InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification: Difference between revisions

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[[Category:TCN]]
[[Category:TCN]]
= Digitization TCN: InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification  =
= Digitization TCN: InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification  =
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;"
! colspan="2" style="background:#D58B28;width:200px;font-size:10pt" | Invertnet TCN
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| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;font-size:7pt" | [[File:invertnet.png|center]]
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!colspan="2" style="background:#D58B28;text-align:center;font-size:9pt" | Quick Links
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|[[InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification#Project Summary|Project Summary]]
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|[[InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification#Current Research|Current Research]]
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|[[InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification#Project Website|Project Website]]
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|[[InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification#Collaborators Map|Collaborators Map]]
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== Project Summary  ==
== Project Summary  ==

Revision as of 09:13, 16 October 2015

Digitization TCN: InvertNet: An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification

Invertnet TCN
Invertnet.png
Quick Links
Project Summary
Current Research
Project Website
Collaborators Map

Project Summary

Arthropods (insects, spiders, crabs) are the most diverse and abundant group of macro-organisms in biological collections, but are underrepresented in databases accessible online or elsewhere. This project will centralize access to and synthesize information from 160 years of North American arthropod collections. It will use innovative technology, including optical 3D imaging and reconstruction, to support scientific inquiry on the effects of land use change on biodiversity, and basic research on species discovery and identification. The award will provide IT infrastructure for collection digitization, digitally-assisted curation, and collection management; availability of specimen-level data for scientific inquiry on human impacts on biodiversity; and greater use of and appreciation for scientific collections by non-scientists through access to specimen images and related data.

Current Research

Proposed Research ideas:

  • Effects of land use change on the biota of Upper Midwest US over time, including contractions and expansion of species ranges, phenotypic changes in individual populations, and the associations of these changes with environmental changes, such as shifting agricultural and other land management practices.
  • Responses of biotas of the Upper Midwest US to exotic species introductions.
  • Responses of Upper Midwest US biotas to climate change.
  • Reconstruction of degraded/impacted biotas using baseline data from collections for restoring native invertebrate communities.
  • Impacts of arthropod fauna on the distribution of non-target biota.
  • The main research focus of the InvertNet team over the past year has been on developing robust hardware and efficient workflows for digitizing various kinds of objects deposited in arthropod collections (vials, slides, and pinned specimens). We published a paper in a special volume of the journal ZooKeys (doi: 10.3897/zookeys.209.3571) describing our overall approach, the ultimate goal of which is to achieve the $0.10/specimen cost benchmark established by the overall ADBC program while, at the same time, minimizing the possibility of damage to specimens through excessive handling and obtaining the highest quality of data (images as well as occurrence data from labels) possible. To date, we have tested and implemented workflows for digitizing vials of ethanol-preserved specimens and trays of slide-mounted specimens and collaborators at several InvertNet institutions are using these workflows to digitize their holdings of such materials. We have also tested three different prototype robotic systems for capturing images of whole drawers of pinned specimens. The most recent prototype, based on a four-armed linear delta robot, is in the final stages of testing and we anticipate implementing the system at collaborating institutions beginning later this year. Two graduate students in computer science have so far been involved in developing and testing algorithms that will enable us to create 3D models of drawers of pinned insects, allowing for virtual tilting to reveal details of specimens and labels not visible in a top-down view.

    Project Leadership

    Project Sponsor: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Principal Investigators (PIs): Christopher Dietrich (PI), Umberto Ravaioli (Co-PI), Nahil Sobh (Co-PI), John Hart (Co-PI), Christopher Taylor (Co-PI)

    Collaborating Award PIs: Gregory Zolnerowich, Kansas State University; Anthony Cognato, Michigan State University; Paul Tinerella, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Paul Johnson, South Dakota State University; Daniel Young, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Johannes Klompen, Ohio State University; Jennifer Zaspel, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh; Andrew Short, University of Kansas; Jeffrey Holland, Purdue University; John Rawlins, Carnegie Institute; Robert Sites, University of Missouri, Columbia; Gregory Courtney, Iowa State University; David Rider, North Dakota State University, Fargo

    NSF Award Number

    1115112

    Project Website

    http://invertnet.org/

    Collaborators Map

    https://www.idigbio.org/content/digitization-tcn-invertnet-collaborator-map

    Project Collaborators

    Carnegie Museum of Natural History
    Iowa State University
    Kansas State University
    Michigan State University
    North Dakota State University
    Ohio State University
    Purdue University
    South Dakota State University
    University of Illinois, Natural History Survey
    University of Iowa [PEN]
    University of Kansas
    University of Minnesota
    University of Missouri
    University Wisconsin – Madison
    University Wisconsin – Oshkosh