Digitization PEN: Integration of data from the UNH Insect Collection with LepNet.

University Of New Hampshire, Durham NH

Investigators

Abstract

An award is made University of New Hampshire for the Don Chandler Entomological Collection (UNHC) to establish a Partner to Existing Networks (PEN) collaboration with the Lepidoptera of North America Thematic Collection Network (LepNet TCN). The LepNet TCN unlocks data from North American Lepidoptera holdings across the US that provides a baseline to track changes in species and communities, and to correlate them with climate and other human-related changes in the environment. This PEN will complement the Lepnet TCN by adding underrepresented historic New England moths and butterflies including species from the unique pitch pine / scrub oak ecosystems. The project will increase the number of currently digitized New England species in LepNet by 63 percent and the number of digitized specimens by 40 percent. Data from this project will be made available on the LepNet portal for the research community, government agencies, students, educators, and the general public. Undergraduate students will be trained in all aspects of nature history collection curation. The general public will be engaged through Bioblitz and annual Open Day events at UNHC, which includes yearly tours for visually impaired students. The 700,000 specimens of the historical and taxonomically important holdings of the Don Chandler Entomological Collection (UNHC) have been partially inaccessible to researchers and the general public, and digitization effort will increase research and public access. During this project students and technicians will image and transcribe the label information of 50,000 specimens, generate 35,000 specimen images and create the dorsal and z-stack image sets of the dorsal and ventral sides of 15,000 microlepidoptera specimens using a Macropod imaging system. This project will utilize a new, cell phone-based imaging workflow that increases the speed and accuracy of the digitization of entomological collections. Locality data for 30,000 specimens will also be georeferenced. Undergraduate students will be trained throughout this process and data recorded during this project will be integrated into undergraduate courses at the University of New Hampshire to model changes in distribution of Lepidoptera. The UNHC will display results from the proposed project in 3 public exhibits at the Spaulding Life Science Complex. Data produced by this project will be shared through the LepNet portal, iDigBio.org, and GBIF.org. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.