Biodiversity Outreach Network

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DIGITIZATION TCN: IDIGBEES NETWORK, TOWARDS COMPLETE DIGITIZATION OF US BEE COLLECTIONS TO PROMOTE ECOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH IN A KEYSTONE CLADE -BEES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT POLLINATORS IN BOTH MANAGED AND NATURAL LANDSCAPES, AND CONCERNS ARE QUICKLY GROWING ABOUT DECLINES IN BEE DIVERSITY AND NUMBERS. ONLY A FRACTION OF THE CA. 4,000 KNOWN BEE SPECIES IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE ADEQUATE DATA FOR ASSESSING THEIR PRESENCE OR ABSENCE IN AN ECOSYSTEM. THE IDIGBEES THEMATIC COLLECTIONS NETWORK ADDRESSES THIS PROBLEM BY TRANSCRIBING SPECIMEN LABEL INFORMATION FOR THOUSANDS OF BEE SPECIMENS IN US INSECT COLLECTIONS INTO A SHARED GLOBAL DATABASE. AS A RESULT, BEES WILL BECOME THE FIRST MAJOR INSECT GROUP TO HAVE SPECIMEN DATA SUFFICIENTLY DIGITIZED TO PROMOTE RESEARCH PROJECTS AND SUPPORT CONSERVATION EFFORTS. SPECIFICALLY, THE IDIGBEES PROJECT WILL (1) MAP DISTRIBUTIONS FOR THOUSANDS OF BEE SPECIES AND QUANTIFY PATTERNS OF BEE BIODIVERSITY; (2) IDENTIFY DATA GAPS TO INFORM FUTURE INVENTORY AND MONITORING EFFORTS; (3) REVEAL CHANGES IN SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS OVER TIME THROUGH HISTORIC RECORDS; (4) DOCUMENT THE IMPACTS OF A CHANGING CLIMATE ON BEES; (5) IDENTIFY CRITICAL TAXA AND GEOGRAPHIC AREAS FOR CONSERVATION; AND (6) ESTABLISH A NETWORK OF RESEARCHERS, CONSERVATIONISTS, AND LAND MANAGERS TO RAPIDLY UTILIZE DATA FOR RESEARCH, EDUCATION, PUBLIC POLICY, AND LAND MANAGEMENT. THE EDUCATION PROGRAM WILL COORDINATE AN ARRAY OF EXISTING PROGRAMS AND CREATE A NEW TECHNOLOGY-MEDIATED LEARNING TOOL, SMARTBEES, TO SERVE HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS. OBTAINING SPECIMEN-LEVEL DATA ON US BEE SPECIES AND COMMUNITIES, AND INTEGRATING FINDINGS INTO EDUCATION PROGRAMS, ARE ESSENTIAL STEPS TOWARD ADDRESSING THE POLLINATOR CRISIS. IDIGBEES REPRESENTS AN IN-DEPTH INSECT BIODIVERSITY DIGITIZATION INITIATIVE THAT WILL MOBILIZE AT LEAST 350,000 BEE SPECIMEN RECORDS, AND 6,600 HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGE SUITES. OBTAINING SPECIMEN-LEVEL DATA ON US BEE SPECIES AND COMMUNITIES IS AN ESSENTIAL STEP TOWARD ADDRESSING THE POLLINATOR CRISIS. VIA THE NOVEL NETWORKS PROPOSED HERE, SPECIES DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS AND ?EXTENDED SPECIMEN? DATA WILL EMERGE, LEADING TO TESTABLE HYPOTHESES AS TO UNDERLYING MECHANISMS AND PREDICTIONS ON HOW BEES WILL RESPOND TO FUTURE GLOBAL CHANGES. INTEGRATED DATA WILL ALSO SHED LIGHT ON HOW PARTICULAR LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS RESPOND TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. IDIGBEES WILL HELP TO HIGHLIGHT CANDIDATE POLLINATOR RESTORATION OPTIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL, URBAN, AND OTHER MANAGED LANDSCAPES. THIS PROJECT, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH RESEARCHERS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, WILL PROVIDE OPEN-SOURCE DATASETS FOR POLICY, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATION. THE IDIGBEES MODEL WILL BE PROMOTED THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA AND OTHER CONTINENTS TO FOSTER DEEP GLOBAL DIGITIZATION?. THE IDIGBEES NETWORK INTEGRATES EDUCATIONAL AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES TO WORK WITH THE BIODIVERSITY LITERACY IN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION (BLUE) RCN TO BUILD AND IMPLEMENT NOVEL BIODIVERSITY DATA-CENTRIC OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES THAT PROMOTE STUDENT-ORIENTED LEARNING. SMARTBEES WILL SERVE AS A DIGITAL PLATFORM FEATURING LEARNING MODULES DESIGNED TO SERVE CULTURALLY DIVERSE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO ARE TRANSITIONING INTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE AS WELL AS FIRST YEAR UNDERGRADUATES. BUILDING ON THE EXTENDED SPECIMEN MODEL EXEMPLARY DIGITAL BEE SPECIMENS WILL TEACH STUDENTS HOST PLANT RELATIONSHIPS, KEY EVOLUTIONARY CONCEPTS AND THE IMPORTANT ROLE POLLINATORS HAVE IN SUSTAINING THE BIODIVERSITY OF OUR PLANET. 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.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ABI DEVELOPMENT: SYMBIOTA2: ENABLING GREATER COLLABORATION AND FLEXIBILITY FOR MOBILIZING BIODIVERSITY DATA -BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE AMASSED OVER 500 MILLION SPECIMENS BUT ONLY 14% OF THESE HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED; THUS WE NEED TO GREATLY EXPAND EXISTING TOOLS AND METHODS TO EFFICIENTLY DIGITIZE SPECIMEN DATA. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THIS NEED BY TRANSFORMING SYMBIOTA, ONE OF THE MOST WIDELY USED SOFTWARE PLATFORMS FOR MOBILIZING SPECIMENS IN US RESEARCH COLLECTIONS. SYMBIOTA IS AN ONLINE BIODIVERSITY DATA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE PLATFORM THAT INTEGRATES DATA AND IMAGES FROM NETWORKS OF DATA PROVIDERS. IT HAS HELPED MOBILIZE OVER 37 MILLION SPECIMEN RECORDS FROM 766 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS AND IS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PLATFORMS FOR CREATING LARGE COLLABORATIVE DATA COMMUNITIES FOR SHARING AND DISPLAYING BIODIVERSITY DATA. SYMBIOTA IS USED BY 74% OF THE PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE NSF ADVANCING DIGITIZATION OF BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS PROGRAM AND IS THUS A KEY PLATFORM TO HELP DIGITIZE THE ESTIMATED 430 MILLION SPECIMENS IN US COLLECTIONS THAT HAVE YET TO BE DIGITIZED. SYMBIOTA'S SUCCESS IS LARGELY DUE TO ITS LOW LEARNING CURVE AND POWERFUL SET OF TOOLS FOR DOCUMENTING SPECIES OCCURRENCES AND INTEGRATING THEM WITH IMAGES AND DETAILED TAXONOMIC DESCRIPTIONS. BUT ITS WIDESPREAD USE HAS YIELDED SIGNIFICANT FEEDBACK ON HOW IT COULD BE MADE MORE EFFECTIVE. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS AND AID ITS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT, SYMBIOTA NEEDS A FUNDAMENTAL RESTRUCTURING. THIS PROJECT WILL TRANSFORM SYMBIOTA INTO A NEW VERSION, SYMBIOTA2, TO CATALYZE CONTRIBUTIONS, EXPAND RESEARCH USE, ENRICH EDUCATION-OUTREACH ACTIVITIES, AND INCREASE SUSTAINABILITY. SYMBIOTA2 WILL ENHANCE OUR ABILITY TO ADDRESS A BROAD SPECTRUM OF BIODIVERSITY-RELATED RESEARCH QUESTIONS BY FACILITATING DATA VISUALIZATION, LINKING MULTIPLE DATA SOURCES (E.G., PUBLICATIONS), CREATING BETTER TOOLS FOR DATA QUALITY ASSESSMENT, AND MONITORING DATA USAGE. THE TRANSFORMATION OF SYMBIOTA INTO SYMBIOTA2 WILL COMPLETELY REFACTOR ITS CODE STRUCTURE TO EMPHASIZE MODULARITY AND IMPROVE USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY. THIS TRANSFORMATION WILL ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING GOALS, DERIVED THROUGH DIRECT MANAGEMENT OF SYMBIOTA DATA PORTALS AND CONCERTED AND DEDICATED INTERACTIONS WITH THE SYMBIOTA USER COMMUNITY: 1) PROVIDE RESTFUL WEB SERVICES SO THAT DATA CAN BE EASILY INCORPORATED INTO A SCIENTIFIC WORKFLOW, 2) BUILD A PLUGIN ARCHITECTURE TO EASE THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW FEATURES, 3) CREATE A DATABASE ABSTRACTION LAYER TO INCLUDE A WIDE VARIETY OF BACKEND DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, 4) INCREASE DATA UTILITY BY SUPPORTING ANALYTICAL AND VISUALIZATION TOOLS, 5) SEPARATE THE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) FROM OTHER PROCESSING SO THAT NEW GUIS CAN BE USED, AND 6) ENHANCE THE DATA COLLECTION BY MAKING IT EASIER TO ADD NEW KINDS OF DATA AND WORK OFFLINE. WITH THESE GOALS MET, SYMBIOTA2 WILL BE A POWERFUL BIODIVERSITY DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FULFILLING THE NEEDS OF DEVELOPERS, DATA PROVIDERS, RESEARCHERS, AND EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS, AS WELL AS BEING INTEROPERABLE WITH OTHER BIODIVERSITY INITIATIVES. PLEASE VISIT THE PROJECT'S HOME PAGE AT SYMBIOTA.ORG TO LEARN MORE. 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.