the Geobiodiversity Database, NSB (Neptune), Neotoma,

NOW; and other types of databases e.g. numerous clade speciﬁc taxonomic catalogs, image

and phylogenetics repositories. These data are normally integrated with geoscience data for

analyses, often from archives like NGDC or Pangea. Although there is substantial interest in

networking collection databases to improve internal content, and in using collection databases

in research, several requirements must ﬁrst be met: uniﬁed data exchange standards, suited

also for earth science (which require improved ontologies and vocabularies for geologic data)

and methods to deal with the differences in data quality (research databases mostly contain

vetted, published data, while collection databases contain a wide mixture of information,

partially in need of major revision or ﬁltering).

MAIN TEXT. Putting collection data on the internet, and providing systems that network and

integrate these data are major themes in collection management. In addition to improving

access to collection objects, such data can be used in their own right for analyses. GBIF,

ORAL PRESENTATION

Setting global and local

digitisation priorities (GBIF

Symposium)

The digitization dilemma:

Setting “demand-driven”

priorities and why it matters

Leonard Krishtalka* 1

1 Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Dyche Hall,

1345 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA

* Krishtalka@ku.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Collections for the future –

future of collections

A rock without data is just

a rock: The importance of

systematically integrating

orphaned collections

Amanda Lawrence* 1

Leslie Hale1

1 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

Institution, 10th & Constitution NW, Washington,

DC 20560-0119, USA

* lawrencea@si.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

Paleontologic collection data

in the broader context of

paleontologic research data

systems

David Lazarus* 1

Jeremy Young2

Shanan Peters3

Johan Renaudie1

1 Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43,

10115, Germany

2 University College London, Earth Sciences, Gower Street,

WC1E 6BT, UK

3 University Wisconsin, Department of Geoscience, Madison,

1215 W Dayton St, WI 53706, USA

* david.lazarus@mfn-berlin.de

K/L

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

134 135

Sago originates from the pith of Metroxylon sago. Sago is demonstrated in different forms:

cake, pearls, grains and powder.

Vegetable ivory is the hard endosperm of various palm seeds, which can be treated just as

ivory. Best known are the carvings from the tagua nut of the South American Phytelephas

macrocarpa. But most interesting is a demo box of buttons made from the African mabondo

nuts of Sclerosperma mannii and sampled by Kinds, the director of the former Colonial Garden

in Brussels.

Carnauba wax is made up of particles from the dried leaves of the Brazilian Copernicia

prunifera. The ‘queen of waxes’ (highest melting point) is used in the manufacture of candles,

polish, cosmetics and pill coatings. Specimens of the de Macedo, who did the earliest research

on it, enrich the collection.

The woody-like material of palm stems varies widely. In the case of Borassus species, the

pattern is striking.

The legendary ‘coco-de-mer’ or double coconut of Lodoicea maldivica is not lacking. Rough

seeds as well as polished ones are traded; divided into halves, they are used as plates. The

genus name was chosen to honor Louis XV of France, the species epithet refers to its bizarre

fruits ﬁrst seen drifting ashore the beaches of the Maldives

ABSTRACT. A ring tailed lemur was the subject of extreme pest damage caused by clothes

webbing moths. The extent of the damage had led to the specimen suffering from areas of

complete fur loss leading to large areas of exposed skin. As well as leaving the object fragile

and causing instability to the rest of the fur. The ﬁlls needed to be ethical, reversible and non-

invasive, causing no further damage to the already fragile specimen. The poster will provide a

detailed overview of the techniques used for the treatment of the specimen as well as a guide

on how to create needle felted ﬁlls using the specimens own fur.

ABSTRACT. From experience, we realize that the overwhelm of beginning a digitization effort in

a small herbarium largely stems from not knowing where to start and not clearly understanding

how to sort out the litany of options available. Moreover, price of a reliable set-up may also

seem like an insurmountable impediment. In many situations, herbaria have supplies that can

be repurposed for digitization that will help keep start-up costs low. If nothing is available, we

suggest a complete system for as low as $2500 USD. If more resources can be used, a top-of-

the line computer, camera, lighting system, external hard drive, copy stand, barcode scanner,

barcode labels, color separation guide, and accessories can be purchased for $10,000 USD.

We recommend using image capture software that comes complimentary with the camera and

free database platforms for label data. We will discuss practical aspects of image and data

capture and storage including selecting the appropriate camera, lens, lighting, accessories,

image processing, database, and data storage options. We will also address student worker

productivity, satisfaction, and learning opportunities. Specimen digitization and data sharing

are viable and necessary for small collections with limited resources.

POSTER

Other topics

Needle felting ﬁlls: Creating ﬁlls

for areas of fur loss using needle

felting as a technique

Suzie Li Wan Po* 1

1 Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, Conservation,

Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK

* suzielwp@hotmail.co.uk

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods, ideas,

and uses

Frank discussion of small

herbarium digitization

options for the lost, confused,

weary, under-budgeted, and

over-stimulated

Travis D. Marsico* 1

Kari M. Harris1

1 Arkansas State University, Department of Biological Sciences,

State University, AR, 72467, USA

* tmarsico@astate.edu

Figure 1 / left. Before Treatment

Figure 2 / right. After Treatment with Needle Felted Fills

Palms are outstanding too in the herbarium collections of the Botanic Garden Meise. The

Garden has the privilege to possess the precious palm material from Carl von Martius. It mainly

consists of his herbaria in the original, big sized boxes. The related and more space taking

fruits, seeds, ﬁbers, waxes and resins are enclosed in glass jars, counting 300 specimens and

forming part of the Cabinet of Botanical Curiosities. Carl von Martius is renowned as author

of the magisterial Historia Naturalis Palmarum, published between 1823 and 1850. It is the

ﬁrst botanical classiﬁcation of the then known 600 palm species. Many of the palm genus

names take us back to contributors and contemporaries of von Martius: Johannesteijsmannia

(named after Johannes Teijsmann, director of ’s Lands Plantentuin in Buitenzorg, now Bogor,

Java), Leopoldinia (named after Maria Leopoldina, daughter of King Maximilian I of Bavaria),

Maximiliana (named after Prince Maximilian von Wied-Neuwied, German botanist in Brazil and

North America), Orania (named after William of Nassau, Prince of Orange and Crown Prince

of the Netherlands), Orbignya (named after Alcide d’Orbigny, French naturalist and collector

of 10000 South American specimens) and Verschaffeltia (named after Ambroise Verschaffelt,

Belgian horticulturist in Ghent and founder of the journal L’Illustration Horticole).

In 2015 all the non-herbarium material of palms in jars and in cardboard boxes was

rehabilitated. The specimens were cleaned, the original labels were decoded and safeguarded,

and links with manuscripts were assayed as far as possible to complete the data, which then

were introduced in the database.

Unique are a number of authentic jars of thin glass of von Martius, with cork stopper and

double numbering which can be traced in his Synopsis of the Historia Naturalis Palmarum!

Some specimens even go back to his expedition to Brazil (1817-1820) with the zoologist

Johann von Spix, commissioned by King Maximilian I of Bavaria.

Apart from the palm material from von Martius, a signiﬁcant number of specimens originate

from former colonies of France (19th century), i.a. French Guiana, India, Cochinchina and

Reunion, and from D.R. Congo (20th century) via the Colonial Garden in Brussels or collected

by Belgian botanists and co-operators in DR Congo. Globally this collection contains c. 670

specimens of palms from all over the world. A lot of specimens reﬂect the economic value of

palms since the 19th century.

Best known from Areca catechu is the stimulating and red tanning masticatory called ‘betel

nut’. It is prepared from its seeds, cut into pieces when young and tender or boiled in water,

with i.a. slaked lime and wrapped in a leaf of Piper betle. Various specimens show ruminate

seeds, entire or sliced, and particles or clumps of processed material.

An important palm ﬁber is piassava, once used in the manufacture of cordage for anchoring

vessels or tying elephants, and still used for making bristles and brushes, even for rotating

sweeping vehicles. This strong ﬁber, appointed as from Bahia, from Pará and from Ceylon,

originates from different genera, being respectively Attalea funifera, Leopoldinia piassava and

Caryota urens. Fiber samples of the three of them are present in the collection.

Another noteworthy palm ﬁber is vegetable hair, which is used in upholstery. It consists in

knotted, leaf sheat ﬁbers, dyed or not, derived from Oncosperma ﬁlamentosa (Cochinchina)

and Chamaerops humilis (Algeria).

From coir, the husk ﬁber of Cocos nucifera fruits, different qualities of Sri Lankan bristle ﬁber

are shown.

A precious Arab rosary, made from seeds of Chamaerops humilis, belongs to the von Martius

collection.

Copra, which is the endosperm of the Cocos nucifera seeds, yields coconut fat and oil, used

in cooking, cosmetics and industry. Several specimens illustrate the innovative London Price’s

Patent Candle Company, who ﬁrst used copra oil and reﬁned it to stearine, obtaining candles

burning bright and without smoke or smell.

Palm oil and palm kernel oil, extracted from the seeds of the West African Elaeis guineensis,

is used in food and cosmetics. Samples come from the Colonial Garden in Brussels and from

Price’s Patent Candle Company, who processed it as second, overlooked, tropical product after

copra oil.

Asian dragon blood is a resin appearing on immature fruits of Daemonorops draco. Formerly

it has been used in medicine and as a dye in ancient lacquer. Appealing specimens from

famous collectors, such as von Martius, the Antwerp Rigouts family and Sloane (foundation of

the British Museum), show dragon blood in varying shapes, wrapped and tied with vegetable

material.

L/M

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136 137

Yale University scientists teamed up with scientists from the Field Museum and Argonne

National Laboratories to try and solve this 50-year old mystery. The scientists examined over

1300 Tully monster specimens from the Field Museum’s collections and used new technology

to ﬁnd clues to determine what exactly is a Tully monster (McCoy et al., 2016). Tully monster

fossils were examined with synchrotron X-rays at Argonne National Laboratories to look for

trace elements and hidden morphologies A scanning electron microscope was used to generate

elemental maps of Tully monsters to tease out any preservational features they may share with

other fossils and many specimens were examined and measured to discover morphological

traits to be included in a phylogenetic analysis (McCoy et al., 2016).

METHODS. A three-week project was implemented to photograph the entire

1800-specimen collection of Tully monster fossils at the Field Museum. Each part and

counterpart was photographed in low-angle and cross-polarized light. Originally we had

hoped to take one photograph for each specimen, including part and counterpart in

the same image. Experimenting with this approach we discovered, due to differences

in thickness of the parts and counterparts and size of the specimens, that individual

photographs for each part and counterpart would produce better images. This decision

resulted in nearly double the number of images produced for the project (not all

specimens had a counterpart) and also increased the time needed to ﬁnish. This meant

that only 1305 specimens out of 1873 specimens were imaged. Since few Tully monster

specimens are complete a ﬁle naming protocol was developed that included morphologic

characters of the specimen to help facilitate researchers locating specimens that were of

interest to them. The ﬁle naming protocol used the specimen’s catalog number along with

two keys: one to identify cross-polarized from non-polarized images and a second key to

identify which morphologic parts were preserved in each Tully monster specimen. Cross-

polarized images were assigned a “_p”. After the “_p” a hyphen was inserted and then

one-word descriptions of Tully monster’s key morphologic traits were added separated

by hyphens. Key traits were: claw, stylets, proboscis, bar, eye, body, stripes, and tail

(Figure 1). An example of an image name is PE44975B_p-body-bar-stripes.jpg.

The name of each image was then copied into a spreadsheet and the cross-polarized key and

morphology key were separated and added into their appropriate ﬁelds using ﬁnd-and-replace

and text-to-column commands. The spreadsheets were then used to batch upload the data to

the database. The image ﬁles along with the morphology traits were added to keywords in the

multimedia module allowing individual images to be searched. The images were then linked

to their existing catalog entries and the morphology terms were added to the morphology ﬁeld

in the catalog module allowing catalog searches for morphology traits. The Tully monsters are

arranged in storage by their catalog numbers making it easy to ﬁnd a speciﬁc specimen from its

catalog number.

RESULTS. During the three weeks, 1305 specimens were photographed generating 4441

images. Table 1 lists the number of images tagged with the morphologic traits and the number

of catalog specimens that these images were linked to in the database. All images were

uploaded to our EMu database and are searchable by their morphological traits. The remaining

568 specimens are being photographed by volunteers and will be added to the database when

ﬁnished. Specimens with key traits such as stylets and claws make up only 1.1% and 3.5%

respectively of our collection. The ability to locate specimens with these speciﬁc morphologic

Figure 1. Tullimonstrum gregarium specimen (Holotype, FMNH PE 10504) with

sketch illustrating morphological traits (claw, stylets, proboscis, body trunk,

eye bar, eyes, stripes and tail) coded into image ﬁle name and uploaded to

searchable database ﬁelds.

Table 1. Total number of images tagged with each morphological trait and the number of cataloged specimens that these images were assigned to in the database, and the percentage of these in the collection.database ﬁelds.

Stylets Claw Proboscis Eyes Bar Body Stripes Tail

Images Tagged 52 145 463 863 1802 3116 553 965

Number of Specimens 14 45 131 241 499 856 155 291

Percentage in

Collection

1.1% 3.5% 10% 18.5% 38.3% 65.6% 11.9% 22.3%

ABSTRACT. To handle complex questions, scientiﬁc research is continuing to become

increasingly collaborative. Research conducted with the Port of Savannah, Georgia, USA,

intercepted propagules of non-native plant species hitchhiking on refrigerated shipping

containers. We hypothesized that these shipping containers may be vectors of small-fruited

invasive species entry into the USA. We sampled 331 containers transporting Peru Sweet

Onions over a six-month shipping season, resulting in the capture of thousands of non-native

propagules. We also conducted a preliminary survey of vascular plants in green spaces and

waste areas on port property. The Arkansas State University Herbarium (STAR) serves as the

primary repository for vouchers collected for this project, including plants collected from the

port, ungerminated fruit/seed propagules, and plants grown under controlled conditions from

the intercepted fruits. At STAR, plants are morphologically identiﬁed and made accessible on

an online database. The Columbus State University Herbarium hosts duplicate specimens and

DNA barcodes the vouchers. The USDA-Forest Service Research & Development leads project

logistics, counts and sorts seeds, germinates propagules, and models introduction and risk.

This project is a great example of interagency collaboration and the role small collections may

play as leaders in global plant species identiﬁcation and voucher deposition.

ABSTRACT. The Tully monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium) is a problematic fossil known only

from the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian, Moscovian) Francis Creek Shale Member of the

Carbondale Formation of northeastern Illinois, USA. Since it was ﬁrst described in 1966

scientists have assigned it to various phyla including: Mollusca, Annelida, and Chordata.

In 2015 Yale University scientists, teaming up with Field Museum and Argonne National

Laboratories scientists, examined over 1200 Tully monster specimens from the Field Museum’s

collections and used new technology to ﬁnd clues from these specimens to solve this 50-year

old mystery. To help locate specimens efﬁciently, 1305 Tully monster specimens were digitized

in three weeks, creating a total of 4441 images including images of each part and counterpart

in low-angle and cross-polarized light. The ﬁle naming protocol developed for this project

allowed us to tag each image with the lighting used and morphological characters present

in the specimen. The images along with their morphology tags were batch uploaded to our

EMu database. Our specimens were now searchable by their morphology traits, which allowed

researchers to quickly and efﬁciently locate specimens for their study.

INTRODUCTION. The Pennsylvanian (Moscovian) Francis Creek Shale Member of the

Carbondale Formation is a world-renowned Lagerstätte (Baird, 1997a). The shale preserves

two faunas in the Mazon Creek region (Baird, 1979). In the northern area a swampy coal forest

was home to the terrestrial and freshwater Braidwood Fauna consisting of plants, insects and

freshwater vertebrates and invertebrate fossils (Baird, 1997a). To the south a brackish water

estuary was home to the marine Essex Fauna consisting of a variety of marine invertebrates

including: scyphozoans, polychaetes, echiuroid worms, crustaceans, bivalves, holothurians,

and Tully monsters (Johnson and Richardson, 1969; Baird, 1997a). Pulses of mud, perhaps

generated from large storms, washed across the bay, burying these animals (Baird, 1997b).

Iron and other minerals in the sediment concentrated around the buried animals, preserving

them in siderite nodules.

In 1958 Francis Tully, an amateur fossil collector, brought a strange fossil to the Field Museum

for identiﬁcation. Dr. Eugene Richardson, a curator at the Field Museum, studied the fossil,

but was unable to place it taxonomically. In 1966 he published a paper describing the fossil

and named it Tullimonstrum gregarium - the common Tully monster - in honor of its discoverer

(Richardson, 1966).

The Tully monster is found nowhere else in the world and has a unique set of traits that

scientists have been unable to assign to any known group of animals. In the past the Tully has

been assigned to many different animal groups including heteropod gastropods (Foster, 1979),

annelids (Johnson and Richardson, 1969), and chordates (Beall, 1991).

ORAL PRESENTATION

Collections for the future –

future of collections

Small herbaria as repositories

for invasive species and federal

noxious weed vouchers in

collaborative research

Travis D. Marsico* 1, Jennifer

N. Reed1, Samantha Worthy2,

Lauren Whitehurst2, Kevin S.

Burgess2, and Rima D. Lucardi3

1 Arkansas State University, Department of Biological

Sciences, Jonesboro, Arkansas, 72401, USA

2 Columbus State University, Department of Biology,

Columbus, Georgia, 31907, USA

3 USDA-Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Athens,

Georgia, 30602, USA

* tmarsico@astate.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

How digitization helped tame

the Tully monster

Paul Mayer* 1

1 The Field Museum; Gantz Family Collection Center;

1400 S. Lake Shore Drive; Chicago, IL 60605; USA;

* pmayer@ﬁeldmuseum.org

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

138 139

scripts similar to the typical depictions of workﬂows supported by Kepler, Taverna, Galaxy and

other scientiﬁc workﬂow management systems. YesWorkﬂow also can answer interactive queries

about a script such as "Which steps in the script are affected by the value for this parameter?"

YesWorkﬂow further aims to reveal the 'retrospective provenance' of data produced by a run of a

script. In contrast to prospective provenance which predicts how data will be produced during

a script run that has not yet occurred, retrospective provenance is the actual computational

history of data produced during a script run. Scientiﬁc workﬂow management systems such as

Kepler provide retrospective provenance capabilities by actively recording the computational

events that yield a ﬁnal data product. YesWorkﬂow provides no run-time provenance recorder.

Instead, YesWorkﬂow reconstructs retrospective provenance using the YW annotations it ﬁnds

in the script in conjunction with the data, metadata, log ﬁles, and other artifacts actually

produced by a particular run of the script. YesWorkﬂow enables graphical renderings and

interactive queries of retrospective provenance analogous to those it provides for exploring

prospective provenance.

In this demonstration we show how YesWorkﬂow retrospective provenance reconstructions can

assist authors and users of scripts for cleaning biodiversity data. We present a simple data

cleaning script written in Python. This script takes as input a CSV ﬁle containing occurrence

records represented using Darwin Core terms; in successive steps validates the various ﬁelds

of each input record; replaces nonstandard or incorrect values for particular ﬁelds when the

meanings or intents of these input values are unambiguous; and optionally discards records

missing values for essential ﬁelds or containing incorrect or ambiguous values for which

enhancements cannot be proposed. The cleaned data set ultimately produced by the script

is written to a CSV ﬁle. Each of the data validation steps in the script write key information

about their operations to simple log ﬁles that are easily produced without depending on

software packages speciﬁc to Python. Because the formats of these ﬁles are declared using YW

annotations in the script, the structure and content of log entries is ﬂexible and can be chosen

to maximize the readability of the log ﬁles.

We then show how YesWorkﬂow can answer questions about the output data set, the script

run, and the data validation, ﬁeld updates, and record removal events that occurred during

the data cleaning process. Queries will include: How many records required corrections, how

many contained problematic values that could not be corrected, and how many records were

removed? What are all the ﬁelds that were updated or determined to be irreparable in any

record of the input data set? For a particular ﬁeld what are unique values for which corrections

were proposed, and the count of each across all records? What are all the records that still have

problematic values in a particular ﬁeld and require further attention? What standards, data

sources, or validation services were used to judge the validity of values in a particular ﬁeld or

that provided new values for it? Which records have been updated multiple times in a script

and what were those intermediate values?

Finally, we walk through one of the queries and show how YesWorkﬂow uses the YW annotations

in the script to interpret the log entries and so produce its answers. And we end with a

summary of what script authors need to do to start using YesWorkﬂow to facilitate review of

data cleaning tasks in their work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation

awards DBI-1356751 (KURATOR) and SMA-1439603 (SKOPE).

REFERENCES

McPhillips, T., Song, T., Kolisnik, T., Aulenbach, S., Belhajjame, K.,Bocinsky, R.K., Cao, Y., Cheney,J., Chirigati, F.,

Dey, S., Freire, J., Jones, C., Hanken, J., Kintigh, K.W., Kohler, T.A., Koop, D., Macklin, J.A, Missier, P., Schildhauer,

M., Schwalm, C., Wei, Y., Bieda, M., Ludäscher 2015. YesWorkﬂow: A User-Oriented, Language-Independent Tool for

Recovering Workﬂow Information from Scripts. International Journal of Digital Curation 10:298-313.

McPhillips, T., Bowers, S., Belhajjame, K., Ludäscher, B. 2015. Retrospective Provenance Without a Runtime Provenance

Recorder. 7th USENIX Workshop on the Theory and Practice of Provenance (TaPP'15).

traits allowed the researchers during the 2015 project (McCoy et al., 2016) to start work

almost immediately upon arrival instead of having to spend valuable time searching through

the Field Museum’s collection

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. I would like to thank N. Karpus who photographed and coded most

of the specimens. I would also like to thank S. Lidgard, V. McCoy, S. Grant, K, Webbink, M.

Lambruschi, E. Zeiger and W. Stanley who helped make this project possible.

REFERENCES

Baird, G. C. 1979. Lithology and Fossil Distribution, Francis Creek Shale In Northeastern Illinois, in Mazon Creek Fossils.

Ed. Matthew H. Nitecki. Pages 41-67.

Baird, G. C. 1997a. Fossil distribution and fossil association, Pp.21-26. In Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of

Mazon Creek (Shabica, C. W., Hay, A. A. eds.) Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago.

Baird, G.C. 1997b. Paleoenvironmental setting of the Mazon Creek biota, p.35-51. In Richardson's Guide to the Fossil

Fauna of Mazon Creek (Shabica, C. W., Hay, A. A. eds.) Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago.

Beall, B.S. 1991. The Tully monster and a new approach to analyzing problematica. Pp. 271-285 In The Early Evolution

of Metazoa and Signiﬁcance of Problematic Taxa (A.M. Simonetta and S. C. Morris eds.) Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge.

Foster, M. W. 1979. A Reappraisal of Tullimonstrum gregarium. Pp. 269-301, in: Mazon Creek Fossils (M. H. Nitecki, ed.)

Johnson, R.G. and E.S. Richardson. 1969. Pennsylvanian Invertebrates of the Mazon Creek Area, Illinois: the Morphology

and Afﬁnities of Tullimonstrum. Fieldiana: Geology 12: 119-149.

McCoy, V. E., E. E. Saupe, J. C. Lamsdell, L. G. Tarhan, S. McMahon, S. Lidgard, P. Mayer, C. D. Whalen, C. Soriano, L.

Finney, S. Vogt, E. G. Clark, R. P. Anderson, H. Petermann, E. R. Locatelli & D. E. G. Briggs. 2016. The Tully Monster is a

Vertebrate. Nature. in press.

Richardson, E.S., Jr. 1966. Worm-like Fossil from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois. Science 151 (3706): 75–76.

ABSTRACT. Data cleaning is essential for curating datasets describing natural science

collections and for preparing datasets for investigating speciﬁc research questions. Data

cleaning programs variously can ﬂag suspect records, replace ﬁelds in the original records with

standardized or corrected values, and remove records that cannot be corrected automatically.

In all cases a collection manager or researcher cleaning data must be able to review the results

generated by the program(s). Scripts, written for example in Python, are broadly used for data

cleaning tasks, and an aim of the Kurator project is to make it easier to use these scripts to

clean biodiversity records. Here we demonstrate how the YesWorkﬂow toolkit developed by

the Kurator team facilitates exploration of the results of running a data cleaning script on

a biodiversity dataset. Using log ﬁles easily written by such scripts, YesWorkﬂow can reveal

which ﬁelds in particular records were marked as suspect and why, which of these ﬁelds were

corrected, and what records were removed. YesWorkﬂow depends on annotations made in

comments in a script, and we will highlight how these annotations enable interpreting and

querying log ﬁles in terms of the structure of the script itself.

MAIN TEXT. YesWorkﬂow (YW) is a toolkit for researchers who process scientiﬁc data using

scripts written in Python, R, Bash and other languages. YW aims to provide these researchers

with many of the beneﬁts of scientiﬁc workﬂow management systems without requiring them

to use a different programming language or to rewrite their scripts using a special-purpose

framework. Instead, YesWorkﬂow depends on script authors embedding within the comments of

their script special annotations recognized by YW. These annotations declare the scientiﬁcally

meaningful operations or steps performed by different parts of the script, and the paths by

which scientiﬁc data ﬂows through these steps when the script is run.

By analyzing the YW annotations in a script, YesWorkﬂow can reveal the 'prospective

provenance' of the results the script will produce when executed. In other words, YesWorkﬂow

makes it easy to see what data will be produced by a script, how these outputs will depend on

the inputs to the script, and what intermediate data will be produced by individual steps of

the script. YesWorkﬂow can render prospective provenance graphically to yield visualizations of

ORAL PRESENTATION

DemoCamp

Using YesWorkﬂow to explore

the results of cleaning a dataset

using a script

Timothy McPhillips1, Qian

Zhang* 1, Bertram Ludäscher1,

James Hanken2, David B.

Lowery2, 4, James A. Macklin3,

Paul J. Morris2, Robert A.

Morris2, 4, Laura Russell2, 5, and

John Wieczorek2, 5

1 Library & Information Science, University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign, USA

2 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University,

Cambridge, 02138, USA

3 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada

4 Department of Computer Science, University of

Massachusetts, Boston, USA

5 VertNet

* Corresponding Author: zhangqian06@gmail.com

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140 141

ABSTRACT. Natural history collection specimens and associated data provide unique physical

and virtual opportunities to engage students in the practice of science in authentic, place-

based lessons. We will present information on how collections, and the data associated with

collections, can facilitate student learning and teach valuable skill sets necessary for the 21st

century workforce. The talk will highlight ongoing efforts to engage students using museum

data and provide examples of current educational opportunities and existing educational

modules. We will present results from recent surveys of students working in collections,

collection professionals speaking to new skill sets needed for workforce training, and the

collections community's insight on future directions in the use of museums in undergraduate

education. We will address challenges associated with implementing natural history collection

modules into undergraduate education and introduce emerging collaborative efforts to

incorporate specimens and associated data into the undergraduate curriculum.

ABSTRACT. Data quality tools are not a one-size-ﬁts-all proposition. In the Kurator project,

we are developing a suite of biodiversity data quality tools aimed at collection management

specialists with little or no programming experience, database administrators and researchers

with some scripting language experience, and developers. We will demonstrate a web

application that provides easy access to several sets of quality control tests of natural science

collections data. Moreover, it is underlain by a framework that is accessible to informatics

specialists and can be extended by programmers in either Java or Python.

MAIN TEXT. In the Kurator project, we are producing semi-automated tools to support quality

management of biodiversity and natural science collections data. The ﬁrst of these is FP-Akka,

a command line data quality application. FP-Akka supports a small set of conﬁgurable

workﬂows to check georeferences, scientiﬁc name and authorship strings, and collecting-event

dates. Present FP-Akka with a Darwin Core archive with an occurrence core, or a ﬂat Darwin

Core csv (comma separated values) ﬁle, and it produces machine-readable output that can

be post-processed into a spreadsheet of human-readable results. The FP-Akka code base is

in Java and uses the Akka framework to support parallel execution in workﬂows. FP-Akka has

proven both inﬂexible and difﬁcult to use for a substantial portion of the target natural science

collections management audience, so we have been developing more ﬂexible tools that can be

more easily accessed.

We will present the next iteration of work on Kurator-Akka, which can be used as either

a command line or a web-based Data Quality application. Kurator-Akka is designed to be

accessible to non-programmer data curators through a web interface, to more advanced

users through editable conﬁguration ﬁles, and to programmers for extending functionality or

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Integrating Natural History

Collections into Undergraduate

Education: Creating the

Resources and Growing the

Community

Anna K. Monﬁls* 1, Libby

Ellwood2, Debra Linton1, Molly

Phillips3, Joseph A. Cook4,

Joseph Kerski5, Tracy Barbaro6,

Sam Donovan7, Karen Powers8,

L. Alan Prather9, and Rob

Guralnick3

1 Central Michigan University, Department of Biology, Mt.

Pleasant, MI 48859, USA

2 Florida State University, Department of Biological Science,

Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA

3 University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History,

Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

4 University of New Mexico, Department of Biology,

Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

5 Esri, 1 International Court, Broomﬁeld, CO, 80021-3200

USA

6 Harvard University, Encyclopedia of Life Learning +Education

group, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA

7 University of Pittsburg, Department of Biology, Pittsburg, PA,

15260, USA

8 Radford University, Department of Biology, Radford, VA,

24142, USA

9 Michigan State University, Department of Plant Biology, East

Lansing, MI, 48823, USA

* monﬁ1ak@cmich.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

DemoCamp

Kurator: Extensible and

accessible tools for quality

assessment of biodiversity data

Paul J. Morris* 1, James

Hanken1, David B. Lowery1,2,

Bertram Ludäscher3, James A.

Macklin4, Timothy McPhillips3,

Robert A. Morris1,2, John

Wieczorek1, Qian Zhang3

1 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, USA

2 Department of Computer Science, University of

Massachusetts, Boston, USA

3 Library & Information Science, University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign, USA

4 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada

* mole@morris.net

ABSTRACT. The Natural History Museum now has two IPM quarantine areas both at the main

Museum building and at the offsite store building. The design of both areas provide a variety of

treatments, opportunities for research in preventive conservation and the great storage capacity

allows even for commercial work. The facilities allows the delivery of Museum operations in

line with the institutional ethos of sustainable framework.

ABSTRACT. Documentation, monitoring, designing of workﬂows and navigation through

several data sources - this is the application area of AQUiLA. It is the digitization instrument

of the Senckenberg Collections. Several biodiversity projects were already implemented in

AQUiLA. AQUiLA database uses a generic data model. The design of pre-deﬁned ﬁelds became

obsolete. Fields are individually deﬁned in a structure of tables. With the aid of a screen mask

generator it is possible to design an input mask for each single collection individually. The data

can be searched with the assistance of a search engine which is Lucene/Solr in AQUiLA. This

full-featured text search engine allows both free-text-search as well as facetted ﬁeld search.

Therefore navigation through the complete data pool is possible. With an interactive interface

between database and search engine, changes in the data pool are processed immediately for

the search result.

With the special architecture of AQUiLA, composed of a relational database with a generic

data model and search engine, which combines free-text and facetted search, collection

management systems are designable for all biodiversity needs and speciﬁcations.

Almost 100 % of AQUiLA is designed with open source products.

ABSTRACT. The use of DNA barcodes in museum collections has been widely discussed as a

helpful tool in species identiﬁcation and subtle patterns in differentiation, but its uses as a

tool in collections management is currently undervalued. Quality control: proper identiﬁcation

of incoming collections, detecting errors made in the ﬁeld or lab, and ﬁeld sampling protocols

are all areas where rapid DNA barcoding of an entire incoming collection would be useful.

Creating high quality extractions also beneﬁt as backup samples and for use in loans. We

present results from a survey of ca. 1700 avian tissue samples that were barcoded from the

frozen tissue collections at the National Museum of Natural History including identiﬁcation of

problem samples.

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

The IPM Quarantine Facilities

at the NHM

Armando Mendez*1, Roberto

Portela Miguez1 and Suzanne

Ryder1

1 Natural History Museum, Life Sciences, London, SW7 5BD,

United Kingdom

* a.mendez@nhm.ac.uk

POSTER

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

AQUiLA – a platform for

biodiversity data Generic data

model and full-featured text

search engine – a good match?

Lothar Menner* 1

Andreas Allspach1

1 Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung;

Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany

* Lothar.Menner@senckenberg.de

POSTER

Other topics

The Value of DNA Barcoding for

Collections Management

Christopher M. Milensky* 1,

Christopher J. Huddleston2, and

David Schindel3

1 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural

History, Division of Birds, Washington, DC 2560, USA

2 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural

History, NMNH Biorepository, Suitland, Maryland, 20746,

USA

3 Smithsonian Institution, Consortium for the Barcode of

Life, Washington DC, 20560, USA

* milenskyc@si.edu

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142 143

shared by many records, but which actually can be solved by ﬁxing a single error elsewhere.

Examples include conceptual mismatches between the original data ﬁelds and the exchange

standard or errors in a taxonomic authority table.

When a data element in a dataset does not conform to the expectations of a data quality

test, and is reported as an issue in the data, the problem may, or may not, lie in the data

element in question. The issue may lie, as a report will tend to suggest, in a single data

record. Alternatively, the issue may stem from a problem in the process by which the data were

captured, or in the software that manages the data, in which case, this one record may indicate

that similar problems exist in other records. On the other hand, a data curator may examine the

record in question and see no error and thereby judge the quality control software unreliable.

The issue instead might lie in mismatch between a data ﬁeld and the standard ﬁeld in an

exchange schema (e.g. from a database into Darwin Core via the GBIF Integrated Publishing

Toolkit (IPT)), or in data that conforms to a local policy (e.g. types are presented under the

type name, not a subsequent identiﬁcation) or in the data quality software, or in the sources

(e.g. nomenclators, georeferencing tools, GIS layers) that were consulted by the data quality

software.

When a data quality tool reports a defect in a data record, it is important for the data curator

to step away from the issue at hand and ask whether the issue is in that record, or a defect

in the data quality software, or an issue in the data sources consulted. If there is indeed an

issue in the record at hand, it may be fruitful for the data curator (or an informatics specialist)

to examine the provenance of the record. The root problem may lie in the data management

software, in a data capture process, in training of data capture personnel, or in some previous

migration of the data, and many other records may be similarly affected.

A data quality tool and a data provider may have made different assumptions about the

data. For example, a near shore marine sample might have a correct locality description and

a georeference (latitude, longitude, datum, coordinate uncertainty), but the name of the

marine water body may not have been provided in the published data, while the name of the

country, primary geopolitical division (i.e. state/province) and municipality were. A person who

is aware of the taxonomic context (i.e. a marine organism) and able to interpret the locality

description may interpret the data as correct. Yet, a data quality control tool may have ﬂagged

the coordinate as suspect. This assertion by software could result from the coordinate plus

error radius not overlapping the municipal boundary in some terrestrial GIS layer. Data quality

software might assume that that marine localities include the name of a marine water body

and/or a depth. An astute data curator might be able to recognize that a set of georeferenced

near shore marine localities are being ﬂagged as having problematic coordinates, but that

the issue can be resolved not by ﬁxing the (correct) coordinates, but by providing additional

structured data about marine water bodies in the publication of the data. This might be an easy

task (e.g. provide in Darwin Core an additional ﬁeld already populated in the database), or it

may spawn a large-scale data enhancement project within the institution.

When a data quality tool reports a defect with a simple ﬂag (e.g. transposed latitude and

longitude), all problems are placed into the domain of investigation by the data curator. If

the data curator does not agree with the ﬂag, there is little means for further investigation.

In this case, the risk exists that the data curator may simply regard the reporting tool as

unreliable and ignore its reports. If the data quality tool is able to report rich metadata about

its measurements and their context, then a consumer of data quality reports will be more have

a better chance of understanding the potential range of sources behind the apparent problem.

In addition, ﬁltering a data quality report on such metadata can provide a means for dividing

a large report into smaller units of work. We note that metadata structures for data quality,

supporting just such rich reporting, are under investigation by a Task Group in the Biodiversity

Information Standards (TDWG) Data Quality Interest Group.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation

awards DBI 1356438, DBI 1356751, and DBI 0960535; and by Science without Borders

(CsF) Fellowship Program of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientíﬁco e

developing new modules/actors. Behind the scenes, and typically invisible to users of the

web interface, Kurator-Akka runs workﬂows deﬁned in conﬁguration ﬁles (using YAML-Yet

Another Markup Language.). Workﬂows can invoke actors written in Java or Python, where the

Kurator-Akka framework manages the data ﬂow aspects of the workﬂow, allowing programmers

to focus on biodiversity data quality code. A selection of pre-deﬁned workﬂows, including a

unique-values reporting workﬂow and the workﬂows available in FP-Akka, will be available

in the Kurator-Akka web application. One of our goals is to allow users to develop data

quality workﬂows in a drag-and-drop user interface, which behind the scenes builds YAML

conﬁguration ﬁles that can be executed through the web interface or downloaded and edited

for local execution by users with some scripting language programming experience. Another

goal is to enable others to write new actors (in Java or Python) that interoperate easily with

the actors we provide; we further plan to provide means for sharing these actors – along with

workﬂows that make use of them – with the community.

We will demonstrate the web user-interface of Kurator-Akka by loading a Darwin Core archive

data set, selecting a workﬂow to run on that data set, monitoring progress of the workﬂow, and

downloading and presenting the results. We will demonstrate data quality actors and workﬂows

for assessing compliance with controlled vocabularies, assessing unique values (e.g., in

geographic vocabulary terms) and the actors from FP-Akka.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation

awards DBI 1356438 and DBI 1356751.

ABSTRACT. Tools for assessing the quality of natural science collections and other biodiversity

data may report that data elements do not conform to the expectations of the tests applied

to the data. It is important that data curators do not take such reports at face value, but

look deeper for the causes of reported issues. A reported data quality issue may lie directly

in the record in question, or it may lie deeper in the process by which the record was

captured, perhaps with similar effect on many other records. Alternatively, the problem may

lie in a resource (such as a taxonomic authority) that was consulted by the software. Finally,

the problem may lie in the data quality software itself, requiring notice to the developers.

Reporting of unique problems and rich reporting of metadata describing how a data quality

conclusion was reached may help data curators better understand data quality reports, how

to respond to their assertions, and how to better divide them into smaller data cleanup tasks,

increasing the reliability and productivity of data quality management in natural science

collections.

MAIN TEXT. Tools for assessing quality aspects of natural science data are coming into

widespread use. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the Atlas of Living

Australia (ALA), and iDigBio all run software to set quality ﬂags on aggregated data. VertNet

reports data quality to data providers, and projects such as Kurator develop data quality

assessment tools that can be run by anyone at multiple points in the data life cycle. As a

consequence, curators of biodiversity datasets, including the collection management staff of

natural science collections, are beginning to be presented with reports concerning the quality

of their data. Naive interpretation of data quality reports are likely to focus on the immediately

presenting problems, which are likely to be overwhelming in number. Deeper consideration is

necessary.

Data do not inherently have quality. Instead, they have quality with regard to some use or

purpose. Concerns of aggregators and other consumers of primary biodiversity data may include

whether the data conform to technical expectations for preparing the data for sharing via a

particular standard, such as Darwin Core. Such consumers may also express concerns about

Darwin Core content related to research uses of the data for the study of which organisms

(identiﬁcations) occur where (georeferences) and when (collecting event dates). Reports that

describe unique problems in a dataset, or examination of the ﬁrst few rows of quality reports on

rows in a data set, can effectively highlight things that appear to represent individual problems

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Error? What Error? Expectation

management in reporting data

quality issues to data curators

Paul J. Morris* 1, James

Hanken1, David B. Lowery1, 2,

Bertram Ludäscher3, 4, James A.

Macklin5, Timothy McPhillips3,

Robert A. Morris1, 2, Antonio

Mauro Saraiva6, Tianhong

Song4, Allan Koch Veiga6, John

Wieczorek1

1 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University,

Cambridge, 02138, USA

2 Department of Computer Science, University of

Massachusetts, Boston, USA

3 Library & Information Science, University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign, USA

4 Department of Computer Science, University of California,

Davis, USA

5 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada

6 Universidade de São Paulo, Research Center on Biodiversity

and Computing, São Paulo, Brazil

* mole@morris.net

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144 145

ABSTRACT. To understand the outline and prioritization for digitization of natural history

collections in Asia, we report a result of our preliminary survey of their progress in digitization.

Within Asian countries, Japan, Taiwan and China are comparatively advanced in digitization of

natural history collections whereas digitization in Southeast Asian countries is less progressed.

In western Asia, even a census of natural history collections (how many and where) is

uncertain. Results of the global survey on digitization of natural history collections by the GBIF

Task Force showed that there were only 110 responses (17.8 %) from the Asian region, most

likely due to language issues. In Japan, almost all of collections (97.6%) have engaged in

digitization of data of their specimens. In particular, metadata of specimens of algae (97.8%),

fossils of invertebrates (88.6%), and birds (78.2%) in Japan have been mostly captured

in databases. Because most areas in Southeast Asia belong to the Biodiversity Hotspots,

collecting, preservating and digitizating specimens from these areas is one of the Asian

priorities. In addition, populating domestic and international networks with Asian collection

data is also an effective ﬁrst step to increasing the amount of biodiversity information from the

region.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. Nodes in Asia Region (ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, Chinese

Academy of Science, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, International Centre for Integrated Mountain

Development, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Philippine) in the Global Biodiversity Information

Facility (GBIF) have engaged in various activities (e.g., updating species checklist at national

level and building network of data holders and providers) to increase the amount of biodiversity

information/data in the region.

In the context of the Task Force (TF) for Accelerating Digitization of Natural Historical

Collection (ADNHC) in GBIF, we implemented a preliminary survey using questionnaires

prepared by the TF. To facilitate the response within Japan, the original questionnaires in

English were translated to Japanese, but the questionnaires were distributed in English to other

Asian countries, leaving the treatment to them. The email responses were collected in 30 days.

Because the launch of the questionnaires was delayed in some Asian countries, responses from

those countries have not yet been completed.

Here, we report results of a preliminary survey, utilizing a network within Japan, and GBIF

Asian Nodes, on the state of digitization of Asian natural history collections.

RESULTS. Within Asian countries, natural history collections in Japan, Taiwan and China are

comparatively well digitized. On the other hand, digitization of the collections in Southeast

Asian countries has not comparatively progressed. In West Asia, even a census of natural

history collections is uncertain.

Results of the global survey on digitization of natural history collections by GBIF Task Force

on Accelerating the Discovery of Natural Historical Collection showed that there were 110

responses (17.8 %) from Asian region, of which 85 (72.3 %) were from Japan.

Responses from Japan showed that arthropod and vascular plant collections are popular in

Japan, with 40 and 33 collections, respectively, being housed within 51 museums/institutions.

Concerning size of collections in Japan, there are about 4.6, 3.7 and 3.5 million specimens

(or lots) of arthropods, vascular plants and ﬁshes, respectively, while there are only ca. 18,800

and 37,000 specimens (or lots) of reptiles and amphibians, and birds, respectively. In Japan,

83 of 85 collections (97.6%) have engaged in digitization of data of their collections (i.e.,

metadata and digital image of physical specimen). In particular, metadata of specimens of

algae (97.8%), fossils of invertebrates (88.6%), and birds (78.2%) have been mostly captured

in databases. On the other hand, metadata of specimens of arthropods (27.7%), vascular

plants (39.8%) and ﬁshes (54.7%) have not been mostly captured in databases.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. Within Asian countries, Japan, Taiwan and China are

comparatively advanced in digitization of natural history collections because of considerable

effort of researchers and curators, and funding to support digitization. In western Asia, even

in a basic census of natural history collections by type, size and location is uncertain owing to

lack of a network with the region.

The fewer responses to the English questionnaires from Asian countries (17.8%) is most likely

due to language issues, i.e., it is a region with multiple languages and few English speakers.

Nevertheless, the survey revealed that digitization of specimen data is one of the priorities at a

number of important institutions in Asia.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Setting global and local

digitisation priorities (GBIF

Symposium)

Prioritization in digitization of

natural historical collections in

Asia – the cases of some Asian

countries

Masanori Nakae* 1, 2

Tsuyoshi Hosoya1, 2

1 National Museum of Nature and Science, 4-1-1 Amakubo,

Tsukuba City, 305-0005, Japan

2 Japan Node of GBIF

* nakae@kahaku.go.jp

Tecnológico (CNPq), of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil:

#233676/2014-7. Feedback on data quality reports by participants in the NSF-funded SCAN

TCN, by staff at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, in particular Brendan

Haley and Adam Baldinger, and by by users of the FP-Akka software have substantially

contributed to our understanding.

ABSTRACT. Egypt is considered the true home of “papyrus paper”. In Egypt, the oldest known

papyrus was found, dating back to the 1st Dynasty around 3100 B.C; from Egypt papyrus

writing material spread all over the Greco-Roman world; in Egypt, thanks to its dry climate, all

the evidence written on papyrus has been preserved and found, with rare exceptions. Resulting

from the different methods of preservation that have been used in the nineteenth century,

there are many papyrus backings made of poor quality cardboard with a high acidic component

and glued inadequately (with gelatine, starch glue etc.), which further enhances degradation

of the papyrus .Removal of old unsuitable backings was necessary to eliminate the causes

of degradation of the valuable papyrus documents, and to prevent further damage to the

papyrus. For this purpose, we decided to use Laponite RD. Laponite RD is a highly-puriﬁed,

synthetic silicate colloidal clay that imparts viscosity and suspension properties to various

types of formulations. Laponite RD is free of crystalline silica and low in transition metals and

other impurities. The technique is comparable to other aqueous techniques for the removal of

pressure-sensitive old unsuitable backings from the papyrus. Mixed with water, Laponite RD

is a colloidal gel with high water retention capability, and the speciﬁc mechanical properties

of this gel allows the safe removal of the cardboard water-sensitive artifacts using water-based

detergent systems. The removal action is limited to the contact area, and layer-by-layer removal

is possible while avoiding water spreading around and absorption within water-sensitive

substrates, which could lead, for example, to ink detachment. With Laponite RD is becomes

possible to remove the cardboard successfully without affecting the surface of the papyrus

with humidity, thus maintaining the existing text on the surface of the papyrus and the papyrus

material itself. Finally, it is important to note that the technique did also stopped the stress

and pressure that was caused by the cardboard backing to the papyrus.

ABSTRACT. The SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections (SERNEC) is

comprised of 233 active herbaria in 12 states in southeastern North America. The group is

of interest as a case study in development of human infrastructure to generate regional scale

research and teaching capabilities. The SERNEC NSF-supported Research Coordination

Network (RCN) provided support from 2005-2011 for training and idea exchange among

the curators in the Southeastern US. Our more recent NSF-supported Thematic Collection

Network (TCN), with funding from 2014-2018 for 94 herbaria and six Information technology

entities, provides us with a technical infrastructure to capture herbarium images and transfer

them to various portals, where they can be transcribed and georeferenced. This effort includes

Symbiota, GEOLocate, Notes from Nature, Specify and iPlant as web and software based

entities that provide our “data pipeline”. Our curators are engaging students in museum

curation, regional systematic and ecological studies, as well as service learning opportunities.

The ultimate goal of the NSF TCN effort is to use the network to link the scientiﬁc expertise of

the curators with their students, afﬁliate users, and with the greater public through the World

Wide Web, to develop a citizen science framework to accomplish regional scale research goals.

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

Using Laponite gel for removing

papyrus backings of poor

quality cardboard

Amr Moustafa* 1

Moamen Othman2

Mohamed Abdel-Rahman3

Ahmed Tarek4

1 Conservation Centre, The Grand Egyptian Museum,

63515 Al Fayoum Centre, Egypt

2 Restoration Department, Egyptian museum of Cairo,

Ministry of Antiquities, 11556 Cairo, Egypt

3 Library and Scientiﬁc Publishing, Ministry of Antiquities,

Egypt

4 Grand Egyptian Museum, Conservation Centre, Organic

artifacts laboratory, Ministry of Antiquities, Giza, Egypt

* amr112020@hotmail.com

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Development of a human

infrastructure: SERNEC as a

case study

Zack Murrell* 1

1 Appalachian State University, Biology Dept., Boone, North

Carolina 28608 USA

* murrellze@appstate.edu

M/N

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

146 147

specimens for the Consortium of California Herbaria; digitizing the collections of

Marcus E. Jones, one of the most prominent botanists of the American west; and

curating one of the Herbarium’s ancillary collections, the cone and fruit collection.

Last year RSABG expanded the internship program to incorporate six presentation

and workshop style training sessions on a diverse range of plant science topics

including collections management, conservation botany, and biodiversity, with an

emphasis on California’s plant diversity. The program culminated with a roundtable

discussion on career paths and continues education opportunities with participation

from students in RSABG’s graduate program in botany, among other professionals in

the ﬁeld.

We have maintained relationships with many of our past interns and at least half

(54%) of them have found employment or are continuing on with their education

in ﬁelds related to plant biology, natural history, conservation, and collections

management. Our recruitment efforts are in large part coordinated through

established relationships with STEM program coordinators, biology professors, and career

counselors at colleges and universities in southern California. As our aim is also to encourage

greater diversity in professions related to collections management and plant conservation,

recruitment efforts are targeted to provide opportunities for underserved youth through our

long-established partnerships with Hispanic Serving Institutions in the Greater Los Angeles

metropolitan area, including Citrus College; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona;

and California State University, San Bernardino.

ABSTRACT. Recently we discovered that formalin off-gassing in our ﬂuids collections was well

above OSHA safety levels (2.0 ppm). Nearly all our lids were of the Bakelite variety and after

investigation we felt that rehousing with polypropylene lids with polyethylene liners (Kols) was

the resolution. When requesting funds from our university for this purpose, we were asked for

data-based evidence for our solution and found none. Several publications suggest the efﬁcacy

of Kols lids (other characteristics support their superiority over Bakelites) but no supporting

published quantitative data exist. We therefore conducted an experiment to compare Bakelite

and Kols lids in their ability to retain formalin fumes. We also conducted the experiment in

two environmental conditions, an HVAC-controlled and a non-HVAC controlled room. We found

that Kols lids are superior to Bakelite in keeping off-gassing well under OSHA safety levels,

although the difference was statistically signiﬁcant only in non-HVAC conditions. We believe

this is due to the greater air exchange rate in the HVAC controlled room, but we discuss other

possible explanations. Bakelites are inferior lids for many reasons, and our results support this

concept by showing quantitatively the superiority of Kols lids.

ABSTRACT. The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) has over 96,000 accessions

ﬁles (approximately 500,000 individual documents), dating from the 1960s to the present,

in addition to over 800 rolls of pre-1960s accessions on microﬁlm. These documents are the

proof of ownership for the 145 million collections specimens in NMNH. The Ofﬁce of the

Registrar (OR) works with the seven collecting units to maintain and provide physical access to

these ﬁles and digitization of them has become a necessary tool. Digitizing the OR has brought

together a variety of collaborators, all working to make the information in the accession ﬁles

more accessible. The process includes scanning and transcription of transaction index cards,

creating records in the collections database and the scanning of the hardcopy ownership ﬁles.

Utilizing a record management company to scan the physical ﬁles, NMNH will have all of

the ownership records accessible as multipage searchable PDF/As in less than one year. The

availability of digitized accession records is important to the preservation of the records and

contributes to sustainable workﬂows for our staff, Pitfalls, obstacles and successes make this

a case study for other museums, as well as for tackling addressing digitization of incoming

accessions and loan documentation.

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

Comparison of two lid types for

museum ﬂuid collections

Kirsten E. Nicholson* 1

Lillian Hendricks1

1 Museum of Cultural and Natural History at Central

Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, 48858, USA

* kirsten.nicholson@cmich.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Digitization in the ofﬁce of the

registrar: Saving our documents

for the future

Patricia Nutter* 1

Erin Bilyeu1

1 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural

History, Ofﬁce of the Registrar, Washington, DC 20560,

USA

* nutterp@si.edu

Figure 1. Undergraduate intern learns to mount plant specimens in the Herbarium

at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.

The high number of responses from Japan (72.3 % from Asia) was due to the translation of

the survey into Japanese, as well as utilizing a domestic network of natural history museums,

Science Museum Net that includes local and university museums.

Although most of the areas of Southeast Asia are identiﬁed as the Biodiversity Hotspots

(Myers, 1988; Myers et al., 2000), digitization of natural history collections in this area has

not comparatively progressed. Thus, collecting and curating specimens from this area and

digitization of the data is a high priority within Asia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Node Managers of Asia region of GBIF. This survey was partly supported by GBIF, and

National Bioresource Project in (NBRP) Japan.

REFERENCES

Myers, N. 1988. Threatened biotas: “hot spots” in tropical forests. Environmentalist 8(3): 187-208.

Myers, N., R. A. Mittermeier, C. G. Mittermeier, G. A. B. da Fonseca, & J. Kent. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for

conservation priorities. Nature 403:853-858.

ABSTRACT. Preparing the next generation of natural history collections professionals is

increasingly important as natural history collections serve expanding needs for research,

education, and conservation management. Educating young people about the value of plants,

biodiversity, and natural history collections is a critical component of Rancho Santa Ana

Botanic Garden’s (RSABG) efforts. The Herbarium at RSABG, which houses more than 1.2

million vascular plant specimens, plays major roles in education and training students at

different levels in their academic career. Serving the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area,

RSABG has a long-standing and successful summer undergraduate internship program in

herbarium collections management and applied plant conservation, and has provided training

to more than 40 undergraduate interns over the last ﬁve years. Through hands-on experimental

learning, interns acquire new skills in curation and digitization, and importantly, are exposed

to career possibilities in the plant sciences and natural history collections. This presentation

highlights the undergraduate internship program at RSABG, with emphasises on training in

herbarium curation techniques and digitization, student recruitment, and new approaches to

enhance the internship experience.

MAIN TEXT. Preparing the next generation of natural history collections professionals is

increasingly important as natural history collections serve expanding needs for research,

education, and conservation management. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG),

located in southern California, is committed to botanical education and expanding capacity

to prepare, train, and educate the next generation of plant scientists and natural history

collections professionals. The Herbarium at RSABG, which houses more than 1.2 million

vascular plant specimens, plays a major role in education and training, with emphasises

on the graduate program in botany, but also extends to undergraduate courses, high school

and middle school programs, and internships. RSABG has a long-standing and successful

undergraduate summer internship program in herbarium curation and applied plant

conservation. Providing training to over 40 interns over the last ﬁve years (50% of whom

were drawn from underserved groups) RSABG’s program provides hands-on training in botany,

conservation, and herbarium curation techniques. In the Herbarium interns have participated

in several digitization and collection improvement projects, including databasing California

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Preservation of natural history

collections through student

engagement: the internship

experience at Rancho Santa

Ana Botanic Garden

Mare Nazaire* 1

1 Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Herbarium,

Claremont, 91711, USA

* mnazaire@rsabg.org

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148 149

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. I do not want to make any concluding remarks at this time.

However, I will conclude my paper with a set of proposed guidelines on how to ensure the most

necessary data is being entered, and entered correctly, no matter the institution size, staff,

and other hindering variables. I will present a comprehensive guide in digitizing invertebrate

paleontology collections to be used to train staff and advance digitization in invertebrate fossil

collections.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas

Department of Museum Studies, Peter Welsh (KU Museum Studies Director), my master’s

thesis committee members: Leonard Krishtalka (KU Biodiversity Institute Director), Andy

Bentley (Ichthyology Collection Manager and Specify Usability Manager), and Bruce Lieberman

(Invertebrate Paleontology Curator-in-Charge), Specify Software, American Museum of Natural

History, NSF, iDigBio, and the Society of Earth Science Clubs of the Greater Kansas City.

REFERENCES. An exhaustive list of references used in my master’s thesis can be provided upon request and will be

made available after thesis is successfully published.

ABSTRACT. Established in 1858, the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History has served

scientiﬁc education, research, and as a repository for specimens from regional surveys and

global research expeditions. A comprehensive inventory at the University of Iowa Museum

of Natural History in 2008 brought collections back into focus, and funding was secured for

targeted storage improvements and collection digitization projects. As a result, vertebrate

and arthropod collections will make their debut on the global data scene yet this year. Our

digitization efforts include transcribing existing handwritten data, photographing specimens

and records, and mobilizing data, transcriptions, photos, and other information into publicly

accessible databases. These projects have relied heavily on student employees and interns, but

have also taken advantage of new approaches, such as crowdsourcing.

INTRODUCTION. Due to a shift in research focus on campus in the 1920s, museum

collections became isolated from active campus researchers and were largely overlooked or

forgotten by potential users for decades. Current staff are working to reconnect campus and

global researchers with these historic collections.

Arthropod Collections at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History (UIMNH) include

original collections from entomological collecting expeditions by H. F. Wickham and Dayton

Stoner in the late 1800s and early 1900s, supplemented by private collection donations from

J. F. Abbott, among others. Additional collections include crayﬁsh collected by Virgil Dowell

and Gary Phillips, received from the University of Northern Iowa in 2007, and insects from

the UI Biology Department in 2014. Three grants from the State Historical Society of Iowa

funded cabinets and supplies for rehousing insects and crayﬁsh and the manual transcription

of original handwritten insect specimen labels. Currently, an NSF ADBC PEN grant is funding

photography of arthropod collections and enabling UIMNH to connect with the existing

InvertNet TCN, where over 45,000 arthropod data records will be published. An undergraduate

student funded through the university’s Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates (ICRU)

has georeferenced the collection and produced an interactive online map.

POSTER

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Historic collections going

global: Digitization at the

University of Iowa Museum of

Natural History

Cindy Opitz* 1

Trina E. Roberts2

1 University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, Iowa City IA,

52242, USA

2 Pentacrest Museums, the University of Iowa, Iowa City IA,

52242, USA

* cindy-opitz@uiowa.edu

Figure 1. Interactive map of UIMNH arthropod collection locations

ABSTRACT. After ﬁnishing the inventory of the type collection at the National Herbarium of

Mexico (TP-MEXU), it has been possible to follow up the dynamics of this collection. The

TP-MEXU collection stands out for its complex dynamics. In the past ﬁve years, the collection

has grown more than 13%. The TP-MEXU collection was increased by 176 Holotypes, 516

Isotypes, 424 others, including 107 families best represented by Leguminosae, Compositae

and Rubiaceae. The fact that there is an active period of descriptions of Mexican plant species,

which are discovered mainly by the study of the materials deposited at MEXU, highlighting the

relevance for the preservation and, at the same time, active use of Natural History Collections.

The Global Plants (GP) initiative, led by the Mellon Foundation, represents a milestone for

the management of the collection and for plant taxonomy in general. Although the Mellon

Foundation substantially reduced support for the GP project, partners need to commit for

maintaining up to date the resource currently managed by JStor; it would be ideal if several

herbaria could incorporate their types to JStor Global Plants, while others, like MEXU, should

incorporate data and images of type specimens that are constantly added to their collections.

ABSTRACT. For nearly 40 years digitization has been incorporated in museum collection

management for a multitude of reasons. In the past ten years, digitization efforts have gained

momentum as funding resources have become widely available. Many strives have been made

to standardize the digitization process and workﬂow. However, as more institutions begin to

share their data with online portals, such as iDigBio, inconsistencies and discrepancies among

data are clear. There are countless variables as to why these inconsistencies exist (ﬁnances,

human resources, space, research objectives, etc.), but one I ﬁnd particularly interesting

is the prioritization of data. Using invertebrate paleontology collections as a case study, I

surveyed over 50 people involved in digitization efforts. The objective of the survey is to create

a baseline of the data needed for a specimen to be effectively used. I will compare the data

found to be essential to the multitude of data currently being entered and dispersed and

propose a prioritization of data to standardize, and streamline the digitization process, thereby,

eliminating inconsistencies and improving efﬁciancy.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. After working for three institutions to digitize invertebrate

paleontology collections, I realized that each institution approaches digitization very differently.

More so, departments within an institution, or projects within a department have a completely

different set of goals and objectives to their digitization efforts. There is an array of reasons to

these differences as evident by the abundant literature on the subject. Most have to do with

ﬁnancial resources and stafﬁng. However, these differences, whatever the cause may be, are

very concerning and impede the progress of digitization.

One of the many reasons to digitize is to make a collection accessible to a wide range of

people. This has been made possible by uploading data to online portals, such as iDigBio.

However, with each project, department, and institution digitizing differently, there has been a

wide range of data quality and completeness observed. Therefore, the need for data standards,

and a foundation of digitization is in great demand.

I dispersed an online survey to over 50 people associated with collection management,

digitization efforts, and curation of invertebrate paleontology collections. The survey was

created using Google Forms, and the organization of the survey was loosely based on the

Specify data model. The survey was broken down into several sections: paleocontext, collecting

event, determinations/taxonomy, attachments, collection management, and collection object

attributes. Within each section a list of potential data ﬁelds was given. The list of potential

data ﬁelds was assembled using Specify, DarwinCore, and iDigBio. In each section the survey

participants were asked to rank the individual data ﬁeld’s necessity from one to four, one being

the most necessary, and four being the least necessary. Lastly, I gave a comprehensive list of

the data ﬁelds and asked the participants to select which data ﬁelds they regularly include in

their digitization efforts.

RESULTS. At this time, the survey is still live and the results are not compiled. Survey will

close in approximately one month leaving ample time for analysis and a complete write up

before attending the SPNHC conference in June.

POSTER

Collections for the future –

future of collections

The type collection at the

National Herbarium of Mexico

(MEXU): a very dynamic and

active collection

Helga Ochoterena* 1

María del Rosario García Peña1

1 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de

Biología, Departamento de Botánica, AP 70-367, 3er

Circuito de Ciudad Universitaria Del. Coyoacán, México D.F.

04510, México

* helga@ib.unam.mx

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

A novel approach to digitization

efﬁciency in invertebrate

paleontology collections

Brittney Oleniacz* 1

1 University of Kansas, Department of Museum Studies,

Lawrence, 66045, USA

* oleniacz@ku.edu

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

150 151

ABSTRACT. Many of the large natural history collections trace their origins back 200 years or

more to the Enlightenment, when scientiﬁc and cultural objects were presented to expert and

public audiences to inspire a new scientiﬁc understanding of the world. The way in which these

collections are used has changed relatively little over that period, with experts continuing to

travel around the world to view key specimens or specimens being sent out on loan to trusted

institutions. A combination of digital and genomic technologies, alongside mass-participation

citizen science, now promises to revolutionize this intellectual business model by making

natural history collections openly available to global scientiﬁc and public audiences. This

talk will review how large natural history museums are responding to this opportunity and the

challenges it poses with respect to prioritization, collaboration and funding. The talk will focus

in particular on the role of digital technologies in driving collaboration among institutions to

promote the use of natural history collections in tackling scientiﬁc and socio-economic ‘grand

challenges’ such as biodiversity loss, environmental change, human health and sustainable

agriculture.

ABSTRACT. We see collections today keeping track of ever-growing volumes of data in software

systems. Researchers, staff, and students realize they need new skills to create, share, and use

these data. What biodiversity informatics skills and knowledge are needed? The EU Collections

Competencies Project attempts to provide some answers. What are museums like the Natural

History Museum (NHM), learning from assessing the skills needed at their institutions?

Worldwide, people are seeking workforce training for data science and data management

skills. Software Carpentry (SwC), Data Carpentry (DC), and Reproducible Science Curriculum,

provide short courses around the world, using materials aimed at novice and intermediate-level

students. Biodiversity informatics workshops at iDigBio incorporate some of their materials.

We need to harmonize the development of museum biodiversity informatics training and

implementation. This includes collating needed biodiversity informatics skills and literacy

and ﬁnding or developing courses. Also, we need a way to track and offer ongoing education

credits. What role does SPNHC play, with collections and other organizations such as

Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF),

and iDigBio, to develop these training standards to sustain and support current and future

workforce training? Where and how best to manage such a program?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iDigBio is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's

Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Program (Cooperative Agreement

EF-1115210). Any opinions, ﬁndings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this

material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reﬂect the views of the National

Science Foundation.

Some of this work carried out with funding from SYNTHESYS3 under EU 7th Framework

Programme for Research (FP7). Project reference: 312253

Data Carpentry is currently funded through Grant Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #4855

to Data Carpentry via NumFOCUS

REFERENCES

Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) http://tdwg.org/

Data Carpentry http://www.datacarpentry.org/

EU Collections Competencies Project: Testing a European Competency Framework for VET in Collections Management

http://eucolcomp.myspecies.info/

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) http://www.gbif.org/

Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) https://www.idigbio.org/

Koureas, D. & C. Valentine. 2015. Introducing data training programmes in large natural history museums to tackle their

digital challenges. Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), Nairobi, Kenya.

Michonneau, F. & D. Paul. 2015. Providing Computing Skills for the Next Generation of Biodiversity Scientists. Society for

the Preservation of Natural History Collections, Gainesville, FL.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Setting global and local

digitisation priorities (GBIF

Symposium)

The new enlightenment: digital

collections and the re-invention

of large natural history

museums

Ian P. F Owens* 1,2

1 The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK

2 Department of Life Science, Imperial College London,

Silwood Park, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK

* i.owens@nhm.ac.uk

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Museum and Collections

Biodiversity Informatics:

Meeting skills needs for

creating, sharing, and using

the digital relatives of museum

specimens

Deborah L. Paul* 1

Matthew Collins2

Laurence Livermore3

Dimitrios Koureas3

1 iDigBio, Digitization and Workforce Training, Florida State

University, Tallahassee, 32308, USA

2 iDigBio, Advanced Computing and Information Systems,

Gainesville, 32611-6200, USA

3 Diversity and Informatics, Natural History Museum,

London, SW7 5BD, UK

* dpaul@fsu.edu

Vertebrate Collections include birds, mammals, and some ﬁsh and reptiles from university

expeditions led by Charles C. Nutting and Homer R. Dill in the late 1800s and early 1900s,

subsequent departmental additions to the bird collection, and private collections donated by

William Temple Hornaday, Daniel H. Talbot, and John B. Bowles, among others. Currently,

NSF CSBR funding is providing new cabinets on compactor carriages for rehousing the

ornithological collections, which were previously located in ﬁve rooms scattered around the

building, into one reorganized storage space. UIMNH is currently collaborating with the VertNet

project to publish vertebrate data. Over 16,000 records are in the data migration process,

with more to be added as we capture data during the collection reorganization. We will also

photograph important and interesting specimens.

Student Involvement has been key in our rehousing and digitization projects. UIMNH beneﬁts

hugely from the Museum Studies Certiﬁcate Program on campus, and supports program

instruction with collection tours, education, and hands-on projects. Students complete 20-hour

or 42-hour projects for class credit in some Museum Studies courses, or one to three 45-hour

blocks of internship credit (three blocks of internship credit are required for the certiﬁcate

program, which students may complete at a variety of organizations on or off campus). These

unpaid but for-credit intern positions can be used to meet in-kind match requirements for

some grants. Students may also be supported by ICRU research fellowships. The museum

funds 20 hours/week of paid student collections assistant time, which is supplemented with

grant-funded paid student positions whenever possible. Students have rehoused pinned

insects, transcribed label data, scanned egg cards, and reorganized birds, among other useful

tasks, providing them with important hands-on experience with collection materials and

processes.

Public Involvement has included non-student volunteers working on collections projects, as

well as a crowd-sourced transcription project through the University of Iowa Libraries’ DIY

History initiative. In 2015, over 1800 scanned images of egg collector cards were uploaded

to the DIY History site for public transcription. 372 have been transcribed to date, by visitors

to https://diyhistory.lib.uiowa.edu/collections/show/17. Once transcribed, the data for egg and

nest specimens will be added to our vertebrate records and published through VertNet.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funding was received from the State Historical Society of Iowa Historic Resource Development

Program, NSF Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections Partner to Existing Network

Program, NSF Collections in Support of Biological Research Program, and the Iowa Center

for Research by Undergraduates. We appreciate additional support from iDigBio for workshop

training, the University of Iowa Libraries Digital Research and Publishing Department, and the

University of Iowa Ofﬁce of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development.

University of Iowa Museum of Natural History

Collections

Birds 13,811

Eggs, Nests 17,220

Mammals 5,111

Insects 44,142

Aquatic Invertebrates 43,250

Fluid-preserved (crayﬁsh, leeches, misc.) 3,356

Cultural Objects 6,125

Total 133,015

O/P

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152 153

REFERENCES

Cisco Pit Stop: Digitising the Natural History Museum’s collections

https://www.digitalcatapultcentre.org.uk/open-calls/cisco-pit-stop/

ABSTRACT. New molecular technologies and interest in genomic research have expanded the

traditional use of natural history collections. Conventionally vouchered collections are being

augmented within biorepositories, banks of preserved tissues and DNA samples that provide

researchers with materials to study the diversity of life on Earth. Botany, Biorepository, and IT

staffs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have developed protocols for

collecting and processing vouchered and genetic material while considering long-term care

needs. Using the Department of Botany’s acquistion workﬂow as a starting point, we will outline

the procedure of obtaining collection permits, accessioning specimens, managing specimen

data, and curating traditional specimens and genetic samples. This workﬂow development is

ongoing and takes into account best practices as applied to traditional vouchers and genetic

samples, and regulations relating to Access and Beneﬁts Sharing. Working together with these

stakeholders is proving to be critical in managing these collections for future use.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. Thanks to rapidly developing molecular technologies,

traditional natural history collections are increasingly being turned to as rich resources for

genomics research. With the formation of the National Museum of Natural History’s (NMNH)

Biorepository, there is a place to store genetic samples. Staff have developed best practice

guidelines as laid out in Zimkus and Ford (2014). This bank is a repository in an international

network, referred to as the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN), which is dedicated

to improving and providing best practices for the long-term preservation of genetic samples.

A driving force for this workﬂow was initatied by the establishment of the Smithsonian‘s

Global Genome Initiative (GGI). GGI is a collaborative group developed to provide support

for collecting and preserving genetic data for the NMNH Biorepostory in order improve our

understanding of the genomic diversity of life on Earth. GGI has funded many Botany projects,

thus motivating us to produce this workﬂow. Because of the quantity of material being

collected and the large volume of data to track, it is critical to have a procedure in place for the

many parties involved with curating these samples. We will discuss the details of the workﬂow

with an image of what the Botany Best Practice manual table of contents looks like in Figure 1.

Obtaining collection permits. Each researcher must comply with any regulations set by the

governing body of the collection locality. With this workﬂow, there are steps to take to ensure

that the necessary permits are in place prior to the collecting event.

Accessioning process. Researchers will work with the collection staff to ensure that all

specimens are accounted for and properly accessioned into the permanent collection. At

NMNH, we use EMu, a collections management software that allows us to track acquisitions.

Managing specimen data. Each researcher will be responsible for recording the

collection data electronically according to the standards set by NMNH. Researchers

will be trained in using the NMNH Field Information Management System (FIMS)

database to collect information in the ﬁeld. This data can be easily uploaded to the

cataloging system of EMu once they return. The traditional vouchers and genetic

samples are linked in the catalog database.

Curating traditional specimens and genetic samples. Researchers will work with

staff to prepare samples for either the herbarium or the biorepository based on clear

guidelines set forth by NMNH collection and Biorepository staff. The traditional plant

specimens will be prepared and placed in the herbarium, while the genetic samples

will be stored in the biorepository, in either a mechanical or liquid nitrogen freezer.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. This workﬂow has allowed us to develop a checklist

for researchers to use when planning a collecting trip. This type of guide ensures

that researchers are consistently meeting the requirements of the museum relative

to ﬁeld collecting and post-processing of organismal and genetic material. It also helps to

facilitate a smoother, less error-prone process, in what is a program with multiple stakeholders.

POSTER

Collections for the future –

future of collections

Incorporating Genetic Sampling

into a Traditional Botanical

Voucher Workﬂow

Melinda Peters* 1

Amanda Devine2

1 Smithsonian Institution, NMNH, Botany, Washington,

20013, USA

2 Smithsonian Institution, NMNH, Global Genome Initiative,

Washington, 20013, USA

* petersm@si.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

A Bridge from Enabling

Infrastructure to Digitization

Priorities, a view from industry

Deborah L Paul * 1, Philip

van Heerden2, Vince Smith3,

Laurence Livermore3, Ehsan

Alavi Fazel4

1 iDigBio, Digitization and Workforce Training, Florida State

University, Tallahassee, 32308, USA

2 Cisco UKI, Big Data & Analytics Lead, London, TW14 8HA,

3 Diversity and Informatics, Natural History Museum,

London, SW7 5BD, UK

4 Cisco UKI, Systems Engineer, London, UK

* dpaul@fsu.edu

Figure 1. This is an example of the Table of Contents that will be found at the

beginning of the manual to direct users.

Paul, D., F. Michonneau & K. Seltmann. 2015. More data than we know what to do with? Biodiversity informatics skills

needs in the research data pipeline. Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), Nairobi, Kenya.

Reproducible Science Curriculum https://github.com/Reproducible-Science-Curriculum

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) http://www.spnhc.org/

Software Carpentry http://software-carpentry.org/

Teal, T. K., K. A. Cranston, H. Lapp, E. White, G. Wilson, G. Ram & A. Pawlik. 2015. Data Carpentry: Workshops to

Increase Data Literacy for Researchers. International Journal of Digital Curation 10(1):135-143.

ABSTRACT. Natural history collection institutions (NHCs) collectively house 2.5–3 billion

specimens, documenting more than 300 years of the biological exploration of the Earth. These

biocollections are critical for understanding, advancing and applying biodiversity science,

but remain largely underutilized with only about 10% digitized. As part of a broader global

strategy for mobilizing primary biodiversity data, GBIF convened a task force (2015–2016)

to address the slow pace of NHC data capture. We conducted a global survey to gauge the

digital readiness of the world’s biocollections and perceived beneﬁts of and impediments to

digitization. More than 600 responses, most representing the USA, western Europe, and Japan,

indicate that 14% of collections lack a digitized database, and 5% report no plans to digitize

their collection. The most frequently cited beneﬁt was increased collection use. Primary

impediments included funding, time, and lack of administrative buy-in. Insufﬁcient digitally-

available collection data continues to constrain biodiversity research, policy and decision-

making because current digitization efforts are driven by opportunity rather than community

biodiversity priorities. The task force recommends that the data-knowledge-application

value-chain framework be used in order to develop compelling business cases that can attract

funding to mobilize data of strategic importance for research, policy and decision-making.

ABSTRACT. Billions of people and things are being connected globally. Digitisation is forcing

organisations and even countries to reimagine business models, products and services. Every

industry, government, school system, university and hospital is grappling with how to navigate

this digital transformation era to deliver the best experiences and value possible. In this

context natural history collections are no exception and in this presentation we will talk about

how we are developing commercial links with organisations. We will use Cisco UK’s relationship

with the NHM London as a speciﬁc example. Cisco UK has a strong history of fostering

innovation and recently collaborated with the Museum to run a “Pit Stop” event working with

small or medium sized businesses interested in developing innovative approaches to digitising

scientiﬁc collections. We will discuss the Pit Stop process which was co-organised by the

Digital Catapult Centre (https://www.digitalcatapultcentre.org.uk/), the potential for running

similar events for other museums and large-scale projects like iDigBio and SYNTHESYS, and

our vision for how Cisco and other businesses can support the digital transformation ambitions

of natural history collections.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iDigBio is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's

Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Program (Cooperative Agreement

EF-1115210). Any opinions, ﬁndings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this

material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reﬂect the views of the National

Science Foundation.

Some of this work carried out with funding from SYNTHESYS3 under EU 7th Framework

Programme for Research (FP7). Project reference: 312253

ORAL PRESENTATION

Setting global and local

digitisation priorities (GBIF

Symposium)

A global survey of natural

history collections

Deborah Paul* 1, Siro

Masinde2, Shari Ellis3, Leonard

Krishtalka4, Barbara Thiers5,

Jean Ganglo6, Eduardo Dalcin7,

and Masanori Nakae8

1 Institute for Digital Information, Florida State University

Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA

2 GBIF Secretariat, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen

2100, Denmark

3 Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida,

Gainesville, FL 32611-2710, USA

4 Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

66045 USA

5 Barbara Thiers, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY

10458, USA

6 Jean Ganglo, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of

Abomey-Calavi, Benin

7 Inst. Pesq. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de

Janeiro, RJ, 22460-030, Brazil

8 National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba City,

305-0005, Japan

* dpaul@fsu.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

A Bridge from Enabling

Infrastructure to Digitization

Priorities, a view from industry

Deborah L Paul * 1, Philip

van Heerden2, Vince Smith3,

Laurence Livermore3, Ehsan

Alavi Fazel4

1 iDigBio, Digitization and Workforce Training, Florida State

University, Tallahassee, 32308, USA

2 Cisco UKI, Big Data & Analytics Lead, London, TW14 8HA,

3 Diversity and Informatics, Natural History Museum,

London, SW7 5BD, UK

4 Cisco UKI, Systems Engineer, London, UK

* dpaul@fsu.edu

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154 155

interpretation only within a speciﬁed narrow set of criteria and this was largely successful. This

very minimal level of interpretation did result in the need for some further data enhancement

and cleaning prior to the import of the data into institutional catalogues.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. Key recommendations and lessons learnt from the pilot were:

• Avoid off-site digitisation.

Transportation of material to the Netherlands was particularly labour-intensive in the pre-

and post-digitisation work involved (e.g. condition checking, freezing, packing of boxes). As

well as curatorial staff time required to complete the additional work, the project incurred

direct costs such as transportation and purchase of boxes. If the quantity of specimens

to be digitised were to be increased, current freezing facilities would be inadequate and

additional freezing facilities would need to be set up on site. Digitising the specimens in

Amsterdam also increased the amount of risk that the collections were subjected to whilst

in transit.

• Barcode all herbarium sheets in-house prior to future digitisation.

Evaluation of the costs of the different models showed that outsourcing barcoding and

the capture of the ﬁled-under name from images of the folders was at least 50% more

expensive than barcoding and capturing the ﬁled-under name of the specimen in-house. A

large proportion of the extra cost related to the expense of the in-house tidy up of multi-

specimen sheets which would need to be barcoded, reimaged and labels re- transcribed.

• Invest more resource in quality assurance (QA) at the start the project.

The interaction required between NHM/Kew as users and Picturae/Alembo as digitisers/

transcribers was particularly resource intensive at the beginning of the pilot. Getting to

know the nuances of each collection took time; questions inevitably reduced as the project

continued and Picturae/Alembo became better acquainted with our material and our rules

for transcription. It is recommended that QA is concentrated on high priority ﬁelds e.g.

country, collection date, collector and collector number. Transcription QA should be more

intensive at the beginning of the project when feedback will have the most impact and can

be reduced as the project progresses.

• Continue to work collaboratively on digitisation projects with other institutions.

Working together allowed testing of more variables and workﬂows than one institution alone

could have tested. Having a single project manager who was the main contact point with

Picturae gave clarity and ensured the pilot stayed on track.

• Outsource imaging due to higher achievable rates if image quality criteria are met.

• Explore a hybrid approach to label transcription, likely split between outsourcing,

crowdsourcing, working with partners from other countries and in-house transcription.

Overall the pilot was deemed a success with the complete holdings of Solanum and

Dioscoraceae specimens now digitised at Kew and the NHM. However this now presents new

challenges for the staff curating these taxonomic groups. Kew alone accessions around 30,000

herbarium specimens a year, a proportion of which will be species of Dioscoreaceae and

Solanum. It is important that all new accessions for these two taxonomic groups are digitised

before they are incorporated into the collectionas as it wouldbe extremely resource intensive to

look through the cupboards of digitised specimens to select them for imaging at a later point

in time. Another issue to be considered is the need to keep the digital specimen record up to

date, particularly when specimens are physically moved within the collection and ﬁled under

a different taxonomic name. If the digital record is not kept up to date then it will make the

job of physically retrieving the specimen from the collection much harder and in some cases

extremely unlikely. Keeping these digital records up to date requires additional staff resource,

and this requirement will only increase as more of the 7 million specimens at Kew and the 6

millionspecimens at NHM are digitised. It is recommended that further work is completed to

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Dr. Kenneth Wurdack, Dr. Vicki Funk, Dr. Morgan Gostel and Rusty

Russell

REFERENCES

EMu. KE Software. Web: http://www.kesoftware.com/. Accessed 13 March 2016.

Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN). Web: http://www.ggbn.org/ggbn_portal/. Accessed 13 March 2016.

Global Genome Initiative (GGI). Web: http://ggi.si.edu/. Accessed 13 March 2016.

Zimkus, B.M. and L.S. Ford. Best Practices for Genetic Resources Associated with Natural History Collections:

Recommendations for Practical Implementation. Collection Forum 2014; 28(1-2):77-112.

ABSTRACT. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBGK) and Natural History Museum London (NHM)

collaborated together on a pilot project to test a number of digitisation models in order to

determine an optimum workﬂow for herbarium specimen digitisation. It was decided to

trial Picturae, the third party company responsible for digitising Naturalis’ entire herbarium

collection. Approximately 67,000 herbarium sheets of Solanum, Dioscoreaceae (RBGK &

NHM) and Hypericum (NHM only) were transported by lorry to the Netherlands in January

2015, and sheets and covers imaged using the 'digistreet' method that Picturae developed. A

‘digistreet’ is essentially a purpose-built conveyor belt system that minimises manual handling

of fragile herbarium specimens and captures high resolution images. The use of Picturae’s

operation also extended to Alembo, a transcription centre established in Suriname, where

information was transcribed from specimen folders and labels. All imaging was completed by

March 2015 and folder and specimen transcription completed by September the same year.

We will discuss the problems we overcame, the lessons learnt and the resource implications for

the day to day curation of these taxonomic groups now they have been digitised.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. The main objectives for this project were to:

• Identify digitisation challenges unique to Natural History Museum London (NHM) and

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBGK) herbarium material, and develop existing Picturae

processes to address them.

• Trial a collaboration between institutions as a means of sharing curatorial, research and

digitisation practices.

• Assess the suitability of the Picturae process as a long-term method of high throughput

digitisation and determine the most cost effective tailored workﬂow

• Establish costings for future mass digitisation projects.

RESULTS. All specimen sheets were successfully imaged using the conveyor belt system with

more than 3,000 images produced per day. These rates far exceeded those that could be

achieved in-house.

Following proper training and supervision on collection handling by Kew and NHM curators,

high levels of specimen care were achieved throughout the digitisation process. Condition

reporting of specimens at four separate stages showed no issues with specimen damage and

the collections were successfully kept in the correct folder order.

The Picturae conveyor belt operators struggled with the identiﬁcation of sheets with multiple

specimens and did not barcode them appropriately. Therefore it was decided after the ﬁrst few

weeks of imaging that all sheets would be given a single barcode only. The transcribers also

found it difﬁcult to correctly ﬂag sheets with multiple specimens during data entry, meaning

that many multiple specimens would not have been identiﬁed in the digitisation process.

Overall the quality of label transcription was good and improved signiﬁcantly as the project

progressed following feedback provided by Kew and NHM staff. Use of a collaborative

transcription document and weekly phone conferences facilitated transmission of information

between NHM/RBGK and Picturae. It was decided to empower transcribers to carry out

ORAL PRESENTATION

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

Lessons learnt from a

herbarium specimen mass

digitisation pilot

Sarah Phillips* 1

Alan Paton1

Laura Green1

Sandy Knapp2

1 Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Collections, Richmond, TW9

3AE, UK

2 Natural History Museum, Life Sciences, London, SW7 5BD,

* sarah.phillips@kew.org.

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156 157

Collections development has the main aim of strengthening the collections, broadening access

and increasing their relevance. In the setting of the Berlin museum, this affects and changes

each of the major components: collections space, management, personnel, and strategy, and is

a turbulent process of decision-taking to ﬁnd a balance between core business and answering

new challenges, tradition and cultural changes.

ABSTRACT. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an important part for natural history

collections like dry insects, herbaria, skins or mounted birds. In the past, many pesticides were

used to treat active infestations or to prevent attacks by different insect pests. Today, most

museums try to reduce the application of toxic chemicals and use an IPM program to prevent

damage and the spread of insect pests in the collection or museum. In the presentation the

situation of the natural history collections in Austria was analysed with interviews and personal

visits to the collections. Each of the nine federal states has a natural history collection in

the regional museum and freezing is the preferred treatment method. But freezing time and

temperatures vary between museums and don’t always follow up to date standards. The Natural

History Museum in Vienna uses also Nitrogen for treatment and a cooled storage (10°C) in the

basement. Some museums were found that still regularly use pesticides like toxic gases. Few of

the museum staff responsible for the collections has speciﬁc training in IPM. In 2013 an IPM

working group was formed and is annually meeting since then. This will help to ﬁnd sustainable

solutions.

ABSTRACT. Using examples drawn from preparing treatments of the Caryophyllaceae for two

American state ﬂora projects, I will demonstrate how the availability of herbarium specimen

data has modiﬁed the traditional work ﬂow used in writing ﬂoristic treatments.

MAIN TEXT. Written ﬂoras of an area have traditionally been based on knowledge acquired

in large part from examination of herbarium specimens stored in one or more herbaria from

that region. The species distribution that is reported often reﬂects the specimens that were

physically available to the author, either at their home institution or seen via visits to, and/

or loans from, other herbaria known to house collections from that area. One example of

two different interpretations of the ﬂoristic composition of the same region can be seen by

comparing the range statements for some introduced Caryophyllaceae in the Gray’s Manual

of Botany (Fernald 1950; prepared at the Gray Herbarium) with those for the same species

in The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and

Adjacent Canada (Gleason 1952; prepared at the New York Botanical Garden); the distribution

statements bear a striking resemblance to the specimen holdings of the respective herbaria.

The increasing number and diversity of internet portals displaying data and often images of

herbarium specimens can have a profound impact on preparation of a ﬂoristic treatment. It

is now possible for one to discover and examine specimens in collections that one did not

even know existed, sometimes adding signiﬁcant records to the knowledge base that is being

compiled.

I will use examples drawn from my work on preparing treatments of the Caryophyllaceae (Pink

Family) for ﬂoristic projects in the American states of Oregon (Meyers et al., in prep.), using

the Consortium of Paciﬁc Northwest Herbaria portal (CPNWH - http://www.pnwherbaria.org/

data/search.php), and New Mexico (K. Heil et al., in prep.), using the SEINet Symbiota portal

(http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/index.php) to demonstrate how this knowledge inﬂuenced my

work. These examples include the following:

• The broader specimen base allowed seeing more specimens, adding distribution records,

and correcting misidentiﬁcations; the “negative” side – where does one draw the line at

how many specimens to examine?

• I could generate lists of taxa and herbaria housing specimens ﬁled under those names

directly from the portals, allowing one to see if there were any unexpected names to

investigate.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Integrated Pest Management

in Austrian Natural History

Museums – A sustainable

approach

Pascal Querner* 1,2

1 University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences,

Department of Integrated Biology and Biodiversity

Research, Institute of Zoology, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33,

A-1180 Vienna, Austria

2 University of Applied Arts Vienna, Institute of Archäometrie,

Expositur Salzgries, A-1010 Vienna, Austria

* pascal.querner@boku.ac.at

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Using specimen portals for

ﬂoristics research

Richard K. Rabeler* 1

1 University of Michigan, Herbarium – EEB, Ann Arbor,

48018-2228, USA

* rabeler@umich.edu

evaluate the impact of mass digitisation on curation staff, build on current guidelines, improve

collection management systems and streamline workﬂows for curation of the digital assets

created.

ABSTRACT. The Alabama Museum of Natural History, founded in 1831, has gone through

many changes since its inception. Rooted in the Geological Survey of Alabama, it became

its own entity in 1961 with early collections of rocks, minerals, fossils, mollusks, birds,

beetles, herps, and more recent zoological specimens from the mid-20th century. These later

collections were largely built on specimens collected by professors and their graduate students,

and were only curated during the professors’ tenure. Student participation in collections care

has been minimal, largely because of a disjunction between the biology department and the

museum, which fall under different heads.

Over the past 40 years, the museum has sponsored grade/high school “expeditions” to sites

throughout the state at nominal cost. These expeditions expose students to the rigors and

etiquette of collecting, while training them to become stewards of the environment. Some

specimens collected become part of the museum’s holdings and students often become

supporters of the museum, its collections and its community involvement. Though typically

focused on paleontology or archeology, the museum hopes to expand its expeditions using

iNaturalist observations as a platform to engage students in Alabama biodiversity, ampliﬁed by

Natural Science expeditions in zoology.

ABSTRACT. An increasing number of preserved specimens have been digitally imaged and

have subsequently been made available over the web. There is currently an international drive

to capture information contained on preserved specimen labels through use of these digital

images. To date these efforts have primarily focused on the transcription of label data either

through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and NLP (Natural Language Processing) or via

direct human transcription of the label and parsing and entering label data into appropriate

data base ﬁelds. This type of activity is both laborious and error prone. This application is

intended to provide an alternative approach to image based data capture, eliminating the need

for manual key board input and allowing rapid progress through the source material by focusing

on answering simple yes/no questions. The focus shifts away from the capture of the entirety of

the data available on each specimen label and onto rapid capture of a single data facet across

an entire collection.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This software has been developed with funding from SYNTHESYS3

under EU 7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7). Project reference: 312253

ABSTRACT. The development of natural history collections is not a one-way process but

a complex of dynamic and interrelated components under demanding and ever-changing

conditions.

The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin provides a good example for this. Founded as part of the

Humboldt-University in 1810, it became independent and member of the Leibniz Association

in 2009. The 30 million zoological, paleontological and mineralogical objects are housed

either in a state-of-the-art building or in a historic building that has hardly changed over the

last 100 years. Research and collections management are interwoven in an integrated model

of custodians. About ten years ago the Department of Collections was established to centralize

the day-to-day business and to standardize policies and procedures. Later, collections

development became part of the institution’s research program.

As others, the institution is facing new scientiﬁc technologies that lead to new types of

collections. New media and citizen science ask for new ways of opening up and using

collections that were originally built up as research infrastructure for ﬁelds like taxonomy and

systematics. In a world of changing ﬁnancial resources and new political and societal priorities,

the collections have to prove their relevance for new uses and users.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Engaging student awareness of

museum collections

Mary Beth Prondzinski* 1

1 University of Alabama Natural History Museum, Tuscaloosa,

AL, USA

* mbprondzinski@ua.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

DemoCamp

Rapid ﬁltering application

design and implementation

Martin Pullan1

Robert Cubey* 1

1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

* Corresponding author: r.cubey@rbge.org.uk

ORAL PRESENTATION

Collections stewardship and

policies

Wind of change – Collections

stewardship at the Museum

für Naturkunde Berlin between

tradition and cultural change

Christiane Quaisser* 1

1 Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and

Biodiversity Science, 10115 Berlin, Germany

* christiane.quaisser@mfn-berlin.de

P/Q/R

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158 159

Museum, Universitets København, while others with important holdings are less well known,

such the Zoologischen Sammlunge from Martin-Luther-Universität, and the Muséum d'Histoire

Naturelle de Genève.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. The aim of this study is publish an upgrade of the European

scientiﬁc collections that house specimens of fundamental importance for the study of

Brazilian mammalian fauna.

Historic. Hershkovitz (1987) and Baker (1991) have discourse about the ﬁrst expeditions in

Neotropical region, including institutions, researchers, and naturalists who carried out those

exploratory expeditions.

The collections of Neotropical material by European institutions began to be systematically

gathered during the 18th century, and in Brazil speciﬁcally in 1783, with expeditions

of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, the ﬁrst Brazilian naturalist. In the 19th century, new

contributions followed the arrival of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil and the engagement

between the Crown Prince Dom Pedro with the Archduchess Leopoldina, Franz II’s daughter,

the last Holy Roman Empire Emperor. Prominent naturalists arrived in Brazil: Friedrich Sellow

(Germany, from 1814 until his death in 1831), Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (Germany,

1817-1820), Alexander Phillip Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (Germany, 1815-1817), Johann

Natterer (Luxembourg-Austria, 1817-1835), Alcide d'Orbigny (France, in South America

1826-1833), Peter Wilhelm Lund (Denmark, 1833 until his death in 1880), Francis Laporte

de Castelnau (United Kingdom, 1842-1847), François Jules Pictet de la Rive (Switzerland,

1843-1844), and Karl Hermann K. Burmeister (Germany, 1850-1852). Between the late 19th

and early 20th century, many naturalists from United Kingdom (e.g., C. Darwin, P.R. Perrens,

P.O. Simons, and M.R.O. Thomas) undertook expeditions in South America.

Methods. A list of scientiﬁc collections of Europe was compiled focusing on those more

important mainly by number of nomenclatural types from extant mammalian fauna of Brazil.

The account was modiﬁed from Bezerra (2015) and updated by consult the ofﬁcial homepages

or/and by correspondence with curators.

RESULTS. Surveyed collections - Number of specimens and nomenclatural types are in Table 1.

1) Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg (SMF), Frankfurt, Germany: Founded

by suggestion of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1817. The mammal collection includes

material collected by Wied-Neuwied (Hershkovitz 1987).

2) Martin-Luther-Universität (MLU), Zoologischen Sammlungen Institut, Halle-Wittenberg,

Germany: Founded in 1769 by Johan Friedrich Gottlieb Goldhagen. Mammal collection,

structured mainly by efforts of Burmeister during 1837-1861, is composed in part by

mounted specimens for exhibition, including some type specimens. Neotropical material

comes mainly from Argentina, and also Brazil. Includes material described by Lichtenstein

and Hoffmannsegg.

3) Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de la Ville de Genève (MHNG), Switzerland: The collection

was initiated in 1820 as Museé académique and later in 1907 as the current institution.

Includes important series from South America, including rodents and bats studied by

Pictet.

4) Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France: The largest and oldest

natural history museum in Europe. Created in 1635 and emerged as a major research

institution due to Count Buffon (from 1739-1788). There is part of the material collected

by A.R. Ferreira (pillaged from Lisbon in 1808 by Napoleonic troops), and studied

by Étienne Geoffroy St. Hilaire. Includes material collected by Wied-Neuwied, Castelnau,

d’Orbigny, and Gervais.

5) Museum für Naturkunde, Zoologisches Museum Berlin (ZMB), Berlin, Germany: Founded

in the early 19th century. The mammal collection has grown signiﬁcantly during the

19th and early 20th century, after efforts of Lichtenstein, Peters, Matschie, and Nehring

who described until the 1920s many species deposited there. Includes also material

collected by Wied-Neuwied.

6) Natural History Museum (NHM), London, UK: The collections of natural history were

started in the 17th century by Sir Hans Sloane. He died in 1753 and his personal

collection given to King George II. In same year, the British Museum was founded, where

the natural history collections were housed until 1883, when they were transferred to

The power of specimen portals could be enhanced by increased efforts to image all specimens

(some herbaria currently display only data), making it easier for a researcher to send

corrections to curators, and uniting currently disconnected portals (see Table 1) so that the

sets of available tools and specimens are both more comprehensive and easier to use for

projects that may include areas covered by separate portals.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I thank Stephen Meyers for providing a dataset of Oregon

Caryophyllaceae at OSC, Ben Legler and Marcus Hooker for providing images of selected

specimens at WTU and WS herbaria respectively, and Ben Legler (CPNWH) and Ed Gilbert and

Ben Brandt (SEINet) for logistical support.

REFERENCES

Fernald, M.L. 1950. Gray’s Manual of Botany. American Book Co., New York.

Gleason, H.A. 1952. The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent

Canada. 3 vols. New York Botanical Garden, New York.

Table 1. Major North American Vascular Plant Specimen Portals

A. Symbiota Vascular Plant Portals – connected to same (SEINet) database

SEINet

Consortium of Midwest Herbaria

Intermountain Region Herbaria Network (IRHN)

SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections (SERNEC)

New Mexico Biodiversity Portal

North American Network of Small Herbaria

Northern Great Plains Herbaria

B. Other Symbiota Vascular Plant Portals – not connected to SEINet

Consortium of Northeastern Herbaria (CNH)

Monarch (California Academy of Sciences)

The Lundell Plant Diversity Portal

University of Colorado Herbarium

Virtual Flora of Wisconsin

C. Major non-Symbiota Portals

Canadensys

Consortium of California Herbaria

Consortium of Paciﬁc Northwest Herbaria

ABSTRACT. Biological scientiﬁc collections are an important source of information about

the organisms deposited, and testimonies of biodiversity. Organization, study and data

recovery of biological collections is of invaluable importance in Brazil, where the estimated

biodiversity is the largest in the world and is still far from completely known. The development

of research and the training of human resources in taxonomy, systematics, and curatorial

management are imperative for efﬁcient conservation and understanding biodiversity. For

historical reasons, Brazilian researchers in ecology are more numerous than taxonomists, and

often lack knowledge on the importance, existence, and taxonomic and geographic magnitude

about many scientiﬁc collections that house extant Brazilian mammalian species. I have

upgraded my prior database containing scientiﬁc collections in the Europe, focusing on those

with important series or type specimens. This list includes the history of each institution,

the number of Brazilian/South American specimens deposited there, and the number of

mammalian type specimens of Brazil, when the data is available. Among these, some are

quite famous, such the Natural History Museum, Museum für Naturkunde, and the Zoologisk

POSTER

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural History

Collections Data and Integrating

Data for Research (iDigBio

Symposium)

Extant Brazilian mammals in

scientiﬁc collections of Europe:

an update

Alexandra Maria Ramos Bezerra* 1

1 Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos

Silvestres Reservatórios. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil.

* amrbezerra@hotmail.com

P/Q/R

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

160 161

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. Many scientiﬁc natural history collections in Europe have

suffered continuous losses in funding from their governments, which directly affects the

management, infrastructure, training and recruitment of staff as well as the growth and

maintenance these collections. Many are stagnant, some with few local researchers or students

studying their collections, while others are in imminent danger of closing the doors or even

losing their collections (e.g., Andreone et al. 2014). Support for expeditions with the aim of

expanding these collections and perform timescale large inventories are also becoming less

frequent. The importance of most of these scientiﬁc collections also lies in the historical-

cultural content - several collections in Europe house objects that compose part of evolution of

the human knowledge about the natural history.

Historical series, with good numerical and geographic representation, and temporal consistency

enables us a clear picture of how human impacts and climate change inﬂuenced the biological

communities over the past decades or even centuries, providing the base for the prediction of

future scenarios.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Manuel Ruedi (MHNG), Frank Steinheimer (MLU), Frank Zachos and

Alex Bibl (NMW), and Christiane Funk (ZMB). CNPq for BJT fellowship (372459/2013-7).

REFERENCES

Andreone, F., L. Bartolozzi, G. Boano, F. Boero, M. Bologna, M. Bon, N. Bressi, M. Capula, A. Casale, M. Casiraghi, G.

Chiozzi, M. Delﬁno, G. Doria, A. Durante, M. Ferrari, S. Gippoliti, M. Lanzinger, L. Latella, N. Maio, C. Marangoni, S.

Mazzotti, A. Minelli, G. Muscio, P. Nicolosi, T. Pievani, E. Razzetti, G. Sabella, M. Valle, V. Vomero, A. Zilli. 2014. Italian

natural history museums on the verge of collapse? Zookeys 456:139-146.

Baker, RH. 1991. Part 1, Historical background. Pp. 7-33, in: The classiﬁcation of Neotropical mammals – a historical

résumé (M.A. Mares, D.J. Schmidly, eds.), Latin American Mammalogy: History, Biodiversity, and Conservation. University

of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK.

Bezerra, A. M. R. 2015. Coleções cientíﬁcas de mamíferos do Brasil: II-Europa. Boletim da SBMz 71:11-16.

Hershkovitz, P. 1987. A history of recent mammalogy of the Neotropical region from 1492 and 1850. Pp. 11-98, in:

Studies in Neotropical mammalogy: essays in honor of Philip Hershkovitz (B.D. Patterson, R.M. Timm, eds.), Fieldiana:

Zoology, New Series, No. 39. Chicago, IL.

ABSTRACT. Fossils reveal the responses of organisms to climatic events in the Earth’s past

and provide valuable insights into how global changes today might inﬂuence evolutionary

patterns of organisms in the future. A thorough understanding of the link between climate and

evolution, however, can only be addressed with the mobilization of large quantities of detailed

paleontological data. With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we

are focusing on a rich collection of fossils from the early Eocene of Wyoming (roughly 55 to

50 million years ago). A concentrated ﬁeld program by the University of California Museum

of Paleontology resulted in an estimated 60 000 fossils from 225 localities spanning this

warm interval. Notably, fossiliferous sediments were collected in small batches, often single

shovel scoops, with each sample encoded with an individual number. This approach provides

remarkable stratigraphic and geographic control, and permits the re-association of specimens

disarticulated during processing. Yet, the information associated with these samples, including

hand-written notes on acidic paper and polaroid photographs, was rapidly deteriorating. Using a

team-oriented approach, we are rapidly digitizing these data to insure their long-term security.

These newly mobilized data will yield important information on the effects of climate changes

on organisms.

POSTER

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

Digitizing eocene fossil

collections for global change

research

Brian Rankin* 1

Patricia Holroyd1

1 University of California, Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley,

California, 94720, USA

* bdrankin@berkeley.edu

the building of the current NHM in South Kensington. The mammal collection is the

second largest collection in the world and is the largest in numbers of nominal types.

Oldﬁeld Thomas described 2,900 of these types during 1876-1929, of which hundreds

of species occur in Brazil. George R. Waterhouse described species of mammals from

material provided by Darwin’s "Beagle Voyage" in 1836.

7) Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum) (RMNH), Leiden,

Netherlands: The mammal collection began in the 19th century, and the museum ofﬁcially

established in 1820. Coenraad J. Temminck administered the museum until his death in

1831 and had described several Neotropical mammal species. Includes material collected

by Spix and Johann Andreas Wagner.

8) Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NMW), Vienna, Austria: Founded in 1889, the

collections were systematically assembled from 1806. The mammal collection has an

annual increase of 500 specimens, being one of the few European scientiﬁc natural

history collections not stagnant. Include material collected by Natterer and described by

Johann Andreas Wagner.

9) Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM), Munich, Germany: Founded in 1811 by

Johann Baptist von Spix, houses ~25 million specimens. The Neotropical mammalian

fauna is represented mainly by Brazil and Argentina. There are many types described by

Spix and Johann Andreas Wagner.

10) Zoologisk Museum, Universitets København (ZMUC), Copenhagen, Denmark: The current

collection consists of material from various collections that date back to 1650. There is a

valuable collection of the Quaternary gathered by Peter W. Lund during 1830-1840 in

Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and described by him and Winge.

Institution Total number of

specimens (1)

Number of

nomenclatural

types (2)

Observation

1. Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Senckenberg 95,000 (2,259

SA, 878 BR)

640 (18 SA,

15 BR)

2. Martin-Luther-Universität, Zoologischen

Sammlungen Institut

852 SA 19 SA

(probable +11

BR, being 3

lost)

F. Steinheimer

pers. com.

3. Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de la Ville de Genève ~45;000 (542

BR)

17 BR Manuel Ruedi

pers. com.

4. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 130,000 1,100

5. Museum für Naturkunde ~150,000 >2,000 (160

SA, 89 BR)

C. Funk; 5th

largest mammal

collection of

the world

6. Natural History Museum 359,000

(~2900 BR)

>11,000

(>300 BR)

2sd largest

mammal

collection of

the world

7. Naturalis Biodiversity Center 8,905 (4,607

SA)

8. Naturhistorisches Museum Wien 70,000 (1,827

SA./1,300 BR)

135 BR F. Zachos and

A. Blibl pers.

com.

9. Zoologische Staatssammlung München ~40,000 -

10. Zoologisk Museum, Universitets København ~40,000 80

Table 1. Recent mammal specimens in European scientiﬁc collections. (1) Number of specimens and (2) number of nomenclatural types from South America

–SA and Brazil –BR, when the data are available. Data taken in collection ofﬁcial homepages.

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

162 163

ABSTRACT. The Mammalogy Department at the American Museum of Natural History is one

of the oldest in the Museum, holding specimens dating to the founding collections of 1869.

Mounted skins and taxidermy have become important historic objects, especially examples of

extinct or endangered animals, or those mounted by important ﬁgures in the development of

taxidermy. In an effort to better understand the history and technology of the collection, as well

as its condition, Natural Scien ce conservators conducted an inventory and condition survey of

Mammalogy taxidermy holdings. Conservators worked for four months, opening every cabinet

to locate and examine 632 mounted specimens. Individual mounts were photographed and

assessed using a custom-built FileMakerPro database. Background data, overall condition,

detailed component condition, and treatment recommendations were recorded. The process

required conservators to deﬁne the limits of materials qualifying as taxidermy; establish an

understanding of taxidermist materials and methods; and streamline survey procedures in

tight spaces. The project identiﬁed dominant inﬂuences on the condition of taxidermy in the

Mammalogy collection, and provides collections staff with a basis for decisions related to future

conservation, loans and exhibits. The surveying procedures developed can be applied to other

collections to help preserve similar pieces for the next generation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Work was carried out under the guidance of project leaders Lisa

Kronthal Elkin (Chief Registrar and Director of Natural Science Conservation) and Judith

Levinson (Director of Anthropology Conservation). The survey was supported by the Mammalogy

Department: Neil Duncan (Collection Manager), Eileen Westwig (Senior Scientiﬁc Assistant),

Eleanor Hoeger (Scientiﬁc Assistant), and Brian O’Toole (Scientiﬁc Assistant). Funding was

provided by an Institute for Museum and Library Services National (IMLS) Leadership Grant.

REFERENCES

Quinn, S. C. 2006. Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History. Harry N.

Abrams: New York, NY.

ABSTRACT. Preserved bird skins are notoriously thin and delicious to pests, making taxidermy

bird mounts particularly vulnerable to feather loss. With few established techniques for

replacing lost feathers, there is ample room for creative problem solving by conservators

working in this area. Treatments of two pieces of bird taxidermy will be presented. One, a

historic emperor penguin that had suffered a probable pencil stab to the chest; the other,

a bald eagle that lost its iconic white head feathers after a botched “restoration.” The case

studies will illustrate two ﬁll techniques – one involving the use of real, purchased feathers,

and the other the fabrication of “conservation feathers.” Although there were pros and cons to

both techniques, one resulted in a more successful treatment for both birds. These methods for

making feather ﬁlls may be useful for those charged with caring for natural science collections

as well as ethnographic and historic collections that include feather clothing, ceremonial

blankets, and other feathered objects.

ABSTRACT. A collection management system (CMS) – relational database software speciﬁcally

designed for the needs of collections – provides collection managers with a tool for streamlining

workﬂows and maintaining access to specimen data. However, the challenges of adapting to

a CMS can be daunting. In this case study, we relate our experience in the ﬁrst six months

of transitioning to the Arctos collection management system, including an assessment of

the implementation process, functionality in use, and data discoverability both internal and

external.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. The Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature

Museum (CAS/PNNM) is the oldest science museum in Chicago, and its collections reﬂect an

exciting era of naturalist explorations throughout the latter half of the 1800s and into the 20th

century. Beginning in 2008, CAS/PNNM received a series of grant funding to digitally inventory

portions of its diverse natural history collections, which include biological, geological, and

cultural objects, as well as archives and audiovisual materials (see Figure 1). Collectively, these

items document the historic biodiversity of North America, in particular the Midwest/Western

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Performing a condition

survey of historic mammalian

taxidermy

Fran Ritchie* 1

Julia Sybalsky2

Caitlin Richeson3

Kelly McCauley4

1 Project Conservator, American Museum of Natural

History, Natural Science Collections Conservation Lab,

New York, NY 10024, USA

2 Associate Conservator, American Museum of Natural

History, Natural Science Collections Conservation Lab, New

York, NY 10024, USA

3 Project Intern, American Museum of Natural History,

Natural Science Collections Conservation Lab, New York,

NY 10024, USA

4 Former Graduate Student Fellow, American Museum of

Natural History, Natural Science Collections Conservation

Lab, New York, NY 10024, USA

* fritchie@amnh.org

POSTER

Preventive conservation and

material science

Filling feather loss: Tricks &

tips

Fran Ritchie* 1

Julia Sybalsky2

1 Natural Science Conservator, New York, 10025, USA

2 Natural Science Conservator, New York, 10025, USA

* franritchie@gmail.com

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Assessing the initial

implementation of Arctos in

interdisciplinary natural history

collections

Dawn Roberts* 1

Erica Krimmel1

1 Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature

Museum, Biology, Chicago, 60614, USA

* droberts@naturemuseum.org

ABSTRACT. The Instituto de Ciencias Naturales (ICN) is Colombia’s largest repository of

biological collections, representing most of the country’s plant, vertebrate and arthropod

diversity, with over one million specimens, including 11,147 types (1,974 holotypes). To date,

619,412 specimens have been databased using Specify® software and 41% of all localities

(184,224) have been georeferenced using the point-radius method. The National Colombian

Herbarium (COL) leads the digitization process with 431,383 records (74% databased),

of which 76% have associated images, followed by the amphibian collection with 52,247

records (80% databased). Since 2004, the ICN, a GBIF provider, has made its collections

data and images available online at www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co, with continual updates to both

content and web architecture. In mid-2016 we will be launching a new version of our portal

“Colecciones Cientíﬁcas en Línea” including images for all type collections and improvements

in speed, functionality and robustness. These upgrades were undertaken to improve overall

user experience and to facilitate integration, via web services, with other institutional and

governmental platforms. The new portal was developed using the RDBMS MariaDB®, Loris IIIF

Image Server, and the server backend written in Python™, using libraries such as Flask and

SQLAlchemy; the web client uses HTML5, JavaScript, jQuery and OpenSeadragon.

ABSTRACT. This presentation will give an overview of the state of the Advancing Digitization

of Biological Collections initiative in the USA. Topics will include the iDigBio infrastructure,

the state of the Thematic Collections Networks (TCNs), and other digitization activities. The

iDigBio progress in the past year includes working groups, digitization tools, informatics

training, public participation, data portal, and data processing. An update on TCN progress will

focus on accomplishments of these groups and their digitization practices. Other digitization

activities are active in small collections and ﬁeld stations. Of particular interest is the

extension of digitization into related documents (ﬁeld notebooks, accession books, etc.) and

the incorporation of various annotations on images and specimens.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iDigBio is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation

Cooperative Agreement EF-1115210.

ABSTRACT. Technological advancements over the past two decades have made information

about types and other specimens housed in natural history collections available online

in digital form, primarily for research purposes. In the past few years more attention has

been placed on digital imaging of specimens, in effect bringing the specimens out of their

cabinets and increasingly into public view globally via the World Wide Web. This presentation

will introduce photogrammetry as a means for 3-dimensional scanning of specimens and

describe an architecture for a Computer Operated Photogrammetric Imaging System known

as COPIS. The goal of the COPIS project is to develop hardware and software for rapid multi-

camera, multi-view image acquisition of natural history specimens. The resulting images can

then be used for accurate 3-dimensional reconstruction of the specimen surfaces.

POSTER

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural History

Collections Data and Integrating

Data for Research (iDigBio

Symposium)

Mobilizing biodiversity data

in a megadiverse country: the

online collections of Colombia’s

Instituto de Ciencias Naturales

Lauren Raz* 1

Henry D. Agudelo-Zamora1

Andrés E. Páez Torres1

1 Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de

Colombia, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia

* lraz@unal.edu.co

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Digitization Infrastructure in the

Greg Riccardi* 1

1 School of Information, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

32308 USA

* griccardi@fsu.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods, ideas,

and uses

COPIS: Prototyping a computer

operated photogrammetric

imaging system

Nelson Rios* 1

Henry L. Bart Jr.1

1 Tulane University, Biodiversity Research Institute, Belle

Chasse, LA, 70037, USA

* nrios@tulane.edu

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

164 165

Managing a collection involves applying transactions, such as accessions or loans, to a diverse

range of objects. By bringing transaction handling into a common space with specimen records,

Arctos allows us to avoid a “fragmented information ﬂow,” as described by Forbes (2012) in

her assertion that a CMS should “serve as a core resource, used to manage every aspect of

a collection.” Our experiences with the transaction options in Arctos have been positive and

straight forward, and include accessioning, and creating labels and other forms. Attaching

citations, publications, videos, and images to records has likewise been smooth and adds

further multi-dimensionality to our data.

Online data publishing is a fairly new aspect to collection management, but one growing

in relevance as biodiversity data consortiums such as iDigBio and the Global Biodiversity

Information Facility (GBIF) become better known. CAS/PNNM views publishing its collections

data online as an important goal that improves the accessibility of our specimens and better

enables our data to contribute to the broader conversations involving natural history collections.

The current pace of research, though, tends not to include data that isn’t easy to access – an

idea expanded on by Robertson et al. (2014) in a paper on GBIF’s role in the biodiversity data

community. This creates a situation where it is critical for us to make our data as accessible

as possible. Prior to beginning the Arctos migration, we published four collection datasets

on VertNet. Having experienced the formatting process for our specimen data from Excel for

VertNet, we are pleased that with Arctos, specimen data will automatically be pushed to GBIF

and other aggregators.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. We have thus far imported data for our accession records,

mammalogy, and oology collections. Data were cleaned and normalized, and follow the

DarwinCore Standards. Staff addressed specimens requiring further research into catalogue or

accession ﬁles as much as possible prior to their upload into Arctos, as this made the transition

smoother. The Collections Department incorporated its strong volunteer base into the data

cleaning and preparation process. Many of these volunteers work with Excel ﬁles until the data

are ready for upload, while others have been trained to enter data directly into Arctos, such

as for newly prepared specimens. Additionally, the data preparation process sparked other

projects with the collections that proved to be necessary and beneﬁcial to our end result, such

as research into records that fed into accession paperwork and the subsequent reorganization

of those records.

Arctos has allowed us to standardize our collections data across disciplines and improve

the quality of data as it relates to physical collections. With the cloud-based system, Arctos

provides us with new pathways through which to share our collections, enabling specimen

information to be shared much easier both internally and externally. Transitioning to a new CMS

requires signiﬁcant planning and preparation. Maintaining ﬂexibility to our project workﬂows

while we migrated data into Arctos allowed us to address aspects of data management that

ultimately resulted in stronger collection management.

REFERENCES

Forbes, M. 2012. CollectionSpace: A story of open-source software development and user-centered design. Bulletin of the

American Society of Information Science and Technology 38(3): 22-26.

Krimmel, E., D. Roberts 2016. Evaluating collection management systems for interdisciplinary natural history collections.

This volume.

Robertson, T., M. Doring, R. Guralnick, D. Bloom, J. Wieczorek, et al. 2014. The GBIF integrated publishing toolkit:

Facilitating the efﬁcient publishing of biodiversity data on the internet. PLoS ONE 9(8): e102623. doi:10.1371/journal.

pone.0102623

Great Lakes region. Five years later, the inventory and specimen label data capture of the

object-based collections was complete and had resulted in 61 Excel spreadsheets containing

upwards of 285,000 records. Processing of the archives and audiovisual collections continues.

Although the inventory was a huge success, maintaining data in so many different spreadsheets

is unstable and was hindering the full potential of our collections. In light of this, CAS/PNNM

committed to invest in a collection management system (CMS). After a considerable decision-

making process, it was determined that Arctos would provide the easiest path to getting

quality, standardized data into a relational database for all of our collections, and to making

this data accessible both in-house and online (see Krimmels & Roberts, 2016, this issue).

Arctos (http://arctosdb.org) is a cloud-based CMS, providing online accessibility to collection

data. It is a consortium, and its current list of 20 institutions represent a diverse array

of collections. With leaders such as the University of California at Berkeley’s Museum of

Vertebrate Zoology and the University of Alaska Museum, Arctos is a stable option optimized

across many disciplines of natural and cultural history. Institutions using Arctos share the

costs of maintaining, hosting, and developing the software. Although each institution retains

intellectual control over its data and has a virtual private database for their collections,

physical data storage is shared offsite, and certain information is shared globally amongst

Arctos collaborators (e.g. if the same collector deposited specimens in two institutions, there

would only be one record for this collector within all of Arctos).

RESULTS. In the initial period since beginning the transition to Arctos, we have been

pleased with the ease of implementation, responsiveness of the Arctos technical support,

and burgeoning integration that Arctos enables between our transaction workﬂows and our

specimen records. The transition to Arctos is also resolving two of our challenges: 1) providing

a secure, offsite backup for our collections data, and 2) offsite access for our collections data.

The infrastructure set-up process for Arctos is non-existent, allowing us to immediately dive

into the migration process. Arctos is hosted by the Texas Advanced Computing Center, which

provides a cloud computing environment, unlimited online media storage, and preservation-

quality data backup. Because Arctos was designed as a web-based application from the

beginning, it has a high capacity to enable rapid data mobilization. As it operates in any

browser, there is no software to be installed, enabling work to be conducted at multiple

locations and facilitating exploration of the data by others.

Figure 1. Visual overview of CAS/PNNM collection holdings with object or material counts speciﬁed in each discipline. Gray background on a discipline

indicates that it is non

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conservators (for instance, most adhesives are water based). During treatments, papers are

often exposed for differing durations to high humidity conditions, which might be enough

to provoke ink migrations. These are often hardly perceptible by the naked eye but may be

detrimental in the long run. In order to limit the risk of ink migration while using water based

treatments, several tests have been designed. The ﬁrst one, the bathophenanthroline indicator

paper [Neevel and Reissland 2005] was designed to identify the presence of iron and is also a

reliable solubility test. The second one, the Dutch mending test [Belhadj et al 2014], can be

used for artefact loans to check the quality of climate during transport and exhibition. It is also

a powerful tool to deﬁne safe protocols such as local mending with water based adhesives [Van

Veltzen 2011, Phan Taan Luu and Jacobi 2011].

A large effort of research has been dedicated to remediation treatments which aim to stop the

chemical decay with addition of alkaline and anti-oxidant compounds. One of the most efﬁcient

is the phytate treatment [Rouchon et al 2011] that can be used with speciﬁc care on highly

damaged documents [Desroches et al 2012]. It however remains time consuming and thus

expensive.

CONCLUSION. There is currently no “universal” protocol to deal with conservation of paper

artefacts damaged by iron and acidity. Regarding highly damaged artefacts, a great piece of

work remains to be done to apprehend the chemistry underlying the degradation in order to

propose targeted chemical treatments. It remains however that the greatest part of our written

heritage is relatively well preserved and mainly needs preventive measures. The priority is to

avoid excessive handling and uncontrolled exposure to high humidity conditions of the artefacts

thus reducing the occurrence of further damages. If humidiﬁcation is needed (for whatever

reasons), simple colorimetric tools can be used to safely monitor the treatments.

REFERENCES

Belhadj, O., C. Phan Tan Luu, E. Jacobi, S. Meslet-Struyve, S. Vez, B. Reissland & V. Rouchon, 2014. The Dutch

Fe-Migration Mending Test : Exploring Further Areas of Use. Journal of Paper Conservation 15: 9-15.

Desroches, M., V. Duplat & V. Rouchon. 2012. An Aqueous Treatment for Highly Damaged Manuscripts : Minimising the

Risk of Mechanical Damage. Journal of Paper Conservation 13:36-37.

Champour, M., 1895. Nouveau manuel complet de la fabrication des encres. Encyclopédie Roret, Paris.

Neevel, J.G. & B. Reissland. 2005. Bathophenanthroline Indicator Paper. PapierRestaurierung 6:28-36.

Phan Tan Luu, C. & E. Jacobi. 2011. Repair on Iron Gall Ink with Remoistable Tissue. Journal of Paper Conservation 12:

37.

Rouchon, V., B. Durocher. E. Pellizzi & J. Stordiau-Pallot. 2009. The Water Sensitivity of Iron Gall Ink and its Risk

Assessment. Studies in Conservation 54, 236-254.

Rouchon, V., E. Pellizzi, M. Duranton, F. Vanmeert & K. Janssens,. 2011. Combining Xanes, ICP-AES and SEM/EDS

for the study of phytate chelating treatments used on iron gall ink damages manuscripts. Journal of Analytical Atomic

Spectrometry 26:2434-2441.

Rouchon, V., M. Duranton., O. Belhadj, M. Bastier Desroches, V. Duplat, C. Walbert, B. Vinther Hansen. 2013. The

use of halide charged interleaves for treatment of iron gall ink damaged papers. Polymer Degradation and Stability

98:1339-1347.

Van Velzen, B., 2011. Remoistable Tissue. Journal of Paper Conservation 12:36.

Figure 1. Iron sulfate bearing papers

Left: Herbarium front page (Herbier de Foucques, 1710, MNHN); middle : label glued on a fossiliferous shale damaged with sulfate efﬂorescence (rozenite)

(MNHN.F.6890); right : label in contact with a damaged pyritized fossil.

ABSTRACT. When paper is impregnated with iron sulfate solutions, it progressively becomes

brown and fragile. The most well-known case of these degradations corresponds to “iron gall

ink corrosion” that has motivated numerous studies dealing with chemical pathways and

possible remediation strategies. Although most fundamental aspects of the degradation are still

unanswered, the deﬁnition of conservation strategies has been largely improved in the last two

decades.

The present communication aims to review the most relevant of these aspects from

fundamental considerations to practical applications in the context of natural History

collections.

ARE NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS CONCERNED WITH IRON SULFATE BEARING

PAPERS? Iron gall inks are composed of a mixture of iron(II) sulfate, gallic acid and gum

Arabic. In western countries they have been largely used since the middle ages, and very

possibly even since antiquity. From the nineteenth century onwards, with the industrial

revolution and development of chemistry, ink-makers progressively mixed these inks with other

types of inks and with synthetic dyes [Champour and Maleyre 1895] in order to gather in

one product the beneﬁt of each ink. Examination of ink-making recipes also shows that iron

sulfate was a common ingredient of nib writing inks until the 1960s. Therefore many of the

manuscripts written in the 19th and 20th century contain iron sulfate bearing inks. They are

acidic and relatively rich in iron.

Iron sulfate bearing inks evidently concerns book notes, logbooks, labels and archival material

related to natural History collections (Figure 1, left). Labels damaged by iron sulfates may also

be found in paleontological and mineralogical collections. When a label is placed in contact

with a damaged specimen containing iron sulﬁdes or iron sulfates, spectacular degradation of

the paper may be observed (Figure 1, middle and right).

WHAT IS THE DOMINANT DEGRADATION PATHWAY? The presence of iron sulfate in the

ink does not inevitably lead to the destruction of the carrier but it may, in certain conditions,

have a detrimental impact. The ﬁrst step of degradation corresponds to migration of ink

ingredients in the carrier. This is usually achieved when the document is exposed to high

humidity conditions (above 80-85% RH) [Rouchon et al 2009, 2013, Belhadj et al 2014]:

condensation of water in the paper leads to dissolution of water soluble compounds, which

migrate in the paper.

When ink components, such as iron and sulfates ions are present in the inner part of the sheet,

chemical degradation takes place. It is usually attributed to superimposition of acid-catalyzed

hydrolysis and oxidation pathways. Which pathway is the dominant one remains a controversial

question, but there is a consensus on the fact that this degradation leads to browning and

loss of mechanical properties. Near the ink line, the paper becomes fragile, but far from

the ink line, it is still strong. Damaged documents are often handled without speciﬁc care

because people are not aware that the paper is locally brittle. Yet turning pages, even carefully,

implies bending sheets. This action may induce locally an unbearable mechanical solicitation,

provoking cracks and ﬁnally holes in the fragile area.

CONSERVATION STRATEGIES. Preventive conservation guidelines for storage of written

documents are relatively simple: they should be kept in dry and cold environments.

Conservation treatments appear more problematic as water is the preferred solvent of paper

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Preserving iron sulfate bearing

papers

Véronique Rouchon* 1

1 Centre de recherche sur la conservation (CRC, USR 3224),

Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire

Naturelle, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication,

CNRS ; CP21, 36 rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, 75005 Paris,

France

* rouchon@mnhn.fr

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therefore to: 1) guarantee the long-term security of the data; 2) facilitate transcription and

databasing as a precursor to specimen digitisation; 3) improve collection management; 4)

increase research access to our bird breeding data; and 5) increase international impact of

the NHMUK oological collection.

Many of the NHMUK index cards are envelopes (Figure 2) containing original fragile labels,

maps, photographs, even feathers, some already show signiﬁcant signs of deterioration.

Repeat consultation puts manuscripts at risk, so a digital access alternative was a priority.

Our workﬂow involves every card / envelope being hand numbered with a unique identiﬁer,

and cards sorted into pre-deﬁned categories to speed up the digitisation process. We use

two different scanners depending on the form and condition of the object. ‘Standard’

manuscripts and index cards, and simple data cards (single or double-sided cards in good

condition with no attachments, folds or inserts) can be scanned in batches of ca. 25 at

a time using an automatic document feeding scanner (e.g. Fujitsu Flatbed A4 scanner),

producing consistent images efﬁciently with pre-assigned and customizable settings.

Envelopes with contents and fragile material are scanned manually using a ﬂatbed

scanner (e.g. Epson ﬂatbed A3 business scanner), which can be time consuming process

as contents must be laid out in a uniform manner and Information on the reverse of any

item requires a second scan. Care has to be taken to ensure contents remain together with

their envelope and that no damage occurs.

All images are generated as high quality TIFF ﬁles then compressed for uploading to the

NHMUK long-term deep storage facility. For day-to-day use within the museum by curators

and researchers JPEG ﬁles are created. A Microsoft Access database data-entry form was

produced, allowing core data from each card to be transcribed from the images. Data and

images are then transferred to the Electronic Museum management system (KE Software)

used in the NHMUK. This assists in all aspects of collections management, audit and

enquiries and, in the longer term, facilitates universal primary data access via the online

NHMUK data portal http://data.nhm.ac.uk .

At risk, fragile material is highlighted in the database and prioritised for attention by a

paper conservator. Various low-cost and quick steps can also be employed, e.g. custom-

made Archival Polyester pockets to minimise handling and archival card support to ensure

static does not cause tearing of fragile materials.

Research on the collections was one of our ﬁve motivators. Anthropogenic climate change

has widespread impacts on biological systems, as evidenced by changes in avian phenology,

e.g. timing of egg laying and arrival of migrant birds, both used as indicators of climate

change by the UK Government, e.g. UK Spring Index. As these shifts in timing occur at

differential rates across taxa, changes have the potential to severely disrupt trophic links

with negative consequences for populations. Ornithology has provided ‘some of the best

examples of the impacts of recent climate change on wildlife from around the world but

we have only begun to scratch the surface’ (Crick 2004). To predict future impacts of

climatic change on bird populations, it is essential to develop a detailed understanding of

the mechanisms underlying observed relationships between meteorological conditions and

phenology based on long-term data to capture sufﬁcient variation in weather conditions.

However, long-term phenological datasets are often restricted to individual species or

localities. Egg collections are demonstrably major stores of long-term data for phenological

analysis (Scharlemann 2001). In their conclusions about long-term time series of

ornithological data, Møller & Fiedler (2010) illustrated the need for online access to such

large data sets and, alongside more recent complementary data from nest record schemes,

museum data facilitate analyses over more than 150 years. There is good evidence that

climate change has changed the seasonal patterns of avian life cycles (Pearce-Higgins &

Green 2014). We believe that transcribing egg manuscripts will contribute to research on

the long-term consequences of climate change and that we here outline a cost-effective

digitisation project with substantial beneﬁts to museums, researchers and society.

Figure 2. NHMUK Index card envelope containing the original handwritten

label for the 1859 California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) egg

acquired by A. S. Taylor – the ﬁrst egg of the species collected & preserved

for science.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Digital transcription improves

access to egg collections and

mobilizes phenological data

Douglas G. D. Russell* 1

Zoë Varley1

Lawrence Brooks1

Jörn P. W. Scharlemann2

1 Natural History Museum, Tring HP23 6AP, UK

2 School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton

BN1 9QG, UK

* d.russell@nhm.ac.uk

ABSTRACT. The Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom (NHMUK) holds the most

comprehensive birds’ egg collection available for research and one of the two largest in the

world. As it is impracticable to attach data as a label to eggs, collection information is often

kept separately and cross-referenced via annotations on the eggshell. These manuscripts

embody the rich scientiﬁc, historical and cultural background to the specimens but are often

fragile and inaccessible. Here we describe the motivation for our efforts to create a digital

image archive and to transcribe these important records to improve access. We review the

opportunity of using more than 150 years of mobilized data on collecting dates and localities

of eggs to estimate changes in laying dates over time (breeding phenology) and consider

whether, by relating this data to changes in temperature and precipitation, we may be able

to use digitisation projects to assess the long-term climate change impacts on breeding

phenology. We conclude that digital transcription of manuscripts accompanying collections

improves collection management, research access and may expand a collection’s international

impact.

MAIN TEXT. The Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom (NHMUK) has embarked

on various projects within its Digital Collections Programme to ‘mobilise the data (and where

useful images) to solve major scientiﬁc and societal challenges’. Sharing collections and data

digitally has become a key priority of museums and fundamental to ensuring our collections

remain relevant, accessible resources which provide answers to key questions in ecology

and evolution. It is impractical to tie labels to eggs to record their data, so information has

traditionally been written directly on the eggshell surface or more commonly cross-referenced

via annotations on the eggshell (‘set’ marks) to manuscripts (labels, catalogues & index cards).

Early egg specimens were often crudely prepared with relatively little, if any, basic data written

on the eggshell but by the mid-1800s prominent oologists like Professor Alfred Newton (1829-

1907) were promoting standardised approaches to data recording which ensured eggs always

had ‘a reference to the journal or note-book of the collector, wherein fuller details may be

given’ (Newton 1860).

Some early Victorian naturalists, e.g. John Drew Salmon (1802 – 1859), recorded egg

collection data in handwritten manuscript catalogues, from which secondary index cards could

later be transcribed and in the latter half of the 19th century the use of (often pre-printed)

index cards to record primary data became common oological practice either supplementing, or

replacing hand-written catalogues. In the United Kingdom this culminated with the widespread

use of standard 5”x3” index cards by the early 20th century. Figure 1 shows two such 19th

and 20th century sample data sources for eggs of Eurasian Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria),

a species whose breeding phenology is related to temperature and synchronised with the

emergence of Crane ﬂy (Tipulidae) as a food source.

The potential availability of often unexploited long-term bird breeding data in the egg

collection of the NHMUK has increasingly interested international researchers (Russell, 2010),

but much of the primary data for the NHMUK egg collection is inaccessible online because it

is held on ca. 130,000 index cards and associated manuscripts, and hundreds of handwritten

manuscript catalogues. Our reasons for digitising and transcribing these manuscripts are

Figure 1. Example data sources for Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria):

a) Detail from Catalogue of the Salmon Collection for a c/4 [175a] collected on 30th May 1831 from Wideford Hill, Orkney; b) Index card from the Crawford Collection for C/4 [G.C. 122] collected on 28th April 1932 at

Bowes, County Durham

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During the last eight years, human and material resources at the MNCN-CSIC have decreased

dramatically because of the economic crisis. Because of human resources constraints,

response to users could be affected. To face the problem, in 2008, a protocol to take low-

quality digital images of specimens and their labels began to be tested and implemented, to

gradually reduce specimen's handling. The ﬁnal goal is to speed up the process of collections'

management, easily and low cost, and gradually restrict handling fossils to the moments of

scientiﬁc stays, departure and entrance of loans, preservation tasks, and security reviews in

order to speed up responses to users.

MATERIAL AND METHODS. When fossils are going to be used or potentially used in

exhibitions, for scientiﬁc purposes or others, they must be handled. At this point, every lot is

photographed as a whole (labels included), if it has not been done yet.

Digitising is expensive and international digitisation projects do not fund it (Berendsohn et al.,

2010; Vollmar et al., 2010), so it has to be carried out with the available resources, although

there is no funded project behind, and the lack of human resources is often the weakest point

in the MNCN. Figure 1 shows the human resources available during these years to develop this

task. Figure 2 shows the technical resources needed: digital camera of general use, simple

hardware (Desktop, 21'' screen, external hard disk, and external server) and software licensed

to CSIC.

The Imaging Protocol consists of placing a scale bar as reference, at the top; a white surface as

background, the MNCN label, as brand, in the left, the rest of the labels, around the fossil or

fossils. At least two images are taken per lot: two positions of the pieces which depend on the

fossil group, one goes with front part of the labels and the other with the back one. An extra

image with higher detail is taken if there is any label attached on fossils or to depict important

details. The image format is JPEG. The workﬂow follows with validation, naming, processing

and secure storing of the images. With the licensed software, the colour balance of the images

is automatically corrected. The aim is to obtain a combined image of fossils and labels in an

easiest and fastest way, to avoid the need to access to them if they are not going to be used.

So, we do not invest time in obtaining high-quality images, nor details with scientiﬁc purposes.

The name of each image always includes the catalogue number.

RESULTS. The imaging protocol is fully implemented in the collection and has led to an image

store that is accessed during normal management tasks. Between 2008 and 2014, 24,109

images were taken (10,505 records in the databases). These quantities have been broken

down by collections in Table 1, and by collections and year in Figures 3 and 4.

These images are being used to:

• Develop digital inventories for new or legacy items: all data are incorporated into the

database using the pictures.

• Be included in the lists of pieces preselected for an exhibition. These lists are sent by

mail to the institutions in order to they can select what they need.

Figure 1. Total time per year, in number of months, available between 2008 and 2014 by each

group of collaborators. Figure 2. Available technical resources: compact digital cameras, hardware and software.

REFERENCES

Crick, H. 2004. The Impact of Climate Change on Birds. Ibis. 146 (suppl. 1) 48-56.

Møller, A. P. & W. Fiedler. 2010. Long-term time series of ornithological data. In A. P. Møller (Ed.), Effects of Climate

Change on Birds. pp. 33-38. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Newton, A. 1860. Suggestions for Forming Collections of Birds' Eggs. Edward Newman. London. Pp. 1-15 (Reprinted,

with additions, from the Circular of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington)

Russell, D. G. D., J. White, G. Maurer & P. Cassey 2010. Data-poor egg collections: cracking an important resource. In:

Louette, M., G. Cael. & W. Tavernier. (Eds). 2010. Proceedings of the Sixth European Bird Curators Meeting. Journal of

Afrotropical Zoology, Special Issue.pp.77- 82

Scharlemann, J. P. W. 2001. Museum egg collections as stores of long-term phenological data. International Journal of

Biometeorology, 45: 208-211.

Pearce-Higgins, J. W. & R. E. Green. 2014. Birds and climate change: impacts and conservation responses. Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge.

ABSTRACT. Global Plants (http://plants.jstor.org) is a community-contributed database

that features more than two million high resolution plant type specimen images and other

foundational materials from the collections of more than 300 herbaria in 70 countries.

Complementing the high resolution specimen images are extensive ﬂora and other reference

materials, collectors' correspondence and diaries, and tens of thousands of paintings,

photographs, drawings, and other images. Global Plants strives to be a comprehensive resource

for aggregating and exploring the world's botanical resources, thereby dramatically improving

access for students, scholars, and scientists around the globe.

Global Plants is the outcome of the Global Plants Initiative (GPI). The Andrew W. Mellon

Foundation, along with leading experts in the ﬁeld, had developed the idea of creating a

digital library of type specimen images and related material and as a result funded the initial

digitization activities in the Global Plants Initiative. Over 10 years, GPI has grown into an

international partnership wherein herbaria work together to create a shared database of

information and images of plants worldwide.

ABSTRACT. Priority objectives of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC)

include conservation and management of systematic collections in order to make them

available for scientiﬁc and cultural purposes. Low-quality images are being used in the

Paleobotany and fossil invertebrates collection as a tool of collections management. This

paper shows a protocol for taking these digital images. Between 2008 and 2014, 24,109

images were taken (10,505 records in the databases). In this context, low-quality images are

being used as a tool to make collection management easier, and as a technical solution to

compensate the lack of resources, especially the human ones. Eight years after the beginning,

total activity of the collection has been increased. We consider digital images are a powerful

tool to manage palaeontology collections, because fossils' digital versions reduce their

manual handling. In the middle term, time for management has been saved, and responses to

collection users are been made quicker and easier. Risks associated to handling (dissociation,

breakage, health and safety risk to staff, etc.) have been avoided or reduced.

INTRODUCTION. Managing a Natural History Collection means it must be preserved and

improved to enhance its accessibility for scientiﬁc and educational purposes that is the reason

why it was created. To develop this work properly, a documentation system is needed, which

controls associated data with the fossils since the admission's moment and ensures that we

know what they are, where they are, and how they are used.

Databases and digital images are part of the documentation system in the Paleobotany and

Fossil Invertebrates Collection of the MNCN-CSIC of Madrid, Spain. This collection houses

around one million fossils of plants and invertebrates. Handling fossils is a hard task due to

their rocky nature and high weight, and especially in Fossil Collections of MNCN-CSIC due to

the storage system with stacked boxes. Health and safety guidelines must be followed to avoid

risks to the staff. Handling fossils is a risk to the fossils too, and should be carried out with

care. As a result, this task is time-consuming.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Global Plants: A Model of

International Collaboration

Deirdre Ryan1

Barbara Thiers2

1 ITHAKA, New York, New York, 10006, USA

2 New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458, USA

* btheirs@nybg.org

POSTER

Other topics

Low-quality images to manage

scientiﬁc collections of fossils:

the case of Paleobotany and

fossil invertebrate collection of

the MNCN-CSIC

Celia M. Santos-Mazorra* 1

1 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC),

Paleobotany and fossil invertebrates collection Madrid

28006. Spain

* csantos@mncn.csic.es

R/S

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172 173

INTRODUCTION. The Mineral and Rock/Ore Collection at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin was

founded originally as a Royal Mineral Cabinet in 1781 by the Prussian king Friedrich II with

Carl Abraham Gerhard as its ﬁrst director. Together with other precursors of this collection,

the Royal Mineral Cabinet was subsequently integrated into the University of Berlin, which

was founded 1810 by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III, renamed to Mineralogisches

Museum, and stored together with other natural science collections in the university's main

building at the boulevard “Under den Linden”. Nevertheless, the rapidly growing collections

lead to the decision to build a dedicated collection and museum building, the Museum für

Naturkunde, which was opened in 1889, and integrated most of the university natural science

collections. Since that time the Mineral and Rock/Ore Collection is stored within this building,

and retained in many cases in their original place and inventory.

Originally, the collection was only subdivided into a systematic mineral and a regional rock

collection. Due to the establishment of new research areas (e.g., ores, impactites), the set-up

of a systematic rock collection for teaching and the takeover of a crystalline erratic rock

collection, the structure of the collection is nowadays more complex and can be subdivided

into ten subdivisions (see Table 1). Although the collection comprises approximately 250,000

objects, the access to the collection objects was limited in the past due to a missing card ﬁle

system containing single object data. An access to collection objects was only possible using

the object array either in systematic or regional order as the basis for searching for objects.

DATA-BASING OF THE COLLECTION. Due to an increasing number of inquiries the access

to the collection had to be improved and therefore a database was set-up already in the year

1995. First, a Paradox database was established, which was later moved to MS Access. At

present, the Mineral and Rock/Ore Collection uses a server hosted, multi user MS Access

2010 database in combination with a Cumulus multimedia database. The text-based contents

are stored in the MS Access database whereas multimedia contents (e.g., images, PDF) are

deposited in the multimedia database and were automatically linked with the MS Access

database. For acceleration of data entry pick-up lists for classiﬁcation, location and acquirer

were implemented.

Since the beginning of the data-basing a clear strategy for data entry was implemented. The

importance and frequency of usage was used to arrange an order for data entry between and

within the different collection subunits.

First, between 1995 and 2008, the major part of the systematic mineral collection was data-

based in several working packages. This collection subdivision was already in good conditions

regarding modern label information on classiﬁcation, location and accessioning. Therefore, the

data-basing was fast and could be carried out predominantly by technical staff members.

Table 1. Structure of the Mineral and Rock/Ore Collection at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin displaying the estimated number of objects

and the status of data entry for the collection subdivisions.

Type of collection Estimated

objects in total

Data-based

objects (2015)

Mineral Collection

Systematic mineral collection 175,000 161,163

Technical product collection 2,500 60

Crystallographic model collection 2,500 0

Rock/Ore Collection

Regional rock collection 17,000 7,651

Systematic rock collection 8,500 8,540

Ore collection 21,000 10,431

Impactite collection 5,000 4,800

Crystalline erratic rock collection 10,000 417

Natural building stone collection 1,000 101

Thin and thick section collection 7,500 0

Total 250,000 193,163

• Be attached to the package for exhibition loans, and be used as loan indicator.

• Assess their physical condition (before and after loans to exhibitions, and restoration).

• Data retrieving from ﬁgured specimens (when data has been lost).

• Retrieve relation between fossils and labels if an accident occurs and something has

been mixed.

• Labels’ digital version allows us to check and improve data associated to the fossils

(Chapman, 2005).

• Be sent by mail to researchers when they need data in advance.

CONCLUSIONS. In this context, low-quality images are being used as a tool to make

collections management easier, and as a technical solution to the lack of resources, especially

the human ones.

Eight years after the beginning, we consider digital images are a powerful tool to manage

palaeontology collections, because the fossils' digital versions reduce their manual handling:

• in the middle term, time is being saved, and responses to collection users are being

quicker and easier, so the total activity of the collection has been increased.

• risks associated to handling (dissociation, breakage, health and safety risks to staff) are

being avoided or reduced.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. These results wouldn't have been possible without the work of the

Museum staff and the students who have collaborated with us, in one way or another, during

the last nine years.

REFERENCES

Chapman, A. D. 2005. Principles of Data Quality, version 1.0. Report for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility,

(GBIF). Copenhagen. http://www.gbif.org/resources/2829.

Berendsohn, W. G., G. Chavan, & J. A. Macklin. 2010. Recommendations of the GBIF task group on the global strategy

and action plan for the mobilization of natural history collections data. Biodiversity Informatics, 7:67–71.

Vollmar, A., Macklin, J. A. & Ford, L. S. 2010. Natural history specimen digitization: challenges and concerns.

Biodiversity Informatics 7: 93-12.

ABSTRACT. The Mineral and Rock/Ore Collection at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin was

founded in the 18th century and comprises at present approximately 250,000 objects. Due

to a missing card ﬁle system containing single object data the data-basing of the collection

was started already in 1995 using a clear data entry strategy. At the end of 2015 193,163

from the ~250,000 collection objects were data-based, and a completion could be achieved

in 12-15 years. The data entry rates are clearly depending on the conditions of the collection

regarding historical or actual processing. Major problems during data-basing comprises i)

historical labels which are difﬁcult sometimes even impossible to transcribe and/or have

an unknown handwriting, ii) fast classiﬁcation of rock samples, and iii) nomenclature of

collection distant objects. A major goal for the future is the connection of all of the available

data for each individual object, which includes the information of the collection database

in combination with associated, but separately internal as well as external stored data. This

strategy will provide an optimal prepared collection for the future.

Figure 3. Number of images of MNCN fossil invertebrates collection, and number of records of the database, by year. Figure 4. Number of images of the MNCN Paleobotany collection, and number of records of the database, by year.

Table 1. Number of images of Paleobotany and fossil

invertebrates MNCN Collection, and number of records of

each database.

POSTER

Collections for the future –

future of collections

Data-basing of the mineral and

rock/ore collection at Museum

für Naturkunde Berlin - looking

backward and forward

Ralf T. Schmitt* 1

Regina Brückner1

1 Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions-

und Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115

Berlin, Germany

* ralf-thomas.schmitt@mfn-berlin.de

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ABSTRACT. In the 19th century the power of objects to preserve and communicate

ethnobotanical data was well-understood. Plant-based raw materials and artefacts were

shown in dedicated museums of economic botany, such as those at Kew (founded 1847)

and Adelaide (1864), in botanical museums (Berlin, 1878, Harvard 1958), and in colonial

museums (Amsterdam 1864, Kolkata, 1901). These had a strong commercial aspect, using

science to assist exporters and importers of plant materials, and were also popular educational

resources. However, by the 1950s many displays seemed old-fashioned, oil-based products

were the future, and most such collections were placed in storage or divided among other

museums.

Since the 1990s a combination of factors has revived interest: widespread enthusiasm for

sustainable materials; large-scale rehousing and digitization of collections and, crucially, the

emergence of new user groups including indigenous communities, historians of medicine,

science and empire, and analytical chemists working in art history and archaeology. Using

recent case studies from economic botany collections at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew,

and Naturalis, Leiden, we explain how we have rediscovered collections at our own and other

museums, and explore the transition from a narrow ‘economic’ view of their use to one that

values both scientiﬁc and cultural components.

ABSTRACT. Using principals and standards of the United States Green Building Council

(USGBC), and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), The Museum Support

Center’s Pod 3 was renovated in 2007-2009 as a high-performance green building that is

a healthy, productive place to work, learn and preserve the nation’s heritage. Our poster will

outline the beneﬁts and drawbacks of these green renovations after 7 years of using this space

for laboratories, ofﬁces, and collections storage.

ABSTRACT. Regular biological recording underpins our knowledge of the local fauna, is crucial

to our understanding of ecological change especially climatic change, increases the taxonomic

knowledge in groups, ﬂags issues as they arise and keeps taxonomic experts in touch with the

general public keeping us, as national institutions, relevant.

Museum collections and Museum experts when working in association with biological recording

groups and with organizations such as the FSC in the UK willing to print and produce

accessible taxonomic keys can make a huge impact to our knowledge of certain taxa, increase

public knowledge and lead to taxonomic discoveries. Museums must continue to invest in this

quest.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

New uses for old collections:

rediscovering and redeﬁning

economic botany

Christel Schollaardt* 1

Mark Nesbitt2

Roxali Bijmoer1

1 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 1917, 2300 RA

Leiden, The Netherlands

2 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3 AE,

England, UK

* christel.schollaardt@naturalis.nl

POSTER

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Greenovations! Beneﬁts and

drawbacks to the LEED Silver

Certiﬁcation Renovations of

Pod 3

Leslie Schuhmann* 1

Christine Geer Chagnon2

1 Smithsonian Institution, Museum Support Center,

Collections Support Services. PO Box 37012, MRC-

117,Washington, DC. 20013, USA

2 Smithsonian Institution, Museum Support Center,

Collections Support Services. PO Box 37012, MRC-

117,Washington, DC. 20013, USA

* SchuhmannL@si.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Collections for the future –

future of collections

Museums, keys, recording

schemes and amateur

naturalists. Why museums

underpin the recording

movement and why its crucial

they continue

Emma Sherlock* 1

Keiron D. Brown2

Duncan Sivell1

1 NHM, Life Sciences, London, SW7 5BD UK

2 Field Studies Council, UK

* corresponding.author Emma Sherlock; e.sherlock@nhm.

ac.uk

Since 2009 the data-basing takes place in the Rock/Ore Collection. Here the

impactite collection was the ﬁrst collection subdivision selected for data-basing

as this part of the collection is most frequently used for actual research projects.

Afterwards the systematic rock collection was data-based to collect experience with

the existing rock nomenclatures and to establish a clear classiﬁcation system for

rocks within the database. Currently, the data-basing is conducted within the regional

rock and ore collections. Generally, due to the lack of a modern reprocessing, the

conditions of the samples within the Rock/Ore Collection regarding classiﬁcation are

much poorer in comparison to the Mineral Collection. Additionally, many of these

samples have only labels from the 18th and 19th centuries with old handwritings,

which must be transcribed in a time consuming process. Therefore, the data-basing

in the Rock/Ore Collection is much more time consuming in comparison to the

Mineral Collection, and needs for many objects also the input of an experienced

scientists.

The progress of data-basing is shown in Figure 1. At the end of 2015 193,163 from the

~250,000 collection objects were already in the database. An extrapolation of the data entry

rates based on the currently available personal capacity indicates that a completion could be

achieved in 12-15 years.

PROBLEMS. The experience with data-basing of the collection objects reveals the following

major problems:

i) Historical labels contain important data about the objects as well as through their

handwriting information about the investigators and/or collectors of these objects.

Unfortunately, many of these old labels are difﬁcult sometimes even impossible to transcribe

and/or have an unknown handwriting. Both items reduce the available information about the

objects. These gaps were partially compensated by linking scanned labels to the data records

allowing a fast investigation of unknown handwritings.

ii) Classiﬁcation of rocks is in many cases missing or out of date for historical samples.

Scientiﬁc rock classiﬁcation needs normally time consuming and destructive investigations,

e.g. thin section microscopy and chemical analyses, which is normally not possible during

routine rock data-basing. Therefore, in many cases a primary rock classiﬁcation has been

applied based on literature data, geological map information or curators knowledge.

Nevertheless, the development of fast and non-destructive rock classiﬁcation methods in the

future would be desirable.

iii) Classiﬁcation of collection distant objects is problematic. For example, technical products

could by classiﬁed using mineralogical or chemical classiﬁcation systems, or crystallographic

models made of wood or porcelain can be named by their crystal form and habit or by

assignment to a mineral, but the latter is problematic due to isomorphism and additionally not

possible in all cases. For such objects it is useful to deﬁne classiﬁcation standards.

OUTLOOK. A major goal for the future is the connection of all of the available data for each

individual collection object. The information for an individual object available through the

collection database should be enriched by linking to associated, but separately internal as

well as external stored data including collection and inventory lists or catalogues, archival

documents, analytical data and publications. This task is time consuming, but will distinctly

raise the scientiﬁc value of the collection, and therefore will provide an optimal prepared

collection for the future.

Figure 1. Development of the database for the Mineral and Rock/Ore Collection

at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Note the distinctly different data entry rates

in the two collection subdivisions.

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176 177

Preventive conservation, an integral part in the “green museum” concept, is not a protocol, it

is a process, in constant development. All stakeholders in culture heritage preservation have

to collaborate systematically to identify, understand and mitigate risks, respecting all three

columns of sustainability including the ﬁnancial and the ecological impact. In this process, we

are all together on our way to the green museum.

Museum collections and Museum experts when working in association with biological recording

groups and with organizations such as the FSC in the UK willing to print and produce

accessible taxonomic keys can make a huge impact to our knowledge of certain taxa, increase

public knowledge and lead to taxonomic discoveries. Museums must continue to invest in this

quest.

ABSTRACT. Natural History Collections have always been storehouses for curiosities and

centers for biodiversity research. Collections, be they 2 million specimens or 200, have the

unique opportunity to have a large impact on the intellectual and educational development

of the public. In having a large storehouse of natural history specimens, data and expert

scientists they can be a focal point for learning about biodiversity and the scientiﬁc process.

In the past, outreach activities have largely been restricted to tours and “show and tell” style

activities. These activities, while still great for engaging collection visitors, do not fully utilize

the resources available in a museum collection. Through the use of specimens and their data,

collections can provide the non-scientiﬁc community with engaging education and outreach

opportunities. In addition, collection curation activities, telepresence outreach, georeferencing,

molecular phylogenetics and ﬁeldwork associated with these collections provide educational

experiences that are arguably unmatched in any other ﬁeld of science. Given that large

collections are tasked with numerous scientiﬁc visitors, loans and an ever growing collection

they ﬁnd themselves with less time and resources for dynamic outreach. Small collections

provide a unique and intimate atmosphere for enriching education and outreach activities and

ﬁll a niche left by larger collections.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. University of Alabama Ichthyology Collection, Florida Museum of

Natural History Fish Collection, iDigBio

ABSTRACT. The Natural History Museum, London's (NHM) Data Portal (http://data.nhm.ac.uk)

provides a sustainable and publicly accessible online repository of our digital collections and

research data (currently circa 3.5m records and 900k images). It allows museum scientists

to deposit research datasets that can be cited in publications, as well as tools to integrate,

visualise and analyse these data. The next stage of Data Portal activity involves connecting our

data with other major data sources. Traditionally this has been viewed as a major challenge,

requiring agreement on vocabularies around which our data can be organised. By using GBIF's

aggregation activities we have sidestepped this problem, to implement a scalable and reusable

graph-building mechanism. This allows us to connect the products of the NHM’s digitisation

programme to a wider data ecosystem, including WikiData, Encyclopedia of Life, Catalogue of

Life and a variety of other data providers. In this presentation we will give an overview of the

current portal functionality, technologies and processes associated with the system, in addition

to demonstrating potential phenotypic, phylogenetic, genetic and environmental applications

that demonstrate the value of connecting NHM data with other data sources.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Blending the educational

resources of small and large

collections for training the

next generation of museum

professionals (iDigBio Small

Collections Symposium)

Small collections can make

big waves in education and

outreach

Randy Singer* 1

1 Florida Museum of Natural History/iDigBio, Gainesville, FL,

USA

* rsinger@ﬂmnh.uﬂ.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Data Portal and the Graph of

Life

Vincent S Smith* 1

Ben Scott1

Ed Baker1

1 Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK

* vince@vsmith.info

ABSTRACT. Slovakia has become a leader in 3D digitization of cultural heritage artefacts,

implementing the national project 'Digital Museum' between 2012-2015. Over 180,000

collection items from 33 of the largest museums, across 55 locations were scanned. The

leading technology was the automated 3D digitization solution Witikon, which was developed

based on curator's requirements.

Due to the high throughput of Witikon, a large variety of collection items ranging from 5cm to

2m including glass, dark and glossy objects were scanned within 6 minutes per item in high

resolution using Phase One cameras.

The output of the scanning, per collection item, were hundreds of high resolution photographs,

a highly precise 360° photography/object panorama (with accurate textures and colours) and

a high quality 3D model was generated with limited post processing within a few hours. Thus,

setting a new benchmark for speed and quality of 3D digitization. Providing one complete

solution which meets the all the needs of conservation, research and presentation.

We discuss the underlying technology, its application for the 3D digitization of natural history

specimens and provide examples across different types of natural history collections.

REFERENCES

http://www.witikon.eu/

http://images.cemuz.sk/hotspots/02_kanvica_F-2346.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OlQ31Bt_g8

ABSTRACT. The diagnosis of global climate change is by now 25 years old. The melting of

the large glaciers and the increase of sea levels are no more a distant vision of the future, but

became a phenomenon of our daily reality. The hurricanes Katrina (2005) in New Orleans, or

Ike (2008), who brought destruction and prolonged shortage of electricity to the Caribbean and

parts of Texas, more and more such storms with increasing damage potential seem to origin

along the Atlantic-Caribbean axis. Also other regions are concerned by this development.

Climate change over the next 100 years will likely have a range of direct and indirect effects

on the natural and material environment, including the historic built environment. Important

changes will include alterations in temperature, precipitation, extreme climatic events, soil

conditions, groundwater and sea level. Iron corrosion attacks trains in Spitzbergen, and

museum pests spread to new regions. Even if these prognoses are not fully certain, they

indicate clearly that we should prepare for a negative development and a severe degradation

of the conditions for our collections and monuments as well as for soaring invoices on energy

costs in high-tech HVAC devices. Climatization in humid and tropical regions is a critical issue

for museums world-wide. Climate change, linked to the increasing demand of our society for

energy and resources, has forced sustainable development to the top of the global political

agenda.

How can we preserve our collections and monuments in a sustainable way for future

generations? Here we deal with three closely interwoven challenges: On the one hand, the

conservation and preservation, the possibly longest extension of the lifespan for our cultural

heritage, on the other hand the ﬁnancial and infrastructural ramiﬁcations for this endeavor,

and ﬁnally, the question of energy and resources (energy efﬁciency, carbon footprint). Priorities

can always be set in different ways, but it terms of sustainability, the three aspects have to be

dealt with simultaneously: A green museum is a museum which incorporated and implements

the concept of sustainability in its program, its activities and its physical setting.

Museums do more than storing knowledge and materials. They are also mediators and

multipliers in the important cultural, social and scientiﬁc dialogues of our time. Museums face

the large societal challenges on a daily base. Experience continuously shows, that disaster is a

mostly a social construct. Also for this reason, museums need to embrace the “green museum”

debate on all levels, from the staff to the visitors.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Witikon: nationwide mass 3D

digitization

Mira Silanova* 1

Robert Sicak 1

1 Witikon, Edico SK, Bratislava, 85104, Slovakia

* mira.silanova@witikon.eu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Sustainable conservation on the

way to the green museum

Stefan Simon* 1

1 Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH),

Yale University, P.O. Box 27395, West Haven, CT 06516-

7395, USA

* stefan.simon@yale.edu

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178 179

The unique marine conditions in the Japan Sea support a wide diversity of marine

organisms. Changes in the sea surface temperatures of the Japan Sea appear to be

related to the inﬂow of the Tsushima Warm Current, which transports warm-water

taxa northward. During autumn-winter, the paper nautilus, Argonauta argo, is

frequently stranded on the beach. After 2005, mass strandings of paper nautiluses

have been recorded repeatedly on the Japan Sea-side of Hokkaido, and it is

considered that this may be due to higher than average sea-surface temperatures.

Since sea surface temperatures in the Japan Sea are expected to increase due

to global warming in the 21st century, it is possible that the frequency of such

strandings may increase.

In addition to natural history, exhibits in natural history museums often present

rare or important material. For example, whale and dolphin agroundings are

often subject of displays in the marine exhibits of museums (Figure 1), and other

examples of marine debris are also sought after for museum exhibits. For example,

planktonic and deep-sea organisms are valuable because they are rare and are typically only

washed ashore during severe storms and typhoons. Since these organisms are usually dead,

marine biodiversity is not affected.

Consequently, beachcombing of sandy beaches is an effective learning tool for natural history

education as the activity is safe for beginners. The most interesting aspect of beachcombing is

that participants can contemplate the histories of the objects that they ﬁnd. Similarly, exhibits

in natural history museums that deal with marine debris are unique learning tools for students

and naturalists.

ABSTRACT. Digitization of natural history collections can be enhanced by automation. We

tested the performance of an automatic imaging line with two common groups of insects. Our

two operators digitized an entire Coleoptera collection of 14,000 specimens in 28 working

days, which translates on average to 80 specimens /hour. The workﬂow applied included use

of two cameras, one imaging the specimen from the top and one imaging the labels from the

side. For Macrolepidoptera, one operator imaged 70 specimens /hour at maximum speed.

Here one camera was in use, and labels were spread on the pallet customized for specimen

transportation. For Microlepidoptera, similar performance was achieved. Based on these

benchmarks, progress and costs of digitization can be estimated. For example, at Digitarium,

outsourcing digitization of Macrolepidoptera as a service costs around 108,000 € for imaging

of 100,000 specimens during ten months. As an option, museums can purchase an imaging

line for insects (around 30,000 €) and develop their in-house digitization. Both approaches

can be applied in the mass digitization of individual insect specimens.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. Entomological collections in natural history museums are often

extensive, and digitizing them by the individual specimens can be daunting task. However,

automation can speed up the imaging process and decrease expenses. World’s ﬁrst automated,

conveyor belt driven digitization line for pinned insects was developed by Digitarium in 2014

(Tegelberg et al. 2014). A replica was delivered to the Finnish Museum of Natural History

LUOMUS in 2015, where it is currently being used for a wholesale imaging of Lepidoptera

specimens.

We tested the performance of the digitization process using the imaging line for pinned

insects with two major groups of insects, Coleoptera and Lepidopera. During digitization of

Coleoptera, the imaging line employed workﬂow involving use of two cameras, one imaging

the specimen from the top, and another from the side. The side image captured the labels

intact in pins, and also from below using a mirror. During the digitization of Lepidopera, only

one camera was used. Labels were removed from the pins and placed next to the specimen on

a custom-made pallet. Each pallet was photographed twice: once for the specimen and once

for the labels. Each sample was assigned a unique ID, printed on a label in both human- and

machine-readable forms. Basic specimen data, including the scientiﬁc name, were transcribed

before the imaging. A single operator is enough to operate the semiautomatic system at the

speeds presented below. Adding a second person allows for simultaneous database entry of

basic collecting data (localities, dates and collector names). Quality of the images was veriﬁed

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

Automating the insect

digitization – speed and costs

Riitta Tegelberg1

Janne Karppinen1

Zhengzhe Wu1

Jere Kahanpää2

Hannu Saarenmaa* 1

1 University of Eastern Finland, Digitarium, SIB Labs, 80110

Joensuu, Finland

2 Finnish Museum of Natural History LUOMUS, PL 17,

00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

* hannu.saarenmaa@uef.ﬁ

Figure 1. Diorama in the Hokkaido Museum showing a porpoise that has become

stranded on a sandy beach.

ABSTRACT. In response to the loss of in-cabinet fumigants, the National Museum of Natural

History, Smithsonian Institution's Division of Mammals applied a consistent voluntary visual

inspection protocol over fourteen years. Per cabinet, inspections required about 7 minutes.

Cases categorized as clean, dirty, signs of life, and live insects neatly compartmentalized

levels of uncertainty, and drove cabinet speciﬁc treatment and cleaning actions. Persistent

re-infestation led to cabinet renovation or replacement.

For IPM to be successful it must demonstrate predatory efﬁcacy better than the replacement

rates of pests. With a maximum 1.5% of staff time devoted to IPM, cabinet infestations

of Thylodrias contractus and Necrobia ruﬁpes were near zero within three years. Rebound

after a forced three year hiatus of inspections was similarly supressed by a following round

of inspections. The investment of time was found comparable with that of previous cabinet

repellant or fumigation regimes, but without the aggregated loss of access to collections during

enclosure and out-gassing of fumigant. This allowed longer and safer access to collections

over the year. The study also includes an economic comparison to historical methods of

cabinet level pest suppression with fumigants against two other comparably large collections

documented within the last half century.

ABSTRACT. By examining objects that have washed up on the seashore, we can ﬁnd evidence

of marine animals as well as changes in the marine environment. The interface between the

land and sea is the frontline for observations of changes that are taking place in the ocean.

Beachcombing along sandy beaches is well suited to natural history education, as the activity

is safe for beginners. In addition, exhibits dealing with marine debris in natural history

museums confront students and naturalists with another unique way to learn about the natural

history of the ocean.

MAIN TEXT. The source of marine debris – the ocean – which transports this debris to beaches

all around the Japanese archipelago, faces dangers posed by global warming and marine

pollution. Facing the open sea, sandy beaches are well suited for beachcombing, and a rich

variety of marine debris can be discovered. Surveys of marine debris that has drifted ashore

can be conducted by instructors or teachers using ﬁeld guides to natural history. In addition,

items of interest can be collected (e.g., shells and stones for beginners), and non-collectable

items can be recorded using a digital camera.

Marine debris can generally be divided into four categories based on the origin and

characteristics of the object (Table 1). Natural objects include seashells, crabs, ﬁshes, marine

mammals, tropical seeds and fruits, and artiﬁcial objects include items such as glass and

plastic ﬂoats, ﬁshery gear and items produced overseas. Some marine debris is terrestrial in

origin and might include items such as driftwood and walnuts, while artiﬁcial objects could

include things like plastic toys, balls and litter. Of these items, the natural examples of marine

debris, such as seashells, marine mammals, tropical seeds and fruits, are very important for

natural history education.

The warm Kuroshio Current ﬂows northeastward along the southern part of the Japanese

archipelago, and a branch of the Kuroshio Current, known as the Tsushima Current, ﬂows

into the Japan Sea to the west of the country. From the north, the cold Oyashio Current ﬂows

southward along Japan’s east coast, and a branch of the Oyashio Current, called the Liman

Current, enters the Japan Sea from the north. The mixing of these warm and cold currents

produces the abundant marine life found in Japanese waters.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Seeing is believing, a fourteen

year study on efﬁcacy and

economics of visual inspections

to protect a large mammal

collection.

Tom Strang* 1

Jeremy Jacobs2

1 Canadian Conservation Institute, Canadian Heritage, 1030

Innes Rd. Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 4S7, Canada

2 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian

Institution, 4210 Silver Hill Rd. Suitland MD., 20746,

USA

* Tom.Strang@canada.ca

POSTER

Other topics

Natural history education using

marine debris:

A hands-on beachcombing

museum display

Akihiko Suzuki* 1

Takafumi Enya2

1 Department of Earth Science, Sapporo Campus, Hokkaido

University of Education, 5-3-1 Ainosato, Kita-ku, Sapporo,

Hokkaido 002-8520, Japan

2 Hokkaido Museum, 53-2 Konopporo, Atsubetsu-cho,

Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 004-0006, Japan

* suzuki.akihiko@s.hokkyodai.ac.jp

S/T

Marine debris Example

Natural objects from the sea Seashells, Crabs, Fishes, Marine mammals

Tropical seeds and fruits

Natural objects from the land Driftwood, Walnuts, Terrestrial mammals

Artiﬁcial objects from the sea Glass ﬂoats, Plastic ﬂoats, Fishery gear

Artiﬁcial objects from the land Toys, Balls, Litter

Table 1. Classiﬁcation of marine debris that has washed up on seashores.

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180 181

ABSTRACT. As part of the preparation for the building of a new natural history museum for

Denmark, all of the geological and botanical collections which are currently held within the

building site of the new museum are in the process of being moved to a temporary storage.

Altogether approximately 3,5 million specimens are being moved and meta-registered in the

process.

The move has been complicated in several respects as the different collections have been

housed in many smaller rooms in various buildings – from subbasements to addicts and usually

without access to an elevator. Further more the geological collections were infected by fungi

and therefore required special cleaning for fungi spores in connection with the move.

The talk will concentrate on the preparations for the move, the complications, the solutions

and the future plans for storage of the NHMD collections.

BACKGROUND. Denmark is building a new natural history museum in the midst of the

Botanical Garden in Copenhagen. If everything goes as planned, it will be ﬁnished in 2020.

As part of the preparation for the building of the new museum, the geological and botanical

collections, which are currently held within the building site of the new museum, are in the

process of being moved to a new temporary storage.

Altogether approximately 3,5 million specimens are being moved and meta-

registered in the process. The collections are being moved by a team of 15-17

persons, which has been hired by the Collections section to do the packing, the

unpacking and the meta-registration of the collections. The actual move is done by

a professional moving company.

The temporary storage is a rented 3000 m2 warehouse situated 20 minutes outside

of Copenhagen. The temperature ﬂuctuates in regard to the outside temperature

while dehumidiﬁers control the relative humidity (50% +/-5%). As we strongly

expect getting new state of the art collections halls in the new museum including

new furniture, a lot of the old collections furniture is reused in the temporary

storage in order to save money.

The aim is to have all the collections fully accessible for research and curating in

the time between this move and the ﬁnal move into the new museum.

THE GEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS. The move of the geological collections (approx.

1 million specimens) started in August 2015 and is expected to be ﬁnished by the

end of June 2016.

The move of these collections has been complicated by a lot of things. First of all,

most of the geological specimens were housed in the basement or subbasement

of the old Geological Museum, with no access to an elevator. This has led to the

construction of special transportation wagons which can house most of our standard

trays. The trays are packed in the wagons which are then plastic wrapped and

hoisted through a latch to the outside yard.

As we did not have the proper procedures in place for dealing with naturally

occurring radon, asbestos and toxic minerals, we ﬁrst had to map the occurrence

of problematic specimens and create procedures for handling them, so that it was safe for the

moving team to work with the collections.

Finally, most of the geological collections were infected by fungi as a result of a ﬂooding in

2011 and therefore required special cleaning for fungi spores in connection with the move.

For that we constructed a special cleansing container, where all specimens were cleansed

by compressed air in order to get rid of the fungi spores. For the greater part, the cleansed

boxes with specimens were moved into new clean drawers, but for the most heavily infected

collections, all boxes were replaced with new ones and placed into newly bought compactors.

All work with contaminated collections was done in full protective gear (suits, gloves and turbo

masks).

When all the collections have been cleansed and set up in the new facility, the collections will

be meta-registered.

THE BOTANICAL COLLECTIONS. The work with the botanical collections started in January

2016 and will be ﬁnished by the 1st of September, when the future building site must be

vacated of all collections.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Moving of the geological and

botanical collections at NHMD

Majken Them Tøttrup* 1

1 Natural History Museum of Denmark, Collections Section,

1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark

* mtottrup@snm.ku.dk

Figure 1. Tray with geological material is packed and stored in specialmade

transportation wagons.

Figure 2. Cleansing box in dirty part of the cleansing container

regularly. With both collections, the hourly and daily production of imaged specimens was

recorded, and workﬂows were adjusted based on specimen type to speed up the process.

Finally, all the costs were summed and the price of digitization of large amounts of specimens

could be calculated.

RESULTS. At Digitarium, two operators digitized an entire Coleoptera collection of 14,000

specimens in 28 working days, which translates on average to 80 specimens /hour. In a

Macrolepidoptera benchmark, one operator imaged 70 specimens/hour at maximum speed.

At LUOMUS, two persons processing assorted museum specimens of Microlepidoptera

(Depressariinae and Oecophoridae) averaged a speed of 57 samples/hour over two months,

including the transcriptions of basic collecting data. Maximum speeds of ~120 samples/hour

were reached when processing material with only one label per specimen.

The cost of imaging 100,000 specimens of Macrolepidopera as a service, including salaries,

overheads, IT help, rents, transport and logistics, is around 162,000 € during a ten month

period. For Coleoptera, costs of imaging 100,000 specimens as a service reach 108,000 €.

We also calculated the overall price of the delivery of insect imaging line, built by Digitarium.

The present price is around 30,000 € including installation, testing, and training.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. The imaging line was proven to be conﬁgurable for different

insect collection types, as needed. The aim of the line is to image individual specimens

and the pinned labels. Imaging without removing labels from pins worked well for beetles

of variable sizes, speeding up the imaging process and reducing the need to handle fragile

specimens. On the other hand, the large wings of Macrolepidoptera hindered the imaging of

the labels in the pins. Thus, the labels were spread on the pallet. It slowed down the imaging

but compared with earlier, man-made imaging, production of images was still several times

faster when using the line. Benchmarks for ﬂies and wasps are underway at this writing.

Digitization consumes resources that can be decreased by automation. With efﬁciency,

costs per specimen go down. However, not all museums have human resources, space and

IT systems to start large-scale digitization. Services for insect digitization have now been

developed and available in Joensuu, Finland. During our digitization projects, budgets were

followed and analyzed. The calculated costs of digitization of beetles and butterﬂies are direct

costs without any proﬁt, and reﬂect co-operational project costs. They also reﬂect use of one

imaging line, by trained operators with long experience on handling insect specimens.

Another option to museums in managing mass-digitization is to acquire their own imaging

line (cost around 30,000 € as turn-key solution with the delivery of the necessary hardware

and software services) and develop their in-house digitization workﬂows. This will be the most

economical solution for large collections and in the long term. Imaging and transcription of

labels of one million pinned insects would cost, as an in-house, long term project, about 50

cents per specimen. We conclude that mass-digitization of entire insect collections is now

available.

REFERENCES

Tegelberg, R., T, Mononen & H. Saarenmaa. 2014. High-performance digitization of natural history collections: Automated

imaging lines for herbarium and insect specimens. Taxon 63(6):1307-1313.

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182 183

ABSTRACT. SEMC (Snow Entomological Museum Collection), like many other natural history

museums and herbaria, is currently serving over a million specimen records to multiple data

aggregators including GBIF, iDigBio, Discover Life, Bison, CRIA, and others. These records are

queried, viewed, and downloaded every day from countries across the globe. Where are the

publications that cite these specimen records? Are these digitized specimens being utilized

for environmental impact statements, Department of Defense projects, conservation, or land

management projects? What improvements or corrections have been made to the data? How

can we incorporate these emendations and updates back into the source databases? What

policies, regulations, or other actions have communities and governments taken based on

these records? Currently all the data, research, publication, and associated funding is pouring

outward with little return to the source museums that house and care for physical specimens

and their digital counterparts. We need to complete the feedback loop to drive improvements

to the source databases, to increase knowledge about data usage, and to funnel funding back

to the collections again to grow an increasingly accurate, relevant, useful, sustainable future

for our Natural History collections.

ABSTRACT. Collection planning is emerging as a best practice and for good reason. In an

environment of reduced ﬁnancial resources coupled with goals for greening our museums,

collection planning is the cornerstone for both institutional and environmental sustainability.

Collection planning forces us to think critically about what should be in our collections and

is guided by an intellectual framework that aligns the content of collections with the larger

goals and mission of the institution. The Denver Museum of Nature & Science authored its ﬁrst

Long-Term Collection & Research Plan in 2008 in preparation for the design and construction

of the recently completed Avenir Collections Center. In this context, the Plan documented our

collecting goals, identiﬁed targeted deaccession opportunities, and served as the basis for

collection growth estimates for the future. It gave staff, Trustees, and funders the conﬁdence

that the Museum was prepared to build a right-sized, sustainable Center. This presentation will

present with highlight the collection planning process utilized at the Denver Museum of Nature

& Science.

ABSTRACT. Within every museum there are distinctive collections that present a challenge

when they need to be re-housed. The bulky bamboo collection at the United States National

Herbarium is such example. The collection came to the Smithsonian in the 1940s and

developed through the late 1980s. It contains 1,419 specimens ranging in size and shape.

This collection has been stored in handmade wooden cases crafted in-house in 1950. The

basic material used in the construction of these cases consists of toxic material that affects

the health and safety of the staff and the collection. To move these specimens three speciﬁc

phases of movement were required; Phase 1 - location and space for new cases, Phase II -

staging of the swing space for the bulky specimens and Phase III - movement of the bulky

specimens from the old cases into the new cases. Each phase required a signiﬁcant amount of

planning and coordination between multiple events within each phase. Lessons were learned

and since many museums have distinctive and bulky collections, our experiences can be used

by others who may share the same legacy housing and re-housing bulky irregular items.

INTRODUCTION. Every museum collection has a particular set of idiosyncratic re-housing

issues. The U.S. National Herbarium has recently faced these issues in the form of the

bulky bamboo collection. Dr. McClure started collecting bulky bamboo in the 1940s and the

collection continued to develop and grow through the next forty years. Since the late 1980s

this collection of 1,419 specimens has become static but still holds important information on

the structure of bamboo stems and rhizomes that are too large to press and mount onto the

typical herbarium sheets.

These specimens were stored in substandard wooden cases constructed in the 1940s through

the late 1960s. By their very nature, these cases contain hazardous materials. The modern

consensus is to use metal cases since they are superior in design and security (Hatchﬁeld,

ORAL PRESENTATION

Digitization and imaging

collections: new methods,

ideas, and uses

Bringing dark data to light –

how do we keep the lights on?

Jennifer Thomas* 1

1 University of Kansas, Biodiversity Institute – Division of

Entomology, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

* jct@ku.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Collection planning

Kelly Tomajko* 1

1 Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Research &

Collections Division, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO

80205, USA

* Kelly.tomajko@dmns.org

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

A Smithsonian Institution case

study: Managing the movement

of bulky collections

Meghann Toner* 1

1 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural

History, Department of Botany, US National Herbarium,

MRC 166 PO Box 37012, Washington DC, 20013-7012,

USA

* TonerM@si,edu

As the botanical collections are much more homogenous than the geological collections, this

big challenge is not its complexity, but the amount of objects to be moved - more than 2,5

mill. herbaria sheets and some other smaller collections (alcohol, wood, seeds etc.).

As it is impossible to secure the botanical material from pests in the new temporary storage, it

was decided to pack the contents of each pigeonhole into a plastic bag, which is then meta-

registered. By means of a vacuum machine, the air pressure within the bag is slightly reduced

before it is sealed. Besides acting as a pest barrier, the plastic bag ﬁxates the content which

minimizes the negative effects of handling. The plastic bags are then packed into standard

cardboard boxes which are frozen for 4 days at minus 30 degrees Celsius to kill any active pest

infestations. All the botanical material goes through the freezer before being transported to the

storage facility and this part of the process is taken care of by the moving company.

SUMMATION. Even though it is potentially very damaging to the collections to move them,

some very good things can come out of such a move as it is an excellent possibility to clean up

in the collections and to get a lot of basic curatorial work done.

For our part, especially the geological collections were in a bad state, but now all the

specimens have been cleansed, a lot of the specimen boxes have been replaced by new

ones and the collections are in a better order than ever before. Further more we now have

procedures for handling potentially problematic specimens and all of the collections will be

meta-registered. The latter is also true for the botanical collections which in addition are pest

free as they have been through the freezer.

All in all, the move has been a big gain for the collections.

ABSTRACT. The Biodiversity COllections Network (BCoN) is a research coordination network

funded by the National Science Foundation to engage a diverse group of stakeholders to build

the community needed to support, utilize, and sustain the network of digitized collections that

is currently being developed in the U.S. Over the next ﬁve years, BCoN will convene a series

of working groups that will explore governance of the nation’s collection digitization effort,

cyberinfrastructure, training and outreach to the broad community of potential users and other

biological databases, and use of collections data in formal and informal education. So far,

BCoN has hosted a Collections Communications Workshop, where leaders and communications

specialists produced recommendations for identifying opportunities and barriers to

communicating the beneﬁts of natural science collections to decision-makers and the public.

BCoN also sponsored a meeting on education and training for the Biological Informatics

Workforce. Upcoming BCoN sponsored or co-sponsored events include a joint meeting

with ISOBank, and a workshop in late 2016 to advise the National Science Foundation on

how to continue and sustain the U.S. national digitization initiative after 2020, when the

current Advancing the Digitization of Biodiversity Collections program for funding collections

digitization is scheduled to end.

ABSTRACT. Herbaria hold specimens of plants (including ﬂowering plants, ferns, bryophytes

and algae) and fungi (including lichens). Herbarium specimens were among the ﬁrst natural

history collections to be digitized. Databasing of specimen labels began in the 1980s, and

specimen imaging in the late 1990s. Collaboration on digitization projects began early

and remains a hallmark of the herbarium community. The willingness to join digitization

collaborations suggests that digitization priorities align strongly among collections. Herbaria

have generally favored digitization projects that allow entire blocks of their collection to

be digitized, because selection for specimens for such projects is easiest. More than 200

herbaria have digitized type specimens for the Global Plants Initiative, and geographically-

based collaborations are also well established, for example in Australia, Brazil, and within the

U.S. Taxonomic collaborations are somewhat less common, but exist in the U.S. for algae,

bryophytes and fungi, for example. Less common so far are collaborations based on biology or

ecology, conservation status or collection date (or date ranges). Specimen selection for such

projects is far more time-consuming, although demands for more customized digitization will

probably increase with the number of research projects that require species occurrence data to

analyze broad patterns of plant distribution.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Developing a global research

infrastructure framework for

bio-collections (Synthesys

Symposium)

The Biodiversity Collections

Network (BCoN): Promoting the

use of digitized biocollections

data for research and education

Barbara M. Thiers* 1

Robert Gropp2

1 William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, The New York

Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, USA

2 Robert Gropp, The American Institute of Biological

Sciences, Washington, DC, 20005, USA

* bthiers@nybg.org

ORAL PRESENTATION

Setting global and local

digitisation priorities (GBIF

Symposium)

Principles for setting

digitization priorities for

herbaria

Barbara M. Thiers* 1

1 The New York Botanical Garden, William and Lynda Steere

Herbarium, Brxon, NY USA 10458. department, city,

postcode, country

* bthiers@nybg.org

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184 185

a protocol that will be used in the future. As we moved specimens, we were able to check on

their conservation status. Having the large variety of stems and rhizomes on display provided

a teaching opportunity for the department. Many of the staff and the volunteers did not realize

this collection existed and it provided a way to view the amazing diversity of bamboo species.

Finally, with a ﬁnite goal in mind people we were able to move specimens and drawers at a

faster rate then predicted.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. As with any movement of collections, project planning is the

key to avoiding large issues. Even with a plan there is a level of ﬂexibility needed (Benson,

2001). By having the series of events laid out combined with maps for phase 1 and 2, and the

protocol for phase 3, these processes worked in concert to facilitate the move. The protocols

provided a blue print for future moves as well as documenting to future staff at what we did.

Each step of the process was documented and if there are any questions about our methods,

staff will be able to review and learn from them. Finally, this collection is now housed in better

equipment that will be able to last the next 100 years.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I would like to thank Carol Butler and Smithsonian’s Collections

Care and Preservation Funds for support and funds during this move and Carol Butler for her

support for travel to this meeting. Also the Staff of the Department of Botany and The Building

Support Staff for their tireless work in helping with this process.

REFERENCES

Benson, L. 2001. Chapter 2: Moving the Collections- Stage 1: Planning. Pp. 14-18, in: Moving the Mountain: Science

Museum of Minnesota guide to moving collections. Collection Management and Conservation Department. Science

Museum of Minnesota. St Paul Minnesota.

Hatchﬁeld, P. 1995. Wood and wood Products. Pp. 283 -289, in: Storage of Natural History Collections: A preventive

conservation approach (C.L. Rose, C.A. Hawks, and H.H. Genoways, eds.), Society for the Preservation of Natural History

Collections, Iowa City, IA.

Molineux, A., Zachos, L., Criswell, K.E., & Risien, T. 2012. GIS, The Key To Collection Management of A Large Research

Archive. Collection Forum 26(1-2):60-69.

Moore, B.P. and Williams, S.L. 1995. Storage Equipment . Pp. 255 -267, in: Storage of Natural History Collections:

A preventive conservation approach (C.L. Rose, C.A. Hawks, and H.H. Genoways, eds.), Society for the Preservation of

Natural History Collections, Iowa City, IA.

Schoenholz, D. 2001. Chapter 2: Moving the Collections- Stage 3: Packing. Pp. 26-45, in: Moving the Mountain: Science

Museum of Minnesota guide to moving collections. Collection Management and Conservation Department. Science

Museum of Minnesota. St Paul Minnesota.

ABSTRACT. The Airless Project at the Natural History Museum (NHM) London (UK), has been

devised to increase the preservation potential of the earth science specimens at highest risk

from pyrite oxidation. Specimens are identiﬁed through surveys and then placed in anoxic

microenvironments created using barrier ﬁlm and oxygen scavengers. Microenvironments were

chosen as a far more sustainable and cost-effective option than building and maintaining a

humidity- or oxygen-controlled storage facility. Since each specimen will be photographed as

part of the condition reporting process, the addition of digitisation to the conservation workﬂow

was included to increase accessibility and project impact.

The project now incorporates barcoding each specimen and recording its barcoded location

and digital images in the museum’s collection management system KE EMu. The images will

also be used as part of the condition report data, which will be imported from Microsoft Excel.

Digital association of both condition and treatment data will be accelerated by the use of the

specimen barcodes.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Combining digitisation and

sustainable conservation: The

Airless Project

Amy Trafford* 1

Lu Allington-Jones2

1 The Conservation Centre, The Natural History Museum,

London, SW7 5BD, UK

2 The Conservation Centre, The Natural History Museum,

London, SW7 5BD, UK

* a.trafford@nhm.ac.uk

1995; Moore and William, 1995). Thanks to a generous grant from the Smithsonian’s

Collections Care and Preservation Funds, we were able to replace the wooden cases with metal

ones, which present a safer and greener work environment for both the specimens and the

staff.

There were numerous steps in planning, but the broader shift consisted of three distinct

phases:

1). The creation of space for the new cases

2). The staging of swing space

3). The movement of specimens to the new cases

Project management and ﬂexibility were important components throughout these three phases.

Without the help of all staff in the Department of Botany and coordination of additional

Smithsonian building and facilities support staff, the move would not have been possible. All

of these different components came together in an organized and timely manner to re-house

this irreplaceable collection.

METHODS

Phase 1 – Location Creation. The integration of the new cases into the ﬂow of the herbarium

range required reconﬁguration of two spaces. To accomplish this task, a series of very speciﬁc

shifts of both specimens and cases had to occur. Planning of this domino effect required

detailed location data and maps of the collection. Other museums faced with a collection

move had the same data needs (Benson, 2001). One tool to create and display this type of

information is ArcGIS which has been used to map collection for research and conservation

(Molineux et al., 2012). The U.S. National Herbarium has detailed information as to the

location of each case, the composition of the case and the content. Maps are regularly created

from this data using ArcGIS. Using these maps, each event in sequence was coordinated and

completed in an organized manner.

Phase 2 – Staging of Swing Space. For any move, large or small, swing space is critical

(Schoenholz, 2001). The majority of the cases is designed for pressed herbarium sheets and

is not compatible with storing large bulky specimens. Rather, we were forced to move the

wooden bulky cases to a holding space and use these cases to stage the specimens. To insure

the safety of the specimens, the drawers were removed; placed on countertops with a plastic

covering while the empty cases were carefully moved.

A number of willing staff and volunteers were essential for the careful movement of these

drawers since no one person could safely carry a drawer. Online software such as Doodle polls

was the best option we discovered in organizing staff for tasks, assignments and coordination

of their time commitment. To help motivate the staff, the project was broken down into easy

goals. This way at the end of each shift, staff had the feeling of accomplishment. Utilizing

these different tools this phase happened within the appropriate timeline.

Phase 3 – The individual movement of specimens to new cases. There is little published

information detailing movement of specimens on the individual scale. Most documentation

that exists is for large-scale shifts of museum collections. In organizing people who are not

familiar with moving specimens, a protocol was established.

In this protocol location description within the museum is critical. There was a size difference

between the wooden and metal cases. Specimens that ﬁt in the wooden cases many not ﬁt

fully into the metal cases. To help solve this problem extra cases were purchased. The main

issue was that the specimens were inventoried with their storage location. If they were moved,

their new location was recorded. As the collection was moved the protocol was used to update

the location of the specimens.

RESULTS. The primary result from this move is a better storage of the collection in their new

metal cases. As with all moves there are unexpected issues with the timing of project and the

availability of staff. We were able to move 35 wooden cases to the new metal cases and create

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186 187

with the unique specimen barcode, location and image(s). A second application is then used to

associate the barcode stub with the correct catalogue record, by manually typing the catalogue

number visible in the image.

The conservation data is recorded in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets using the new specimen

barcode, scanned directly and so saving time and preventing typing errors. The spreadsheets

are then imported into KE EMu, uploading the conservation data and associated images.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS

Problems Encountered. Problems encountered during the project include digitisation of

morphological parts or groups as individuals; duplicate registration numbers already in

existence; and expansion of space when locations have already been digitised. When the

specimens are re-stored increased footprint is often inevitable: specimens which have been

crowded together in a tray become more spaced out when provided with inert foam cushions.

Tray sizes are kept to a minimum and complex tiered systems are being constructed, but

some expansion is unavoidable. This poses a problem because the original location barcode

has been used to name the specimen image and create the database record. This issue has

been resolved by recording the specimen data and new location, which can be subsequently

imported into KE EMu. The collection of the data is very rapid because it only requires a scan

of the specimen and the new location barcodes.

CONCLUSION. This project successfully exempliﬁes how digitisation can be incorporated into

cross-department projects. At the end of 3 years Airless aims to have placed over 10,000 high-

risk specimens into anoxic microenvironments, each with a digital image, location, condition

report and treatment record, all linked to its unique barcode.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The authors would like to thank David Smith, Pip Brewer and Lil

Stevens, at the NHM, for invaluable help with the development of the digital side of the

project. Thanks also go to the other members of the Airless team: Matthew Porter, Kieran

Miles, Richard Devany, Zoë Hughes, Consuelo Sendino, Gill Comerford and Julie Gray.

REFERENCES

Fellowes, D. & P. Hagan. 2003. Pyrite oxidation: The conservation of historic shipwrecks and geological and

palaeontological specimens. Reviews in Conservation 4(Supplement 1): 26-38.

Newman, A. 1998. Pyrite oxidation and museum collections: A review of theory and conservation treatments. The

Geological Curator 6(10): 363-371.

McPhail, D., E. Lam, & A. Doyle. 2003. The heat sealing of Escal® barrier ﬁlms. The Conservator 27(1): 107-116.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS

Pyrite Oxidation. Pyrite, or ‘fool’s gold’ (iron disulphide), is a common mineral of varying crystal

structure that can often be found in or around fossils. It can occur as a compact, crystallized

and stable form or as a porous, microcrystalline and unstable form. Pyrite oxidation, or ‘decay’,

can occur when the mineral reacts with atmospheric oxygen when relative humidity (RH)

exceeds 60%.

4FeS2 + 13O2 + 2H2O > 4 FeSO4 + 2H2SO4 + 2SO2

The resulting by-products of this oxidation often comprise sulphuric acid and hydrated ferrous

sulphates which can be very harmful to specimens, labels and storage media. Once pyrite has

begun to oxidise, mineral hydrates will form at as low as 30% RH. Signs that pyrite oxidation

is occurring include expansion cracks, white/yellowish acicular crystal formations and a

sulphurous odour.

Pyrite oxidation is a signiﬁcant issue at the NHM. Treatments to stabilise the decay products

include ethanolamine thioglycollate immersion and paste, and ammonia vapour (Newman

1998). The prevention of further oxidation is only possible, however, with the use of humidity-

or oxygen-controlled environments (Fellowes and Hagan 2003).

Anoxic Microenvironments. Pyritic specimens that are affected by oxidation are photographed

and condition reported, followed by any necessary remedial treatment.

The fossil is then re-stored within an inert foam inlay inside an acid-free tray,

ensuring expansion of re-storage is minimal. To prevent further decay, the specimens

are re-stored in an anoxic microenvironment. A bag is made out of Escal™ Neo,

a transparent oxygen barrier ﬁlm consisting of seven layers, including a protective

outer layer of polypropylene, a gas-barrier layer of ceramic-deposited polyethylene

terephthalate and an inner layer of heat-sealable polyester (McPhail et al. 2003).

Perspex templates, corresponding to each storage tray size, are used to cut out the

desired size. The edges are then heat-sealed to form a gift-style bag. The specimen

within its storage tray is then placed inside the bag along with its labels, a new

barcode and the appropriate number of oxygen scavenging sachets. The bag is then

heat-sealed at the top, leaving enough additional material so that it can be cut open

and re-used. Once a specimen has been accessed, it is returned to conservation

staff so that they can replace the oxygen-scavenging sachets and re-seal the bag.

The specimen labels are placed in a polyester sleeve, which are attached to the

outside of the storage boxes before being sealed so that the specimen data is visible

within the new anoxic microenvironment (Figure 1).

RESULTS

Anoxic Microenvironments. Although transparent and simple to open, anoxic environments

reduce accessibility due to ﬁnancial reasons: once the bag has been opened the oxygen

scavenger must be replaced. This discourages frequent access to specimens. The addition of

barcodes and the naming of images so that they are suitable for processing with a web-based

application, however, adds little to the conservation workﬂow and both increases digital access

and decreases the need for physical access. Photographing the specimens before bagging not

only aids condition reporting, but creates a digital surrogate. This reduces the need to access

the specimen through opening the bag, particularly in exploratory investigations.

Digitisation of Data. The digitisation aspect of the project was made possible by working in

collaboration with the NHM digitisation project eMesozoic and utilising web-based applications

which had already been developed.

Each specimen is given a unique barcode which is photographed with the specimen and its

original labels. The image(s) are then named, using Syrup software and a barcode scanner,

with the specimen and location barcodes. The images are then ingested into the museum’s

data management system (KE EMu) using a web-based application which creates a stub record

Figure 1. A pyritic ammonite, acid-burned labels, a completed anoxic

microenvironment (with barcode inside) and a handheld barcode scanner.

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188 189

collections from PR, Zanthoxyllum thomasianum collections from PR, Bastadiopsis eggersii

from Guana and the holotype of Pitcairnia jareckii from Guana. We re-discovered the BVI

endemic and critically endangered Calyptranthes kiaerskovii on the island of Tortola within

the Sage Mountain National Park. This small tree species was ﬁrst reported as being found in

Tortola in 1895; however, it had not been seen there again until the project team has found

it in June 2015. This extends the species’ known distribution range from the Gorda Peak

National Park, on the island of Virgin Gorda, to the island of Tortola. The project team also

discovered a new population of Calyptranthes thomasiana (Thomas’ Lidﬂower), a Virgin Islands

endemic shrub that is also threatened with extinction.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS. The progress that we have had so far on this project

emphasizes the importance of good data-based herbarium collections for the management

and conservation of native and endangered ﬂora. Also, being able to stress the importance of

data cleaning, good botanical collections and photo catalogues to young botanists will assure

that the quality of the data improves and helps to create best practices for the management

and monitoring the endangered ﬂora. New collaborations are under way to create a seed

bank facility in the University of PR at Mayagüez, and to continue other collaborations on the

management of particular endangered species.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The authors thank the NPTVI and PR partners (SJ-DRNA, USFWS &

MAPR-UPR) for their continued support and assistance and for providing necessary research

permits and letters to other government departments to facilitate the work. We also want to

acknowledge the Darwin Plus Initiative for their ﬁnancial support to this project.

REFERENCES

Hamilton, M.A. (2015). Puerto Rican Bank (British Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico) June 2015, Fieldwork report and

photographic supplement. Overseas Fieldwork Committee (OFC) registration number 559-8. Unpublished report. Royal

Botanic Gardens, Kew, 61pp.

ABSTRACT. A collection risk assessment identiﬁes risks, calculates their magnitude, identiﬁes

and prioritizes sustainable risk reduction strategies. At the Denver Museum of Nature &

Science, a risk assessment was a key planning exercise to inform the design speciﬁcations for

the Avenir Collections Center as well as custom collection storage equipment, and preservation

resource allocations. Risk assessment rests on the established collection signiﬁcance and

quantiﬁes risk of loss over time. At DMNS, collection signiﬁcance was documented in its

Long-Term Collection & Research Plan and signiﬁcance categories were deﬁned in the

risk assessment process. Sustainable mitigation actions for those quantiﬁed risks can be

achieved by some combination of avoiding, blocking, detecting, or responding to a risk. This

presentation will discuss collection risk assessment method based on the Cultural Property

Risk Analysis Model (CPRAM), and point to design speciﬁcations utilized as a result in the

design of the Avenir Collections Center.

ABSTRACT. Properly prepared osteological specimens are useful in a variety of scientiﬁc

research projects as well as educational programs and exhibition. Many different end-users

of a specimen have different requirements and needs, including special preparation of

speciﬁc anatomical features, tissue collection and standard morphometric data that must be

collected prior to, or during, specimen preparation. Herpetological and ichthyological specimen

preparation at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History includes a variety of methods and

procedures to ensure maximum use of the resultant specimen, while safeguarding against risks

associated with skeletal specimen preparation, including dissociation of data and damage from

dermestids. The standard procedures for skeletal preparation of amphibians, ﬁshes and reptiles

at Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History will be discussed.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Collection Risk Assessment

Rob Waller* 1

Jude Southward2

1 Protect Heritage Corp., 622 Simoneau Way,

Ottawa K4A 1P4, Canada

2 Denver Museum of Nature and Science Denver 80205,

USA

* rw@protectheritage.com

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

From body bags to boxes

of bones; Herpetology and

ichthyology skeletal preparation

at Yale Peabody Museum of

Natural History

Gregory J. Watkins-Colwell* 1

1 Division of Vertebrate Zoology, Yale Peabody Museum of

Natural History, 170 Whitney Avenue, New Haven,

CT 06511, USA

* Gregory.watkins-colwell@yale.edu

ABSTRACT. A collaborative project lead by Kew’s UK Overseas Territories Team, with the

National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands, the University of Puerto Rico- MAPR Herbarium, the

Puerto Rico Department of Natural & Environmental Resources- SJ Herbarium and the US Fish

and Wildlife Service-Caribbean Ecological Service Field Ofﬁce, is going on since April 2015.

The main objective of this project is to increase botanical capacity in the British Virgin Islands

(BVI), to help conserve the BVI’s native ﬂora.

The inclusion of the MAPR and SJ Herbaria from PR has been key, as they hold important

botanical collections from the Puerto Rican Bank and the Caribbean region. MAPR has

facilitated initial training in herbarium techniques and database management. Visits from

collaborators had been made to PR and the BVI’s to study the regional ﬂora, observe good

management of protected areas and see restoration projects for threatened plant species.

Digitalization efforts of the SJ herbarium are also in place to make the BVI’s collections

deposited there available to the scientiﬁc community.

With international and regional expertise, this project is strengthening local capacity and the

development of the botanical collections, resources and data systems in BVI to enable long-

term plant conservation and habitat management.

INTRODUCTION & METHODS. Currently in BVI, threatened species and their habitats are

not adequately monitored and existing botanical collections are not representative of wild

plant diversity. Due to recent staff/role changes, the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands

(NPTVI) lacks training in maintaining/monitoring threatened species and their habitats, and

does not have access to botanical data systems and monitoring data. A collaborative project is

in place in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) thanks to the Darwin Plus funding (DPLUSS030)

to increase botanical capacity in BVI, in order to help conserve their native ﬂora. Objectives

of this project include: (1) provide training to young personnel at NPTVI in plant collecting,

preservation and data gathering, (2) strengthen regional and international partnerships to

secure regional biodiversity into long-term plant conservation and habitat management, (3)

make accessible online the specimens collections data from the Caribbean UK Overseas

Territories and restricted range taxa from the Puerto Rican Bank .

The project started in April 2015 and is being led by Kew’s UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs)

Team, together with the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands (NPTVI), the MAPR

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus Herbarium (MAPR), Puerto Rico Department of

Natural and Environmental Resources Herbarium (SJ) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service

(USFWS)-Caribbean Ecological Service Field Ofﬁce.

The project ﬁrst year got off during May 2015, with a visit to Puerto Rico of the UKOTs

Team to start working collaborations with the PR partners. This initial visit combined project

meetings, the training of Ms. Natasha Harrigan from NPTVI in database management and

herbarium best practices for the curation of specimens, and ﬁeld visits to monitor rare and

endangered plant populations. After that visit, the team and partners moved to BVI for the

continuation of the training of the personnel from NPTVI and to visit protected areas in BVI,

to discuss best management practices of protected areas, and to monitor plant species of

conservation concern. Ms. Harrigan visited Kew Gardens for more training on data-basing of

herbarium specimens.

During January 2016, the project focused on the digitalization of the SJ Herbarium collections

data from the UKOTs and priority species from PR deposited there. A week visit to that

herbarium was made to database and photograph relevant collections. MAPR provided a

dataset of around 1000 records from the BVI’s and from species of importance to the project.

Field work training was also made at PR and BVI’s on ﬁeld data collecting.

RESULTS. Project is halfway through with much of the training done in the how to’s on

database and digitalization. Data input and digitalization of the target species from the SJ

Herbaria is on their way, and will continue during April 2016, with the collaboration of SJ and

MAPR personnel. Some important not databased collections were found at SJ: Ilex urbaniana

POSTER

Collections for the future –

future of collections

Building systems and capacity

to monitor and conserve the

ﬂora of the British Virgin

Islands

Jeanine Vélez Gavilán* 1

Martin Hamilton2

Sara Barrios2,

Thomas Heller2

José Sustache3

Omar Monsegur4

Nancy Woodﬁeld-Pascoe5

Natasha Harrigan5

1 MAPR Herbarium, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez

Campus, Mayagüez, 00680, Puerto Rico

2 UKOTs, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey,

TW9 3AE, UK

3 Puerto Rico Department of Environmental and Natural

Resources, San Juan, 00927, Puerto Rico

4 US Fish and Wildlife Service, Cabo Rojo, 00623, Puerto

Rico

5 National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands, Tortola, VG

1110, BVI

* jeanine.velez@upr.edu

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

190 191

ABSTRACT. CA “Wet collections” are particularly difﬁcult to digitize: labels are intermixed

with specimens inside capped, ﬂuid-ﬁlled containers. In most cases, reading the label requires

removing it from the jar, then reassembling the specimen storage lot. As an experiment in

collection digitization, the Marine Biodiversity Center at the Natural History Museum of Los

Angeles County launched a project to capture the complex label data from our collection of

marine crabs in the family Cancridae (approximately 1,000 lots). Most of these jars contain

multiple labels, reﬂecting generations of collections and research attention to the specimens.

High-resolution imaging of the labels was deemed essential, since label type, size, handwriting,

and other subtle features are valuable metadata fo this collection. To help transcribe the

data from the label images, we partnered with Notes From Nature (Florida State University &

Zooniverse) to test the effectiveness of using Internet crowdsourcing. By also partnering with

the WeDigBio project, we promoted in-house digitization events. With this project, we explored

the efﬁciency of the crowd transcription vs. using trained in-house staff to do the data entry as

well as the costs and beneﬁts of public involvement.

ABSTRACT. The Dearness Fungal Herbarium is curated by the National Mycological Herbarium

(DAOM) in Ottawa Canada. John Dearness [JD] was an educator and collector who died at

the age of 102 in London Ontario in 1954. An important historical ﬁgure in the history of

Canadian mycology, he was the sixth president of the Mycological Society of America. His

collection covered 9200 different species of fungi and held 503 type specimens he named. In

2014 all located type specimens were digitally photographed and their collection information

databased, 5400 images from the general collection were also captured. Previously his

ﬁling cards were photocopied and these photocopies were subsequently scanned as images.

Dearness did not assign collection numbers. He used numbers for species, which were used

for his ﬁling system, which have been confused for collection numbers. Posthumously JD

accession numbers are being assigned. More recently barcodes were included in the high-

resolution pictures taken in a light box. This effort is part of a larger herbarium digitization

project aimed at preserving records of collections and increasing the accessibility in the long

term both within our institution and to the broader community. Sample images of Dearness

type specimens and his ﬁling system are detailed.

ABSTRACT. In terms of amateurs and professionals studying and collecting insects,

Lepidoptera (butterﬂies and moths) represent one of the most popular groups. It is their

popularity, in combination with wings being routinely spread during mounting, that result

in Lepidoptera often taking up the largest number of boxes and amount of space in insect

collections. As space, time and money are commodities museums want to use as efﬁciently

as possible, any process that results in saving either one forms a welcome and timely addition

to collection management. Here we describe a workﬂow that can be applied to unmounted

air-dried specimens of Lepidoptera (both recently collected and backlogs) to register (data

and images) and store them (unmounted) in glassine bags. An important aspect is that the

entire workﬂow can be carried out by non-specialist volunteers. Compared to current common

practice, the workﬂow described here reduces the number of specimens for which mounting

is required by using a new storage system for Lepidoptera (glassine bags), while still providing

optimal accessibility of the data. By disclosing digitized data via internet, specialists worldwide

are able to assist with identiﬁcations and to easily access the data for research purposes.

POSTER

Other topics

Crowdsourcing specimen labels

– the Crab Shack experience

Regina Wetzer* 1

N. Dean Pentcheff1

1 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los

Angeles, CA 90007, USA

* rwetzer@nhm.org

POSTER

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

Digitization of Dearness Fungal

Type Collection

Jennifer Wilkinson* 1

Scott Redhead1

1 Ottawa Research & Development Centre, Agriculture and

Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, CA

* Jennifer.Wilkinson@agr.gc.ca

POSTER

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Butterﬂies in bags: saving time,

space and money

Luc Willemse* 1

Max Caspers1

1 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Entomology department,

P.O.Box 9517 Leiden, 2333 CC, The Netherlands

* luc.willemse@naturalis.nl

ABSTRACT. A comprehensive understanding of the space and volume requirements to rehouse

a collection and plan for its future is a central factor in designing an efﬁcient and sustainable

collection facility. Undertaking the relatively complex exercise of translating how collections are

originally housed, usually in overcrowded and unsustainable conditions, into their requirements

for a new facility is critical to informing today’s fast-paced building design process. A

Collection Space Plan ideally rests on an institution’s collection planning that guides the

collection’s speciﬁc content and informs how it will grow. Exploring the implications of

different collection furniture choices, developing methods for calculating collection uncrowding

and understanding the interrelationship of collection spaces with other museum activities are

all important components of the Collection Space Plan. This presentation will focus on the

collection space planning process implemented for the design of the Avenir Collections Center

at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and collection facilities for other institutions.

ABSTRACT. For many academic libraries, involvement in data curation is a relatively new

endeavor. Some aspects of data curation mirror long-established library practices (describing,

organizing, and providing access to materials) but some libraries are grappling with the form

their services might take, and the extent of their engagement with researches and collection

managers in these areas. Collection managers and researchers may also have questions about

what the library might bring to the table.

At the University of Oregon, we’ve begun a few exploratory collaborations between the data

librarians and research groups in support of data preservation and access for their collections.

These initiatives extend beyond natural history collections, and have been limited in scope

but they have the potential to achieve improvements in curation-friendly practices that can

facilitate data sharing. This session will describe successes and challenges from these small

projects, and the bridges that could be formed between these communities.

MAIN TEXT. As research funding organizations have begun to stress the importance of research

data access and preservation, academic libraries, in partnership with other stakeholders,

have responded with services and stafﬁng to help faculty meet these requirements. Given

the funding environment in higher education, and the ambiguity and changing nature of

technology, research practices, and funder requirements, the scope of these efforts at most

institutions has been fairly limited to date.

Libraries have provided training for researchers on best practices for research data

management, and offered consultations and training on data management planning for

research funding proposals. In some cases they also provide institutional data repositories

which can preserve and register datasets to create durable identiﬁers, present metadata for

discovery, and provide open access.

Collection managers, curators, museum administrators, and researchers may be interested in

taking advantage of some or all of these services, but perhaps especially integrations between

their collection management systems and data repositories. These offer the potential for

archival preservation of data such as image ﬁles via the repository, while taking advantage of

metadata capture and editing in the collection management system. Implementing collections

software is a precursor to this. At the University of Oregon we are exploring these two types of

collaborations.

I will detail some of the challenges and opportunities we have encountered, outcomes,

and lessons learned. There will be an opportunity to discuss these topics, and some of the

questions that are yet to be answered.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

Collection space planning

Jeff Weatherston* 1

1 WeatherstonBruer Associates, 514 Crawford Street,

Toronto, ON, M6G 3J8, Canada

* jeff@weatherstonbruer.com

ORAL PRESENTATION

An International Conversation

on Mobilizing Natural

History Collections Data and

Integrating Data for Research

(iDigBio Symposium)

Data librarianship and small

collections support

Brian Westra* 1

1 University of Oregon, Science Library, Eugene, 97408, US

SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author SPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

192 193

Step 2: Handling (see Figure 1)

• The individual Lepidoptera are photographed together with their old paper fold

and the newly printed information label, using a DSLR camera.

• The information on the paper fold (mainly locality and date) is manually

registered into the CRS-database.

• The label is inserted into the glassine envelope, after which the specimen is

carefully inserted3. Any loose legs or antennae are photographed and stored

as well.

• The envelopes are subsequently housed in numerical order in small cardboard

boxes that sit within tailor made drawers. Reordering the envelopes

taxonomically is a planned future endeavor.

Once the specimens are digitized, a specialist uses the photographs to identify

them and manually adds the taxonomic information in an external ﬁle. This ﬁle is

later imported into the CRS-database. While identifying specimens, the specialist

also indicated which specimens should be mounted or sampled for DNA either

because the identiﬁcation remains uncertain or because it belongs to a rare or

interesting species.

RESULTS. The workﬂow applied here resulted in 6000 unmounted specimens of Papilionidae

being fully digitized and transferred, still unmounted, to glassine envelopes containing

sustainable, acid free information labels. Only for a very small percentage was mounting

deemed necessary by the specialist. Table 1 summarizes the estimated differences in

resources required to mount 6000 specimens of Papilionidae in the traditional way and

using the workﬂow described here (scenario 1). Hypothetical scenario’s 2 and 3 are added to

illustrate the efﬁciency of the workﬂow in case larger percentages require mounting.

DISCUSSION. For Papilionidae, due to their size and ease of identiﬁcation, saving resources

when applying the new workﬂow is evident. Whether or not the amount of space saved is less

for groups of smaller sized Lepidoptera has not been tested thoroughly yet. Based on table

1 the reduction of resources becomes less signiﬁcant when circa 50% or more of the set

of specimens require mounting after papering. Being able to pre-estimate this percentage

will assist in deciding whether or not the workﬂow should be applied. Importantly, even if a

large percentage requires mounting, the entire set of unmounted Lepidoptera will have been

made digitally accessible. This in turn facilitates research, improved selection of specimens

to be mounted and online dissemination to approach specialists for aid in identiﬁcation.

Future automated identiﬁcation tools for unmounted Lepidoptera that recognize shape and

color patterns of the wings would perfectly match the workﬂow presented here, allowing for

a rapid ﬁrst identiﬁcation. Even if identiﬁcation of unmounted material is only possible to a

higher taxonomic level (i.e. family or subfamily), this allows photographs to be grouped, which

reduces the manual work required from specialists. The workﬂow presented here demonstrates

Figure 1. The handling step of the proposed workﬂow. It shows the original paper

folds, the camera setup, the computer showing the camera’s Live View and the

permanent storage of unmounted Lepidoptera in glassine envelopes.

Table 1. Resources required to handle and digitize 6000 unmounted specimens of Papilionidae.

*includes mounting, labeling and digitizing, excludes relaxing time required for mounting

**includes boxes, glassine envelopes and acid free ledger paper

3 A representative selection of the paper folds is collected for its historical value, as well as any paper folds relevant for collection history and management. The rest

of the paper folds along with the emptied and scanned envelopes are being disposed of.

For 6.000 Papilionidae New workﬂow

scenario 1

New workﬂow

scenario 2

New workﬂow

scenario 3

Traditional

practice

% mounted 5 25 75 100

# boxes required

a. for mounting (50 ex.)

b. for envelopes (400 ex.)

total: 21

a. 6

b. 15

total: 21

a. 6

b. 15

total: 21

a. 6

b. 15

total: 120

a. 120

b. 0

Handling time in days*

a. for mounting (40 ex./day)

b. for envelopes (80 ex./

day)

total: 83

a. 8

b. 75

total: 113

a. 38

b. 75

total: 188

a. 113

b. 75

total: 150

a. 150

b. 0

Material costs involved**

(€)

1900 2950 5550 6000

ABSTRACT. In terms of amateurs and professionals studying and collecting insects,

Lepidoptera (butterﬂies and moths) represent one of the most popular groups. It is their

popularity, in combination with wings being routinely spread during mounting, that results in

Lepidoptera often taking up the largest number of boxes and amount of space in entomological

collections. As space, time and money are commodities museums want to use as efﬁciently

as possible, any process that results in saving either one forms a welcome and timely addition

to collection management. Here we propose a means to permanently store unmounted air-

dried Lepidoptera in glassine envelopes. The described workﬂow entails registration and

graphic documentation of the specimens to ensure accessibility of the data, and limits

mounting to those specimens for which mounting is considered essential. The entire workﬂow

can be carried out by non-specialist volunteers. Additionally, by disclosing data and images

via internet, specialists worldwide may assist with identiﬁcations. Although only tested for

Papilionidae, results suggest that the workﬂow and permanent storage in glassine envelopes

described here can be applied to most groups of Lepidoptera.

INTRODUCTION. In 2015 an inventory was carried out in the collection of Naturalis

Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands, to estimate the number of papered1 Lepidoptera.

The inventory revealed a backlog of some 500,000 specimens, some being as old as 80

years. A substantial part of the backlog (> 200,000) consisted of Lepidoptera collected

by J.M.A. Van Groenendael, a Dutch physician working in the former Dutch East Indies

between 1931 and 1954 (Boer 1998). While this collection potentially provides a wealth of

information for research, processing this amount of Lepidoptera following current practice

(i.e. spreading and pinning the specimens) would take up roughly 7.500 drawers. Therefore

a pilot project was launched, funded by the Van Groenendael-Krijger Foundation, to develop

an alternative for handling unmounted Lepidoptera that is more time- and space efﬁcient

while still providing accessibility. The pilot project centers on the use of glassine envelopes.

Because they are transparent and easy to use (Gibb 2015; Winter 2000) glassine envelopes

are widely used to temporarily store unmounted Lepidoptera. In the current project a workﬂow

has been developed that digitally discloses unmounted Lepidoptera (data and images) while

the specimens are placed in glassine envelopes that can be used as permanent storage. The

workﬂow, once in place, can be carried out by non-specialist volunteers.

MATERIAL & METHODS. Some 6000 envelopes that contain unmounted Papilionidae

collected by Van Groenendael in Java, Indonesia were used to test the workﬂow. Papilionidae

were chosen because they are large and relatively easy to identify up to the species level. The

specimens had been papered in triangular folds of contemporary newspapers and book pages,

and were stored away roughly sorted by geography in large envelopes and insect drawers.

Although geographical information usually was available, taxonomic information never went

below the family level. The following workﬂow, divided into two steps, describes the process

undertaken to disclose and store the Papilionidae as carried out by non-specialist volunteers:

Step 1: Preparation

• An inventory of a drawer is made, registering the amount of envelopes and any additional

information available on storage unit level - such as collecting date and location - while

grouping the envelopes according to date and locality.

• For each specimen a unique record is assigned in the Collection Registration System2

(further: CRS), registering the aforementioned information.

• Labels are printed on thick, 100% cotton, acid free ledger paper to ensure sustainable

storage. Each label is provided with a unique Data Matrix.

• Labels are subsequently cut to ﬁll out the glassine envelopes. This provides support for the

specimen as soon as it goes into the glassine envelope.

ORAL PRESENTATION

Preventive conservation and

material science

Permanent storage of

Lepidoptera in glassine

envelopes: reducing resources

while optimizing accessibility

Luc Willemse* 1

Max Caspers1

1 Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O.Box 9517, 2300 RA,

Leiden, The Netherlands

* luc.willemse@naturalis.nl

1 Papering consists of placing specimens with the wings folded together dorsally (upper sides together) in folded triangles or in small rectangular envelopes of

glassine paper (Gibb 2015).

2 CRS or Collection Registration System is a web based database based on UTF-8 and developed by the company DeventIT. It was used in the past ﬁve years to

digitize the entire Naturalis collection, and now holds records of 8 million specimen on object-level and 30 million specimen on storage unit-level.

195

SPNHC 2016 – Some space for your NotesSPNHC 2016 – Oral and poster presentations, sorted alphabetically by ﬁrst author

194

a promising way for disclosing and permanently storing unmounted Lepidoptera. It even holds

the potential to be further developed and tailored to facilitate in-ﬁeld registering and papering,

resulting in specimens that upon arrival can be stored directly in the collection.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. The authors gratefully acknowledge the ﬁnancial support provided by

the Van Groenendael-Krijger Foundation.

REFERENCES

Boer, A.J. de, 1998. J.M.A. van Groenendael. A life between Medicine and Entomology in Indonesia. Van Groenendael-

Krijger Foundation and Institute for Systematics and Population Biology, Amsterdam.

Gibb, T.J. 2015. Contemporary Insect Diagnostics: The Art and Science of Practical Entomology. Oxford: Academic Press.

Winter, W.D. 2000. Basic Techniques for Observing and Studying Moths and Butterﬂies. Los Angeles: The Lepidopterists’

Society.

ABSTRACT. The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Support Center is a Leadership in Energy

and Environmental Design (LEED) building. Many other Smithsonian facilities are also LEED-

certiﬁed which demonstrates our commitment to sustainability in design and function. This

presentation highlights how one unit, the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles, practices what

is preached. Discussion is about how work on the front lines of collection management helps to

support these goals. In particular, how conservation practices are employed during the critical

task of transporting collection material between scientiﬁc institutions. A cost-beneﬁt analysis

will also be discussed.

ABSTRACT. Digitising a collection object requires making a plethora of decisions at many

successive points in the process. These choices dictate the quality, accessibility and

digitisation cost of the digital surrogate. However, for the large scale digitisation of thousands

to millions of objects, these processes must be streamlined and integrated with multiple

systems. This requires a set of practical policies and standards based on a pragmatic design to

deliver a digitisation process that achieve the ideal balance of quality, utility and open access

versus security, research competitiveness and cost.

Beyond the policies and standards are the complexities of the people, systems and controls

required to make them work in real world digitisation scenarios. This presentation will track

the path of an example collection object through this process, from planning to publication,

and describe the NHM’s approach to streamlining the process using digitisation policies and

standards.

POSTER

Green Museum – How to

practice what we preach?

(General session)

How green thinking is practiced

when shipping specimens

Robert Wilson* 1

1 Smithsonian Institution, Museum Support Center, 4210

Silver Hill Road, Suitland MD 20746, USA

* wilsonr@si.edu

ORAL PRESENTATION

Enabling Infrastructure: Future

Collections, Data & Informatics

(Synthesys Symposium)

The Great Migration:

Negotiating the path from

physical object to digital

surrogate

Matt Woodburn* 1

Laurence Livermore1

1 Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK

* m.woodburn@nhm.ac.uk

196 197

SPNHC 2016 – Some space for your Notes SPNHC 2016 – Some space for your Notes

... but if you want we can go a lot slower

We imaged 200.000 herbarium sheets per week

World Class Rapid Digitization of Cultural Heritage

www.picturae.com www.alembo.nl

picturae-program-book-adv-a5.indd 1 26/04/16 14:20

JSTOR FOR

NATURAL

HISTORY &

THE SCIENCES

With two million plant specimens,

250 journals in the life sciences,

and hundreds of books, JSTOR is a

comprehensive space for research and

learning in natural history and the sciences.

jstor.org | plants.jstor.org

Digitizing the past and the present for the future

iDigBio is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Program (Cooperative Agreement EF-1115210).

iDigBio is the national coordinating center for the

Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC)

program funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

iDigBio is enabling digitization of data and media for

millions of biodiversity specimens from U.S. collections

and is integrating those data to make them available

online for the research community, government agencies,

students, educators, citizen scientists, and the general

public to promote understanding of biodiversity and

societal consequences of environmental issues.

Subscribe to the newsletter: idigbio.org/content/subscribe

Visit idigbio.org for additional resources

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SilverPackage_Museum_DMA35_210x74.indd 1 10.05.16 17:43

SPNHC 2016 – Imprint

200

SPNHC 2016

IMPRINT

But once a great city thrived here.

And a museum. Shattered columns,

fractured statues and fragmentary

artifacts tell us so. Not much to go on.

But what’s this?

“We’ve discovered another!” we

cheer. Eagerly we unseal it, confident

that marvelous treasures await.

Securely nestled inside. Butterflies.

Brilliantly beautiful. Fearfully fragile.

And wholly intact. Imagine!

We know little of the culture that

produced this safe-guarding wonder.

But we know the maker’s name:

Delta Designs. If only everyone had

used these ...

PO Box 1733, Topeka, Kansas 66601 • 785.234.2244 • 800.656.7426 • Fax 785.233.1021

Website: DeltaDesignsLtd.com • E-mail: sales@DeltaDesignsLtd.com • info@DeltaDesignsLtd.com

Precious little survived the

Impact

of 2058

The Standard for Collection Storage

ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.

Top 50 most wanted fungi

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2016

Environmental sequencing regularly recovers fungi that cannot be classified to any meaningful taxonomic level beyond “Fungi”. There are several examples where evidence of such lineages has been sitting in public sequence databases for up to ten years before receiving scientific attention and formal recognition. In order to highlight these unidentified lineages for taxonomic scrutiny, a search function is presented that produces updated lists of approximately genus-level clusters of fungal ITS sequences that remain unidentified at the phylum, class, and order levels, respectively. The search function (https://unite.ut.ee/top50.php) is implemented in the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi, such that the underlying sequences and fungal lineages are open to third-party annotation. We invite researchers to examine these enigmatic fungal lineages in the hope that their taxonomic resolution will not have to wait another ten years or more.

The ‘Tully monster’ is a vertebrate

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2016

Problematic fossils, extinct taxa of enigmatic morphology that cannot be assigned to a known major group, were once a major issue in palaeontology. A long-favoured solution to the 'problem of the problematica', particularly the 'weird wonders' of the Cambrian Burgess Shale, was to consider them representatives of extinct phyla. A combination of new evidence and modern approaches to phylogenetic analysis has now resolved the affinities of most of these forms. Perhaps the most notable exception is Tullimonstrum gregarium, popularly known as the Tully monster, a large soft-bodied organism from the late Carboniferous Mazon Creek biota (approximately 309-307 million years ago) of Illinois, USA, which was designated the official state fossil of Illinois in 1989. Its phylogenetic position has remained uncertain and it has been compared with nemerteans, polychaetes, gastropods, conodonts, and the stem arthropod Opabinia. Here we review the morphology of Tullimonstrum based on an analysis of more than 1,200 specimens. We find that the anterior proboscis ends in a buccal apparatus containing teeth, the eyes project laterally on a long rigid bar, and the elongate segmented body bears a caudal fin with dorsal and ventral lobes. We describe new evidence for a notochord, cartilaginous arcualia, gill pouches, articulations within the proboscis, and multiple tooth rows adjacent to the mouth. This combination of characters, supported by phylogenetic analysis, identifies Tullimonstrum as a vertebrate, and places it on the stem lineage to lampreys (Petromyzontida). In addition to increasing the known morphological disparity of extinct lampreys, a chordate affinity for T. gregarium resolves the nature of a soft-bodied fossil which has been debated for more than 50 years.

Exposing Ourselves: A Case Study in Collection Management Software Implementation

Article

Apr 2010

Type specimens and type localities of birds (Aves) collected by Eduard Eversmann and Christian Pander during the Negri Expedition to Bukhara in 18201821

Article

Nov 2009

At least nine bird species were described as new to science on the basis of material collected by Eduard Eversmann and Christian Pander during a Russian embassy headed by Aleksandr Negri to Bukhara in 1820–1821. We identified the type specimens and determined the type localities of these species, which are currently housed in natural history museums of Berlin, Germany, and Moskva, Russia. We suggest that, if only two subspecies of Otus brucei are recognized, the larger northern migratory one should be recognized as O. b. brucei (Hume, 1872), and the smaller southern nonmigratory one as O. b. semenowi (Zarudnyj & Härms, 1902), and we show that the name semenowi has been misapplied to the population from the Tarim Basin. We designate a lectotype for the nominal species Scops obsoleta Cabanis.

Historical background in Spain

Chapter

Feb 2018

An Aqueous Treatment for Highly Damaged Manuscripts: Minimising the Risk of Mechanical damage

Article

Jan 2012

A REAPPRAISAL OF TULLIMONSTRUM GREGARIUM

Chapter

Dec 1979

Merrill W. Foster

Tullimonstrum gregarium from the Essex fauna of Illinois is believed to be somewhat less bizarre in morphology than has been suggested by previous studies. The segmentation in fossil specimens appears to be primarily a post-mortem feature related to the break-down of body musculature. The apparent claw at the end of the proboscis is interpreted as either a buccal mass with the buccal cavity exposed or a highly modified bifurcate buccal mass. The stylets or teeth in the buccal mass are somewhat curved and bear a groove on one side. They resemble lateral and marginal radular teeth in molluscs. They may represent parts of a typical radula that was largely lost in fossilization or all of a highly specialized radula without many teeth.

The Tully monster and a new approach to analyzing problematica

Article

Jan 1991

B.S. Beall

Reinvestigation of the Upper Carboniferous problematic Tully monster, Tullimonstrum gregarium, from Illinois, USA, emphasizes that 1) an unequivocal interpretation of the morphology of a fossil often may be unattainable, 2) a combined cladistic-phenetic approach using a phylogenetic computer program permits identifying sister group relationships and testing hypotheses of affinities; and 3) this approach permits classification in a repeatable and testable manner. When alternative interpretations of 21 characters of Tullimonstrum were compared with character states in 13 other OTU's plus an outgroup in preliminary analyses using a phylogenetic computer program, most of the resulting cladograms indicate close affinities with the Conodonta; almost as many corroborate Foster's (1979) hypothesis of a molluscan affinity with Tullimonstrum. -from Author

Basic Techniques for Observing and Studying Moths and Butterflies

Article

Jan 2000

W.D. Winter

Contemporary Insect Diagnostics: The Art and Science of Practical Entomology

Article

Jan 2014

Timothy Gibb

Contemporary Insect Diagnostics aids entomologists as they negotiate the expectations and potential dangers of the practice. It provides the reader with methods for networking with regulatory agencies, expert laboratories, first detectors, survey specialists, legal and health professionals, landscape managers, crop scouts, farmers and the lay public. This enables the practitioner and advanced student to understand and work within this network, critically important in a time when each submission takes on its own specific set of expectations and potential ramifications. Insect diagnosticians must be knowledgeable on pests that affect human health, stored foods, agriculture, structures, as well as human comfort and the enjoyment of life. The identification and protection of the environment and the non-target animals (especially beneficial insects) in that environment is also considered a part of insect diagnostics. Additionally, Integrated Pest Management recommendations must include any of a variety of management tactics if they are to be effective and sustainable. This greatly needed foundational information covers the current principles of applied insect diagnostics. It serves as a quick study for those who are called upon to provide diagnostics, as well as a helpful reference for those already in the trenches. • Includes useful case studies to teach specific points in insect diagnostics • Provides problem-solving guidance and recommendations for insect identification, threat potential, and management tactics, while accounting for the varying needs of the affected population or client • Contains numerous color photos that enhance both applicability and visual appeal, together with accompanying write-ups of the common pests.

Extant Brazilian mammals in scientific collections of Europe: an update. In: 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, 2016, Berlin. Green Museum - How to practice what we preach? 2016 SPNHC Conference.

Abstract

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