Beth Mantle - Digitisation of insect collections

Transcript

1. An Australian perspective Digitisation of insect collections AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL INSECT

   COLLECTION Beth Mantle | Atlas of Living Australia Symposium 13 June 2013

2. Digitisation of insect collections | Beth Mantle | Page 2

   • Why digitise? • Digitisation in Australian insect collections • The importance of workflow • Imaging methods • Prioritising metadata capture • Using the ALA for data/collection management Talk Outline

3. Digitisation of insect collections | Beth Mantle | Page 3

   • Provide virtual access to specimens and data. • Encourage remote curation of unsorted specimens. • Deliver specimen metadata. • Assist with loan requests. • Provide a method for auditing the collection. • Permit morphometric analysis of specimens. • Encourage public engagement. Why digitise?

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   Current rates of digitisation 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Digitisation rates of Australian entomological collections (data extracted from ALA Collectory 4 June 2013) Records available in ALA Total collection records

5. Australian publishers of insect data Digitisation of insect collections |

   Beth Mantle | Page 5 AM ANIC MV QVMAG QDPC QM SAMA TASAGRIC TMAG WINC VAIC (data collected from ALA Collectory 4 June 2013)

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   How much more to go? digitised 5% undigitised 95%

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   Developing workflow

8. Whole drawer imaging  Provide virtual access to specimens in

   collections.  QM: – Hasselblad + Visionary Digital BK. – Stack shot system. – Resolution = 200 MP  ANIC: – SatScanTM system. – Tile and stitch method. – Up to 60 drawers per day. – Resolution ~ 210 MP Imaging methods Digitisation of insect collections | Beth Mantle | Page 8

9. Holotype imaging  South Australian Museum & CHAEC-ALA Showcase project:

   – Bees and cicadas. – Leica M205 + BK Passport. – Dataset available though the ALA.  ANIC HT imaging underway. Imaging methods Digitisation of insect collections | Beth Mantle | Page 9

10. Bulk sample imaging  Samples collected by malaise traps, flight

    intercept traps etc.  Stored in ethanol.  AM & ANIC: – DSLR on copy stand & SatScan system. – Image tagging useful even at Family level.  Unlocking information: – Diversity at sites. – Record of taxa before destructive analysis. Imaging methods Digitisation of insect collections | Beth Mantle | Page 10

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    In-museum databasing:  Slow.  Resource limited. Images and online repositories:  Flickr & (?) Morphbank.  How to link with in-museum systems?  Avoiding repetition of data entry effort. Placing information access in the hands of the user. Acquiring metadata

12. Not realistic to capture everything: • Taxonomic ID • Locality

    • Collector • Date Combine with specimen/label image – user extracts additional data, e.g. habitat, host species, collector, life stage. Target “themes”: primary types, pollinators, iconic species. Prioritise metadata capture Presentation title | Presenter name | Page 12

13. Presentation title | Presenter name | Page 13 Using the

    ALA for collection management Mount Lewis Bluestreak Lestoidea lewisiana

14. Presentation title | Presenter name | Page 14 Using the

    ALA for collection management

15. Alexis Tindall Paul Flemons Geoff Thompson Nicole Fisher Australian National

    Insect Collection curatorial team Atlas of Living Australia team Acknowledgements Presentation title | Presenter name | Page 15

16. Thank you Australian National Insect Collection Beth Mantle t +61

    2 6246 4281 e beth.mantle@csiro.au w www.csiro.au/anic CSIRO ECOSYSTEM SCIENCES