Cyberization of the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum Collections

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This award will support databasing and imaging at the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum (LSAM) and consolidation of data from five additional arthropod collections. Products will include an online database of arthropod diversity that will serve as a taxonomic identification tool useful throughout the southern United States. Data representing ~500,000 specimens will become available online via SilverCollections software. SilverCollections harvests data from the LSAM Specify database and posts it to the internet in a DarwinCore-compliant format. Features include a taxonomy, checklist and image browser, autocomplete smart filters, real time search engine, biodiversity comparison charts, Google distribution maps, and BioGeomancer approximations. Data entry and imaging will be accomplished by undergraduates trained by a Research Associate and Principal Investigators. The workflow procedure is a lockstep plan that permits simplified training, data entry, and quality control. Taxonomy, locality, and collection event data are entered, and images are produced by different students responsible for those tasks. Products are checked and integrated into Specify before being posted online. Migration of data to the internet enables the global community to benefit from the wealth of data contained within the LSAM. Our system puts arthropod names and images on the web and makes taxonomic, geographic, and habitat information instantly available. Having these materials available online will save thousands of work-hours in problem diagnoses. Interacting with the public and other user groups through a database rather than the time-consuming method of finding specimens and checking labels makes fiscal sense. Louisiana has a rich mosaic of natural ecosystems, many of which are threatened or have undergone dramatic declines. Data concerning the state?s fauna and habitats will transition from obscurity to universal accessibility through implementation of an interactive, web-based inventory. Funding provided by this grant will educate students in curation, web-based data management, and the science of entomology. The Louisiana State Arthropod Museum can be found at http://www.entomology.lsu.edu/lsam/.