June 2016 Biodiversity Spotlight
Horse-face Loaches (Acantopsis)
This fish specimen is Acantopsis thiemmedhi. The specimen is about five inches long, and comes from the Wang River in Thailand. Photo by Zachary S. Randall.
This fish specimen is Acantopsis thiemmedhi. The specimen is about five inches long, and comes from the Wang River in Thailand. Photo by Zachary S. Randall.
Photo courtesy of Phil Colclough
A Leopard Shark (Triakis semifasciata) was found in Samish Bay, Washington, making it the northern-most record for this species
This specimen comes from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (YPM). It was collected in 1929 by HR Mooney and donated to the YPM in 1930.
Image Courtesy of Gil Nelson: Florida Flame Azalea (Rhododendron austrinum) and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
iDigBio's Jillian Goodwin and Molly Phillips traveled to St. Marks, Florida, to participate in the League of Environmental Educators (LEEF) Conference at COAST Charter School from March 18-20, 2016.
iDigBio will be celebrating Earth Day at the Florida Museum, which will be hosting hands-on activities and a large pollinator-friendly plant sale. Check the Florida Museum website for the latest information as the Museum prepares for a better Earth Day celebration than ever before.
During its inaugural year, the Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections Event, WeDigBio 2015, engaged thousands of citizen scientists from >50 countries in transcribing specimen labels over four days.
Title: Make the Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio) Event an Exciting Part of your Institution’s Education and Outreach Activities
Moderator: Austin Mast (FSU Associate Professor)
Presenters: Libby Ellwood (FSU Post-Doctoral Researcher), and Paul Kimberly (NMNH Digitization Manager)
Date: February 17, 2016
Time: 12 -1 pm EDT
Location: http://idigbio.adobeconnect.com/eo
WiSE Girlz Science Camp is happening March 21-25, 2016.
For Whom: up to 12 selected 6th and 7th grader middle school girls
What: experience exciting real-world science during spring break and become science advocates in the community.
Cost: $10 per day fee, financial aid available to cover the $50.
The Education and Outreach Working Group and the Small Collections Network are collaborating on this webinar with the goal to increase awareness of WeDigBio 2016 in small collections across the country.
Title: A Small-collections On-Ramp for Participation in the 2016 Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio) Event
Presenter: Austin Mast (Florida State University, iDigBio)
The Education and Outreach Working Group is organizing a series of webinars on E&O related topics for 2016. The purpose of the series will be to share resources, tools, and expertise centered on E&O activities for ADBC partners and the collections community.
This is the fifth webinar in the series.
Title: Connecting Students to Citizen Science and Curated Collections: www.collectionseducation.org
Image courtesy of Jim Kuhn
The Education and Outreach Working Group is organizing a series of webinars on E&O related topics for 2016. The purpose of the series will be to share resources, tools, and expertise centered on E&O activities for ADBC partners and the collections community.
This is the third webinar in the series.
Title: iPlant's DNA Subway
Presenter: Jason Williams, Education, Outreach & Training (EOT) Lead for iPlant
The Education and Outreach Working Group is organizing a series of webinars on E&O related topics for 2016. The purpose of the series will be to share resources, tools, and expertise centered on E&O activities for ADBC partners and the collections community.
This is the second webinar in the series.
Title: Social Media and Telepresence to Engage the Public
The Education and Outreach Working Group Spring Meeting will take place February 8, 2016, from 2:30 pm until 4:00 pm EDT.
The meeting will be be held virtually using Adobe Connect
http://idigbio.adobeconnect.com/eo
Meeting Agenda will be posted soon.
Learn more about the E&O Working Group by visiting the Wiki. Email mphillips@flmnh.ufl.edu to join the working group.
by Shelley James
Speaker: Austin Mast
Abstract: Citizen Science is public engagement in scientific research. This engagement enables data collection at unprecedented scales to address pressing scientific and social challenges while offering new ways to boost science literacy. See how two citizen science projects—online transcription of label data from historical museum specimens and neighborhood observations of present day diversity—generate valuable data and provide complementary activities for addressing biodiversity topics in the classroom.
Hundreds of volunteers around the world transcribed >30,000 specimen labels at 25 events over four days (Oct 22–25, 2015) in the first Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio) event. Events spanned a range of formal and informal education venues, from middle-school and undergraduate science classrooms to county libraries to museums, universities, and botanical gardens, such as the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural H