Hymenopteran Biodiversity Informatics at the Illinois Natural History Survey

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Dr. Colin Favret for partial support of the digitization of 300,000 specimens of ants, bees, and wasps (Hymenoptera) in the Illinois Natural History Survey insect collection. The Hymenoptera data of interest include the identity, or species name, of each and every specimen, and where and when it was collected. The insects themselves date from throughout the 20th Century and include particularly valuable sets of bees, sawflies, and parasitic wasps, including host and pollen records. All the collection localities in the United States will be researched and assigned latitude and longitude coordinates allowing for easy mapping of species distributions in time and space. Three graduate students will be trained over the course of the project. They will learn the details of collection and data management and have a unique opportunity to work closely with a significant collection of scientific specimens. Visiting entomologists will also be recruited to update the identification of various insect groups, providing them with a hands-on experience that would otherwise be unavailable. Finally, a large number of undergraduate students will be directly involved in data entry. They will gain an appreciation for the significance of the project and learn the basic tools of insect classification. Many will also be involved in ancillary projects such as field collecting, thereby gaining an understanding of the source and significance of the very data they will be working with. Hymenoptera include many groups of economic importance. Many are important as control agents for insect pests of agriculture. Bees are important plant pollinators and ants disperse plant seeds. Over 100 species of ants in the United States are non-native, and two of them, the Argentine and red imported fire ants, alone cost billions annually in damage and control efforts. Other Hymenoptera are of similar economic significance. The data gathered by the project will provide valuable tools for documenting species declines or local extinctions, the historical presence of particular species, changes in species distribution, range expansion of invasive species, for ecological restoration, assessments of biodiversity, and for conservation. All the data gathered by the project will be served on the Internet for free and easy access, and they will be standardized so as to conform to the third-party standards such as those of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.