Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators XXV International Congress of Entomology, September 2016 Nicole Fisher AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL INSECT COLLECTION WWW.CSIRO.AU Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Outline ANIC bee collection & Curation blitz Method for profiling the bee collection Method of resourcing curation & digitisation Methods in our digitisation workflow Occurrence records & distributional data Summary and Future …. Australian National Insect Collection - ANIC Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

ANIC bee collection - holdings Australian material = ~49,000 Overseas material = ~ 2,000 21 cabinets = 210 drawers 424 primary types (~ ¼ of the Australian type material) what did we know? ANIC bee material …. Family No. of drawers No. of specimens Stenotritidae 2 157 Colletidae 45 7,278 Hylaeinae 19 20,495 Halictidae 32 6,724 Apidae 31 12,198 Megachilide 14 2,509 Total 210 ~ 48,964 * * note – overseas material not included in total Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Curation blitz - goals Collection curation : significant progress towards improving levels of curation Collection understanding : unravelling the complexities of bee systematics within this collection will add a few pieces to the puzzle while adding to our understanding of the distribution of bees within Australia. Collection learning : to learn about insect identifications, other important national collections, and approaches to studying the systematics of Australian bees Engage within CSIRO (Ecologists) that depend on collection-based data Michael Batley – Taxonomist Saul Cunningham & lab – Ecologists Wonderful team of ANIC Volunteers Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Curation blitz - outcomes Species inventory (including synonyms) Primary type list of holdings Collection curation profile to help with digitisation Generate occurrence records and distributional data Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Bushblitz – funded project “Enhancing bee research with collections specimen data” Aims : project serve as a showcase that illustrates the cost-efficiency of digitisation processes and the usefulness of digitised data for scientific and/or practical applications make use of cost & time efficient digitisation procedures that can eventually serve as a model for other projects demonstrate how digitised data from species & specimens can be utilised for scientific applications, including important national & international topics & collaborations Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Method for Profiling Entomological Collections evaluate the condition of each collection drawers contents using the McGinley scale * ______________________________________________________________________________________ Lv.1 unlabeled material unsorted material family, subfamily, genus identified to species (or as far as possible) but not incorporated into collection species determined but lacking labels ie header/unit tray labels curation complete - ready for imaging digital capture complete specimen-level data capture complete Lv.2 Lv.3 Lv.4 Lv.5 Lv.6 Lv.7 last 2 levels incorporate digitisation into the specimen curation continuum Lv.8 * McGinley, R.J. 1989. Entomological collection management—Are we really managing? Insect Collection News 2:19–24. McGinley, R.J. 1993. Where’s the management in collections management? Planning for improved care, greater use, and growth of collections. International Symposium & First World Congress on the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections - Volume 3. Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Curation profile - 2014 Curation profile of 167 ANIC bee drawers Lv.1 unlabeled material unsorted material family, subfamily, genus identified to species (or as far as possible) but not incorporated into collection Species determined but lacking labels curation complete - ready for imaging digital capture complete specimen-level data capture complete Lv.1 Lv.2 Lv.3 Lv.4 Lv.5 Lv.6 Lv.7 Lv.8 Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Curation profile – 2014 vs. 2016 Curation profile of 210 ANIC bee drawers a measureable and extensive improvement unlabeled material unsorted material family, subfamily, genus identified to species (or as far as possible) but not incorporated into collection Species determined but lacking labels curation complete - ready for imaging digital capture complete specimen-level data capture complete Lv.1 Lv.2 Lv.3 Lv.4 Lv.5 Lv.6 Lv.7 Lv.8 Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Curation profile - 2016 Curation profile of 210 ANIC bee drawers Lv.1 unlabeled material unsorted material family, subfamily, genus identified to species (or as far as possible) but not incorporated into collection Species determined but lacking labels curation complete - ready for imaging digital capture complete specimen-level data capture complete Lv.1 Lv.2 Lv.3 Lv.4 Lv.5 Lv.6 Lv.7 Lv.8 Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Method of resourcing curation & digitisation Collections now face the challenge of how to resource migration of biological data into the digital world. technician – curation Lv.1 unlabeled material unsorted material family, subfamily, genus identified to species (or as far as possible) but not incorporated into collection species determined but lacking labels ie header curation complete - ready for imaging digital capture complete specimen-level data capture complete Scientist - taxonomy Lv.2 Lv.3 Lv.4 technician – curation volunteer (science) Lv.5 Lv.6 volunteer (conservation) Lv.7 Lv.8 data curator Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Methods in our digitisation workflow Crowd sourced transcriptions & whole drawer imaging part of our digital and database workflow Technology that will support data capture, look to re-design and implement new processes ANIC Tray App generating metrics data tracking drawer completion 3D Specimen Capture Template (SCT) streamlining workflow producing consistent images Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Occurrence records and distributional data Evaluating trends in bees over time, must often rely on the existence of museum records to which modern data can be compared Analyse taxonomic composition, richness & abundance distributions through time, patterns of distribution, research projects using temporal & spatial data from the collections – to investigate diversity patterns appropriate for applications such as conservation planning etc etc   Transcription centre data, specimen records : http://volunteer.ala.org.au/institution/index/5500680 ALA sandbox : http://sandbox.ala.org.au/datacheck/ANICbee Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Summary Curation blitz : significantly raised the standard of collection curation and care Curation profile : profiling a collection is a method used to target digitisation, giving us goals, drawers to focus on moving up the curation chain. Resources : benefits in placing of different skills and capabilities in the curation chain to maximise digitisation outputs Research on ANIC’s bee collection : now have knowledge & data to be able to strength future proposals Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Future Further discovery and exposure of the collection will advance and stimulate native bee research. ~750 Australian bee species still undescribed and with many groups in need of revision, therefore, this project is an important first step in developing improved understanding of Australia’s knowledge of its bee biodiversity. By mobilising images of bees and their associated labels, data from this project will enable future application and/or expansion opportunities …enable a range of research on biodiversity of pollinators in order to make scientific collections increasingly relevant. Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Acknowledgements ANIC Volunteers : Abdul, Krish, Anjugam, Mark, Sam, Alex, Judy, Robert, Frank & Franz Bee researchers : Michael Batley, Ken Walker, Saul Cunningham, Katja Hogendoorn & Remko Leijs CSIRO Collections Digital team : Nunzio Knerr, Margaret Cawsey, Simon Checksfield Bushblitz http://bushblitz.org.au/ Atlas of Living Australia http://www.ala.org.au/ Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

Thank you Nicole Fisher Australian National Insect Collection e nicole.fisher@csiro.au w www.csiro.au/en/Research/Collections/ANIC www.facebook.com/insectcollection/ Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher