Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN): Difference between revisions

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The insect collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University holds one of the world's most important collections of grasshoppers. The Academy proposes to digitize and make accessible information associated with approximately 54,000 of its grasshopper specimens from the southwestern United States. These data will benefit the general public and research scientists, as they will facilitate the understanding of grasshopper distribution, the identification of pest species and species new to science, and contribute to understanding how species respond to environmental change. Field notebooks documenting geographic and associated species information will be scanned and made available on the World Wide Web. The notebooks are important beyond the specimen information they contain. They include observations from the early 20th century regarding vegetation, climate, land use, animal communities, native peoples and their life styles. This information potentially informs other disciplines including ecology, history and anthropology. This project establishes a collaborative framework involving Academy researchers, college students, and high school students, including individuals from groups under-represented in STEM, with an interest in the biodiversity sciences.