1. Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators
XXV International Congress of Entomology, September 2016
Nicole Fisher
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL INSECT COLLECTION
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

2. Outline ANIC bee collection & Curation blitz
Method for profiling the bee collection
Method of resourcing curation & digitisation
Methods in our digitisation workflow
Occurrence records & distributional data
Summary and Future ….
Australian National Insect Collection - ANIC
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

3. ANIC bee collection - holdings
Australian material = ~49,000
Overseas material = ~ 2,000
21 cabinets = 210 drawers
424 primary types
(~ ¼ of the Australian type material)
what did we know? ANIC bee material ….
Family
No. of drawers
No. of specimens
Stenotritidae 2
157
Colletidae 45
7,278
Hylaeinae 19
20,495
Halictidae 32
6,724
Apidae 31
12,198
Megachilide 14
2,509
Total
210
~ 48,964 *
* note – overseas material not included in total
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

4. Curation blitz - goals
Collection curation : significant progress towards improving levels of curation
Collection understanding : unravelling the complexities of bee systematics within this collection will add a few pieces to the puzzle while adding to our understanding of the distribution of bees within Australia.
Collection learning : to learn about insect identifications, other important national collections, and approaches to studying the systematics of Australian bees
Engage within CSIRO (Ecologists) that depend on collection-based data
Michael Batley – Taxonomist
Saul Cunningham & lab – Ecologists
Wonderful team of ANIC Volunteers
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

5. Curation blitz - outcomes
Species inventory (including synonyms)
Primary type list of holdings
Collection curation profile to help with digitisation
Generate occurrence records and distributional data
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

6. Bushblitz – funded project
“Enhancing bee research with collections specimen data”
Aims :
project serve as a showcase that illustrates the cost-efficiency of digitisation processes and the usefulness of digitised data for scientific and/or practical applications
make use of cost & time efficient digitisation procedures that can eventually serve as a model for other projects
demonstrate how digitised data from species & specimens can be utilised for scientific applications, including important national & international topics & collaborations
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

7. Method for Profiling Entomological Collections
evaluate the condition of each collection drawers contents using the McGinley scale *
______________________________________________________________________________________
Lv.1
unlabeled material
unsorted material
family, subfamily, genus
identified to species (or as far as possible) but not incorporated into collection
species determined but lacking labels ie header/unit tray labels
curation complete - ready for imaging
digital capture complete
specimen-level data capture complete
Lv.2
Lv.3
Lv.4
Lv.5
Lv.6
Lv.7
last 2 levels incorporate digitisation into the specimen curation continuum
Lv.8
* McGinley, R.J Entomological collection management—Are we really managing? Insect Collection News 2:19–24.
McGinley, R.J Where’s the management in collections management? Planning for improved care, greater use, and growth of collections. International Symposium & First World Congress on the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections - Volume 3.
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

8. Curation profile - 2014 Curation profile of 167 ANIC bee drawers Lv.1
unlabeled material
unsorted material
family, subfamily, genus
identified to species (or as far as possible)
but not incorporated into collection
Species determined but lacking labels
curation complete - ready for imaging
digital capture complete
specimen-level data capture complete
Lv.1
Lv.2
Lv.3
Lv.4
Lv.5
Lv.6
Lv.7
Lv.8
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

9. Curation profile – 2014 vs. 2016
Curation profile of 210 ANIC bee drawers
a measureable and extensive improvement
unlabeled material
unsorted material
family, subfamily, genus
identified to species (or as far as possible)
but not incorporated into collection
Species determined but lacking labels
curation complete - ready for imaging
digital capture complete
specimen-level data capture complete
Lv.1
Lv.2
Lv.3
Lv.4
Lv.5
Lv.6
Lv.7
Lv.8
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

10. Curation profile - 2016 Curation profile of 210 ANIC bee drawers Lv.1
unlabeled material
unsorted material
family, subfamily, genus
identified to species (or as far as possible)
but not incorporated into collection
Species determined but lacking labels
curation complete - ready for imaging
digital capture complete
specimen-level data capture complete
Lv.1
Lv.2
Lv.3
Lv.4
Lv.5
Lv.6
Lv.7
Lv.8
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

11. Method of resourcing curation & digitisation
Collections now face the challenge of how to resource migration of biological data into the digital world.
technician –
curation
Lv.1
unlabeled material
unsorted material
family, subfamily, genus
identified to species (or as far as possible) but not incorporated into collection
species determined but lacking labels ie header
curation complete - ready for imaging
digital capture complete
specimen-level data capture complete
Scientist - taxonomy
Lv.2
Lv.3
Lv.4
technician –
curation
volunteer (science)
Lv.5
Lv.6
volunteer (conservation)
Lv.7
Lv.8
data
curator
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

12. Methods in our digitisation workflow
Crowd sourced transcriptions & whole drawer imaging
part of our digital and database workflow
Technology that will support
data capture, look to re-design
and implement new processes
ANIC Tray App
generating metrics data
tracking drawer completion
3D Specimen Capture Template (SCT)
streamlining workflow
producing consistent images
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

13. Occurrence records and distributional data
Evaluating trends in bees over time, must often rely on the existence of museum records to which modern data can be compared
Analyse taxonomic composition, richness & abundance distributions through time, patterns of distribution, research projects using temporal & spatial data from the collections – to investigate diversity patterns appropriate for applications such as conservation planning etc etc
Transcription centre data, specimen records :
ALA sandbox :
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

14. Summary
Curation blitz : significantly raised the standard of collection curation and care
Curation profile : profiling a collection is a method used to target digitisation, giving us goals, drawers to focus on moving up the curation chain.
Resources : benefits in placing of different skills and capabilities in the curation chain to maximise digitisation outputs
Research on ANIC’s bee collection : now have knowledge & data to be able to strength future proposals
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

15. Future
Further discovery and exposure of the collection will advance and stimulate native bee research.
~750 Australian bee species still undescribed and with many groups in need of revision, therefore, this project is an important first step in developing improved understanding of Australia’s knowledge of its bee biodiversity.
By mobilising images of bees and their associated labels, data from this project will enable future application and/or expansion opportunities
…enable a range of research on biodiversity of pollinators in order to make scientific collections increasingly relevant.
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

16. Acknowledgements ANIC Volunteers :
Abdul, Krish, Anjugam, Mark, Sam, Alex, Judy, Robert, Frank & Franz
Bee researchers :
Michael Batley, Ken Walker, Saul Cunningham, Katja Hogendoorn & Remko Leijs
CSIRO Collections Digital team :
Nunzio Knerr, Margaret Cawsey, Simon Checksfield
Bushblitz
Atlas of Living Australia
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher

17. Thank you Nicole Fisher Australian National Insect Collectione w
Data capture methodologies in digitization of bee pollinators | Nicole Fisher