TITLE: Digitization PEN: Integration of data from the Triplehorn Insect Collection with the Southwestern Collections of Arthropods Network.
Norman Johnson (Principal Investigator) & Luciana Musetti (Co-Principal Investigator)
Star Date: July 1, 2015
End Date: June 30, 2019
ABSTRACT: This project will capture and disseminate data on the geographic distribution, species diversity, and life history for two important indicator groups of animals: the darkling beetles and ground beetles. These data will be acquired from collections made over the past 70 years from Texas to southern California by faculty and staff of the Ohio State University. Information will be transcribed from the individual labels on 80 thousand specimens and uploaded into publicly accessible databases. The project is a partnership with an existing project, the Southwestern Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN), and will more than double the available data for these targeted groups of beetles.
Dramatic changes in the American Southwest over the past century has resulted in greater pressure for resources, particularly water. Past and future changes will be visible as alterations in the community of plants and animals of the region. This project seeks to add data that fills critical gaps in the SCAN TCN project for two families, Tenebrionidae and Carabidae, of beetles. These data will be a major contribution to monitoring and assessing environmental changes in the region and their effects on biological diversity. This award is made as part of the National Resource for Digitization of Biological Collections through the Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program and all data resulting from this award will be available through the national resource (iDigBio.org).
RESULTS: