Workshop: NEON Bioarchive, Bringing Together the Ecological and Collections Communities

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is to advance the ability of scientists to examine and understand the environment at a continental scale. Specimens and samples that complement automated measurements and observations on the ground will be collected at 34 aquatic and 47 terrestrial sites across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The vast majority of samples and specimens collected by NEON will be held at external facilities that will be responsible for their long-term curation and accessibility for research. Following best practices for collections maximizes the long-term value of the samples, specimens, and data for research, including for addressing questions beyond those presently envisioned. So, it is critical that community efforts leverage best-practices. With support from this award, A two-day workshop will be held in mid-November 2016, at the NEON offices in Boulder, Colorado, to bring together staff of NEON, other representatives of the ecological community, and biodiversity collections experts to address management of samples and data from the time they are collected in the field to curation, digitization, and research use. These guidelines will be broadly applicable to other ecologists planning on providing specimens and digitized data to institutions holding biodiversity collections. The workshop will bring together the ecology and biodiversity collections communities to engender a better understanding by biodiversity collections staff of the goals and scientific value of NEON and a better understanding by NEON of the goals and scientific value of biodiversity collections. Presentations by NEON staff and others selected by NEON will explain the field-collection protocols and methods, strategies and methods for transferring samples and data to Bioarchive institutions, and anticipated use of samples and data. Presentations by collections experts will cover protocols for receiving samples, storing, databasing (to include, as a minimum, taxonomy, locality, date, collectors, habitat and other data provided by ecologists; assignment of unique identifiers), mobilization of data to iDigBio or other data aggregators, making samples and data available from the Bioarchive institutions (including referencing across institutions), attribution, and estimates of the costs of managing samples and data by institutional collections. From the workshop, guidelines and recommended practices for managing samples, specimens, and data in preparation for submission to repositories will be developed and shared across NEON.