TY - JOUR
T1 - Wet collections accession: a workflow based on a large stonefly (Insecta, Plecoptera) donation
AU - DeWalt, R. Edward
AU - Yoder, Matthew
AU - Snyder, Elise A.
AU - Dmitriev, Dmitry
AU - Ower, Geoffrey Donald
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to thank the individual reviewers, panel members, and the program officers at the United States National Science Foundation who recommended funding the accession of these donated specimens. The grant number is presented under the section "Grant title". Without this kind of support many museums and research collections would have to turn away donations. We thank Felipe Soto-Adames (Florida Department of Agriculture, Gainesville) for initial discussion of workflows. We are grateful to Alex Nelson and Kaleb Lukens, both former students at the University of Illinois, who helped to process specimens through this multistage workflow. We also thank Sam Atkinson, Chair of Biological Sciences at the University of North Texas for working out the legal agreement to transfer the K. W. Stewart collection to the INHS. We also thank Barry C. Poulton for the donation of a portion of his collection to the INHS and for providing the detailed location key for his Ozark and Ouachita Mountain material.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 DeWalt R et al. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - This study details a workflow used to accession a large stonefly (Plecoptera) collection resulting from several donations. The eastern North American material of Kenneth W. Stewart (deceased, University of North Texas), the entire collection of Stanley W. Szczytko (deceased, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point), and a small portion of the Barry C. Poulton collection (active, United States Geological Survey, Columbia, Missouri) were donated to the Illinois Natural History Survey in 2013. These 5,767 vials of specimens were processed to help preserve the specimen legacy of these world renowned Plecoptera researchers. The workflow used an industrialized approach to organize the specimens taxonomically, image the specimens and labels, and place the specimens into new storage. Utilizing the images as a verbatim data source, we transcribed labels in iterative steps that yielded more information with each pass. The data were normalized, locations georeferenced, all specimen data formatted to meet Darwin Core Archive format for occurrence data, and a data set created using Pensoft's Integrated Publishing Toolkit. This is the first time that any of the specimen data has been made available electronically. We also provide two important electronic supplements that include the Bill P. Stark (active, Mississippi College) Oklahoma field notebook for 1971 and 1972 detailing locations for many coded stonefly specimens in the Stewart collection, and the coded locations of B. C. Poulton's Arkansas and Missouri study. Again, we have linked coded labels in vials to normalized and georefenced site data. We confirmed 243 stonefly species were contained within the collections, and the potential for many more species exists among the specimens identified to family and genus level. Twenty-one new state, province, and other significant stonefly records are reported herein with all identifications verified by the senior author, often through consultation with other stonefly taxonomists. Researchers are encouraged to utilize the specimen data, form collaborations with the authors, and borrow specimens for research.
AB - This study details a workflow used to accession a large stonefly (Plecoptera) collection resulting from several donations. The eastern North American material of Kenneth W. Stewart (deceased, University of North Texas), the entire collection of Stanley W. Szczytko (deceased, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point), and a small portion of the Barry C. Poulton collection (active, United States Geological Survey, Columbia, Missouri) were donated to the Illinois Natural History Survey in 2013. These 5,767 vials of specimens were processed to help preserve the specimen legacy of these world renowned Plecoptera researchers. The workflow used an industrialized approach to organize the specimens taxonomically, image the specimens and labels, and place the specimens into new storage. Utilizing the images as a verbatim data source, we transcribed labels in iterative steps that yielded more information with each pass. The data were normalized, locations georeferenced, all specimen data formatted to meet Darwin Core Archive format for occurrence data, and a data set created using Pensoft's Integrated Publishing Toolkit. This is the first time that any of the specimen data has been made available electronically. We also provide two important electronic supplements that include the Bill P. Stark (active, Mississippi College) Oklahoma field notebook for 1971 and 1972 detailing locations for many coded stonefly specimens in the Stewart collection, and the coded locations of B. C. Poulton's Arkansas and Missouri study. Again, we have linked coded labels in vials to normalized and georefenced site data. We confirmed 243 stonefly species were contained within the collections, and the potential for many more species exists among the specimens identified to family and genus level. Twenty-one new state, province, and other significant stonefly records are reported herein with all identifications verified by the senior author, often through consultation with other stonefly taxonomists. Researchers are encouraged to utilize the specimen data, form collaborations with the authors, and borrow specimens for research.
KW - digitization
KW - donations
KW - imaging
KW - natural history specimens
KW - wet collections
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071629977&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85071629977&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3897/BDJ.6.e30256
DO - 10.3897/BDJ.6.e30256
M3 - Article
C2 - 30581294
SN - 1314-2828
VL - 6
JO - Biodiversity Data Journal
JF - Biodiversity Data Journal
M1 - e30256
ER -