From Small to Big…Gail KampmeierIllinois Natural History SurveyUniversity of [email protected]
How to Capitalize on Small ContributionsSmall Contributions to the
Big Dreams of Sharing Biodiversity
InformationSmall Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small ContributionsSmall Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Small Contributions
Low-Hanging Fruit
Amidst the grand initiatives & prospects of quickly & easily gathering data from the big players and data providers, the needs of individual and small group contributors of biodiversity information have been neglected.
Beyond the Low-Hanging Fruit
Small contributors represent Taxon specialists
high quality data from current revisions
Producers of agricultural datasetsLongterm & purpose driven studies, but often a mixture of observations & voucher specimensOften ignored when thinking about "biodiversity"
Compilers of geographically-based floral & faunal inventoriesMany museum collections with lots of specimens & little support to digitize them
Once collections have an online presence, there is a greater chance of improving the collection through loans.
The Harvest:
Rich content that could be used for a variety of high quality analyses from the local to the global levels
Contributing towards informed decisions for sustainable use of our biotic resources
Consequences of climate change
Predicting threatened & endangered species
Predicting outbreaks of pests & invasions of new species
Mapping distributionsAid in producing monographsPlanning targeted expeditionsHypothesis testing
DistributionsTaxa - expectations
Ecosystems - changes in composition over time
Phylogenies
Promise for the Promise for the TaxonomistTaxonomist
Diptera Biodiversity Synthesis Center Meeting Survey
19/24 have specimen databases13/24 have Diptera specimen databases4/24 serve data to GBIF (now 5!)Many who do not serve data to GBIF hope to do so in the future, but most did not have a timeline or it was dependent upon their institutions.
Cultural Differences
Taxonomy is not a service culture but a hypothesis-driven science
Taxonomists do identifications as a service, but this is not a taxonomist's reason for beingSharing is not a top priorityAlthough strong incentives exist for sharing in grant proposal justification, professional penalties for delivering information prematurely or spending too much time on identifications can outweigh the incentivesFewer & fewer positions for taxonomists available
Sharing is GoodNeed to help support those with limited IT (information technology) resourcesNeed to work together so that information is entered once for reuse/sharing elsewhere
Biodiversity Information Standards developed by TDWG
Cultivate a culture of sharing of data for the common good
Taxonomic disciplineSociety
What this Symposium Addresses
How to mobilize mobilize contentcontent of smaller providers
What this Symposium Addresses
Challenges for infrastructure infrastructure developmentdevelopment & grassroots grassroots participationparticipation in global effortsglobal efforts
Be thinking about…
What innovative ways can we envision for encouraging more contributions from the yet untasted fruit at the top of the tree?
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