Symposium: Utility of Museum Collections IRoom: Ballroom 111B2022-07-31 08:00 - 09:30 |
| Moderator: Hank Bart |
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1. 08:00 The special significance of regional fish collections for long-term ecological and environment research. Henry Bart*, Tulane University hbartjr@tulane.edu
Biological research collections are most appreciated as resources for systematics and taxonomic research. Regionally focused collections also serve these purposes but have even greater significance for the roles they can play in long-term, ecological and environmental research. Curators of regional collections tend to focus more on local and regional biota in their sampling and tend to archive large numbers of specimens from the same communities over multiple decades. Such collections, matched with existing environmental data, provide a resource for exploring connections between environmental disturbance and ecosystem responses. This presentation will explore the role samples from regional fish collections, amassed since the start of the Green Revolution and involving intensive sampling of regional fish faunas, can play in research on changes in stream fish communities and ecosystems resulting from environmental changes over the past 70 years. Information on sampling repetitiveness, sampling time frames and holdings of the most abundantly collected species will summarized for fish collections from the following institutions: the University of New Mexico, Museum of Southwest Biology; University of Illinois Natural History Survey; Tulane University; University of Alabama; University of Kansas; and University of Michigan. Examples of the kind of research the samples can be involved in will be discussed. |
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2. 08:15 Long-term ecological research enabled by regional biodiversity collections, stable isotope analysis, and environmental informatics. Thomas Turner*, University of New Mexico tsquare.turner@gmail.com
Biodiversity collections are experiencing a renaissance fueled by the intersection of informatics, emerging technologies, and the extended specimen. In this talk, we explore the enormous potential for transformative research in ecology using biodiversity collections, stable isotope analysis (SIA), and environmental informatics. Like DNA, SIA provides a fundamental ‘currency’ interpreted in the context of biogeochemical and ecological principles. Integration and extension of specimens across regional biodiversity collections allows for evaluation of ecological change at decadal and continent-wide scales. We also discuss important challenges to SIA research in this context, including analysis of sparse samples, lack of isotopic baselines, and preservative effects. Key to harnessing the power of SIA is a centralized, searchable repository for isotopic data that links to digitized biodiversity data. The IsoBank Database Project is developing this resource to capitalize on big data analytics that interfaces with long-term environmental databases. The general framework could be further developed and explored in a research program that interfaces ecological observatory networks like NEON. We propose that the time is right to marshal biodiversity collections to provide important historical context to fundamental questions in freshwater ecological research, baselines for ecosystem monitoring following disturbance, and a quantitative means for assessing effects of ecosystem restoration. |
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3. 08:30 Exploiting long-term environmental data for retrospective analyses and forecasting. Frank McCormick*, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station fhm.usfs@gmail.com
We live in the Age of Data. With advances in remote sensing technology, data-intensive cloud computing, and modern statistics, analyses of large data sets allow exploration of important ecological questions associated with species distributions, differences between fundamental and realized niches, and species interactions along disturbance and climate gradients. Data science approaches facilitate inquiry across diverse physical, chemical and biological disciplines on the effects of changing climate, anthropogenic stressors, and natural disturbance regimes on biodiversity. Environmental data from lotic systems are not as widely available as from terrestrial systems, but a robust field-based data collection infrastructure and more-recent advances in environmental informatics resources now provide a reasonable amount of information for spatially and temporally robust analyses of lotic species distributions and diversity. To make effective use of the historical nature of natural history collections, relevant environmental data must be available and transparent so that they can support effective analyses of spatial and temporal patterns in isotopic data. Recent computational advances have provided the opportunity to develop watershed- to global-scale models that estimate river flows, water temperatures, sediment, and nutrients in riverine systems. One appeal of these models is forecasting and retrospective characterization of freshwater environmental conditions across spatially contiguous areas to identify trends and change points within and beyond the observational record and can be used to tease apart co-occurring and frequently compounding factors influencing freshwater habitat quality, such as land cover change and climate change. |
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4. 08:45 Exploring Niche Overlap Between Native and Invasive Cyprinodontid Fishes: Using Museum Specimens to Complement Contemporary Surveys. Carmen G Montana*, Stephen F Austin State University; Erin Shepta, Stephen F Austin State University; Kevin Mayes, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department car1607@gmail.com
Refining the mechanisms associated with the coexistence of invasive species is important to understand the impact of invasions on recipient communities. We used fish specimens from museum collections and field surveys to examine multiple dimensions of the niche of native Texas Cyprinodontids (Cyprinodon rubrofluviatilis and Fundulus zebrinus) and their invasive congeners (C. variegates and F. grandis) in the Brazos River in Texas. Morphological analyses, stable isotope analysis (carbon-?13C and nitrogen-?15N), and stomach contents analysis were used to make inferences about the potential for niche overlap between native and invasive species. A PCA of morphological traits suggested some overlap in morphological space occupied by the two Cyprinodon species, but no overlap between the two Fundulus species. However, high overlap on dietary and isotopic niche space was observed between the two Cyprinodon and two Fundulus species. Values of ?13C and ?15N ratios revealed that the native and invasive Cyprinodon species occupied virtually identical isotopic niches, while Fundulusshowed only slight differences. While species differed in their morphological niche space, similarities in the feeding ecology between Cyprinodontid congeners may cause antagonistic interactions between these two species. Divergence in morphologies but similarities in their dietary niches may play a role in mediating coexistence of the invaders and their congeners. |
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5. 09:00 Coupling historical survey data and museum specimens to understand changing ecological patterns. Hernán López-Fernández*, University of Michigan; Karen M Alofs, University of Michigan; Katelyn BS King, University of Michigan; Michael Lenard, University of Michigan; Justin Schell, University of Michigan; Randal Singer, University of Michigan; Kevin Wehrly, Michigan Department of Natural Resources; Andrea K Thomer, University of Michigan hlopezf@umich.edu
Freshwater biodiversity faces multiple, interacting and increasingly pervasive stressors ranging from climate change to habitat degradation, to invasive species. Museum specimens are regularly used to capture genotypic and phenotypic changes in organisms through ecological and evolutionary time, and to identify altered trophic interactions, shifting species distributions and other patterns through time. However, the potential of collections and other sources of environmental information for long-term ecological research remain incompletely explored. Collection specimens are often linked to environmental, sampling, and management records in collections and natural resource agencies as archived data essential to interpret ecological changes. Unfortunately, such data are rarely captured in usable formats in museum catalogs and databases. We present a case study combining over a century of surveys by a partnership between the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and Herbarium. We share a number of considerations we have found important for capturing and using archived historical data that are associated with museum specimens. We used a community science approach which engages interested stakeholders, public, and educational audiences to digitize and access historical data for Michigan lakes. We discuss five key-steps to guide similar projects: 1) assessing data and preparing images, 2) workflow development, 3) community engagement and data capture, 4) data curation, and 5) data archiving. Pairing historical records with museum specimens promises to reveal ecological patterns which can clarify the impacts of environmental changes on biodiversity over recent history and refine our predictions for the future. |
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6. 09:15 Extended specimens: Stable isotopes, long-term datasets, and vouchered Ichthyology collections. Andrew Bentley*, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas abentley@ku.edu
Specimens have long been viewed as critical to research in the natural sciences because each specimen captures the phenotype (and often the genotype) of a particular individual at a particular point in space and time. Through a recent focus on digitization, a growing wealth of specimens is now represented by FAIR “digital specimens”. These can be extended, and made more valuable for research, by linking derivatives (CT scans, images, DNA sequences, isotopes, parasites, etc.), and associated specimen-independent and model-based datasets (e.g., taxonomic, conservation, bioclimate, remote sensing images, traditional knowledge, genome annotations) to the specimen. These connections are facilitated through persistent identifiers. Linking to associated specimens both within and between disciplines and across temporal space allows for a powerful new understanding of coevolution, pathogen range expansion and host shifts, food webs, predators, and multi-trophic interactions. Derived data linked to associated vouchers increases information richness, density, and robustness, strengthening validation through linked independent data and thus, improving taxonomic and geographic confidence and associated risk assessment. Media or vocalizations may capture information otherwise lost during preservation, while genomic data allows for studies of genotype-phenotype connections. Linked data will also facilitate fact-based decision-making and forecasting in conservation, sustainable management, and policymaking. This presentation will explore the social and technological issues and implications in the context of long-term, vouchered ichthyology specimens and datasets and their impact on land use and environmental change monitoring using Isotope and related data. Potential solutions for handling lot-based ichthyology cataloging will also be highlighted. |