Towards a Sustainable Management of Insect Collections in the U.S. through the Entomological Collections Management Workshop

Entomological Society Of America, Annapolis MD

Investigators

Abstract

Natural history collections are repositories of biological specimens and their associated information. They document Earth's biodiversity in the past, present, and hold species that are new to science. These collections make invaluable contributions to the classification of organisms, and more broadly to public health and safety and security of natural and agricultural resources. They are also tools for monitoring environmental change that affect the human condition. Entomological collections are especially important because insects represent the most diverse and abundant group of animals. Insects are ubiquitous in our everyday lives, with more than a million species worldwide. Insect collections are organized and maintained only through specialized knowledge and experience of curators and collections managers which has historically passed directly from one curator or collection manager to the next since no formal program existed to do this in a broader, more comprehensive fashion. This generational knowledge transfer is especially amplified at small to medium-sized collections, representing ~70% of all insect collections in the U.S. Despite their size, these collections are often extremely valuable because of strong regional, ecological or geographic foci. Currently, there is no training program available in collections management for insect collections, suggesting that an urgent need exists to develop a comprehensive program in best management practices for small to medium-sized collections. Such a program would also provide a much-needed networking opportunity for collections managers at different career stages and at different sized institutions to interact and share their experience and knowledge. This award supports the first Entomological Collections Management Workshop Series, co-sponsored by the Entomological Collections Network (ECN) and the Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity (SysEB) Section of the Entomological Society of America (ESA). The inaugural workshop is scheduled to take place at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, on July 18-20, 2016, and continue annually thereafter. During the three-day workshop, participants will receive hands-on training in entomological collections management topics including collections management policies, specimen handling, curation, storage, conservation and more. This project will encourage participation of collections managers and students associated with smaller collections with more limited resources for training and collection development. This workshop will especially help the largest and fastest growing segment of underserved groups of students and early career researchers, including females, Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans, by providing opportunities for professional development leading to a higher skilled, technically-trained workforce. The results of this workshop will be posted on the ECN website at http://ecnweb.org/default.asp?Action=Show_Workshop and presented at the ECN annual meeting in Orlando, FL on September 23-24, 2016.