Transcript iDigBio: The National Resource for Advancing Digitization of

What is iDigBio?
Join the effort!
 Become a Partner to an Existing Network (PEN). Submitting new proposals to partner with and
further the efforts of ongoing NSF-funded TCNs is encouraged. New partners must increase the
number of specimens digitized in the ongoing project. Priority will be given to proposals that improve
efficiency of the digitization process.
iDigBio, Integrated Digitized Biocollections, is the National Resource funded by the National Science Foundation
for Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections (ADBC). Through iDigBio, data and images for millions of
biological specimens are being curated, connected and made available in electronic format for the biological
research community, government agencies, students, educators, and the general public. The (iDigBio) HUB is
based at the University of Florida (UF), in partnership with Florida State University (FSU).
 iDigBio involves the development of a permanent and powerful cloud computing infrastructure to link
biological specimen data and images from collections across the United States into a single unified web
interface, overcoming the “data silos” that currently exist across the country.
TCNs
Collectors
BISON
iPlant
ALA
 Search and analytics tools will enable anyone to mine and reference diverse data, such as taxonomy,
geographic location, 2- and 3-dimensional images, vocalizations, molecular resources, which are
tied to specific specimens, publications, and grey literature. These data promote integrative
biological research on living and fossil species and provide an immense resource for agricultural
sciences, land use management, assessing the impacts of climate change, invasive species, and other
natural resource management issues.
 Key partners in this effort are Thematic Collections
Networks (TCNs), which are ADBC institutions that conduct
the actual digitization of the specimens. Three TCNs were
funded by NSF in the first year (2011) and include 92
institutions in 45 states. More will be funded in succeeding years
as ADBC is a 10-year project. Each TCN itself, is a network of
institutions with a strategy for digitizing information that
addresses a particular research theme, such as impacts of climate
change or the biota of a geographic area.
EOL
GBIF
National /
Global Data
Aggregators
Researchers
Students
Citizens
Domain
Data
Consumers
TCNs
Government
 Become a Thematic Collection Network (TCN). The NSF is currently accepting solicitations for
additional Thematic Collections Networks (TCNs) to participate in the ADBC initiative. Please review
the publication on NSF’s website for full details or contact iDigBio.
Next deadline for TCN proposals: October 19, 2012
Museums
Domain
Data
Producers
 Participate in an upcoming Workshop. Check http://www.idigibio.org website under
Engage – Education and Outreach – Upcoming Events.
 Blog, join the conversation, at https://www.idigbio.org/tags/blog
TCNs
Google
DataONE
Infrastructure
Amazon WS
Amazon Turk
Providers
Microsoft Azure
Data Conservancy
Georeferencing
Imaging services
Domain
Data quality
Translation
Service
NESCent
Providers Mapping
iPlant
OCR
TCNs
 Join the iDigBio listserv, or Volunteer. Contact Jason Grabon, Project Manager to find
out more about volunteer activities with the iDigBio HUB or one of the current TCNs
or PENs. See contact information at http://www.idigibio.org
More about the HUB and TCNs
 The iDigBio HUB cyberinfrastructure, compiling and inter-linking data from the TCNs
and existing databases, creates opportunities to ask such research questions as:
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What is the history of life on Earth?
What factors lead to speciation, dispersal and extinction?
What are the impacts of climate change likely to be?
What information is needed for effective conservation strategies?
How are species distributed in geographical and ecological space?
 Funding from NSF gives the HUB and TCNs the opportunity to train future researchers about collections
techniques, informatics technology and data integration. For example, a new Visiting Scholars program is
now available at the national headquarters (HUB), University of Florida, Gainesville, starting in 2012. Emphasis
will be placed on early-career collections and biodiversity informatics-based professionals.
Thematic Collection Networks (TCN) – the first three
iDigBio HUB, Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Lawrence Page, University of Florida, Director of iDigBio. Co-PIs: Dr. Jose Fortes, Director
for Computational Activities. Dr. Bruce MacFadden, iDigBio Director for Education and Outreach. Dr. Gregory Riccardi, iDigBio coDirector for Computational Activities. Dr. Pamela Soltis, iDigBio Director for Research Activities.
Plants, Herbivores and Parasitoids:
A Model System for the Study of TriTrophic Associations
InvertNet - An Integrative Platform for
Research on Environmental Change,
Species Discovery and Identification
 Issue: All the nearly 20,000 plant species in North America
are attacked by insect pests, including those in the group
Hemiptera (known as the “true bugs”), which are in turn
attacked by parasitoid insects in the Hymenoptera (sawflies,
wasps, ants), widely used for biological control of agricultural
pests.
 Issue: 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.
 Scope: to unify data and images for some 1.6 million
hemipteran, 200,000 parasitoid, and 6 million plant
specimens in 34 collections in a Tri-Trophic Databasing and
imaging project – the TTD.
 Purpose: to create linked specimen data and image sets to
facilitate research in agricultural sciences, climate change,
invasive species, biological classification, conservation and
ecosystems to answer questions like: how the distributions
and phenologies of the plants, pests and parasitoids relate
to each other.
Principal Investigator: Randall T. Schuh, American Museum of Natural History.
Co-PIs: Richard Rabeler, Charles Bartlett, Robert Naczi, Robert Magill,
Christiane Weirauch, Benjamin Normark
North American Lichens and
Bryophytes: Sensitive Indicators of
Environmental Quality and Change
 Issue: Lichens and bryophytes (mosses and their relatives)
are sensitive indicators of environmental change and are
dominant organisms in arctic-alpine and desert habitats,
where the effects of climate change are well-documented.
 Scope: to unify data and images of approximately 2.3 million
North American specimens from more than 60 collections .
 Purpose: to address questions of how species distributions
change after major environmental events, both in the past
and projected into the future. Large-scale distribution
mapping will help identify regions where such changes are
likely, fostering programs designed to protect these
organisms.
 Scope: InvertNet plans to digitally image invertebrate
collection specimens and related metadata from 22
Midwestern institutions and compile this invaluable data set
into a searchable on-line virtual museum of more than 50
million specimens accessible to all.
 Purpose: create a centralized dataset representing more
than 160 years of North American arthropod collecting to
support scientific inquiry on the effects of land use change
on biodiversity, and basic research on species discovery and
identification.
Principal Investigator: Christopher Dietrich, University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign. Co-PIs: Gregory Zolnerowich, Anthony Cognato, Paul Tinerella,
Paul Johnson, Daniel Young, Johannes Klompen, Jennifer Zaspel, Andrew
Short, Jeffrey Holland, John Rawlins, Robert Sites, Gregory Courtney, David
Rider
Principal Investigator: Corinna Gries, University of Wisconsin, Madison. CoPIs: Andrew Miller, Edward Schilling, Meredith Blackwell, Donald Pfister,
Francois Lutzoni, Robert Luecking, Bruce Allen, Timothy James, Larry St.Clair,
Stefanie Ickert-Bond, William Buck, John Freudenstein, Tatyana Livschultz,
David Giblin, Alan Fryday, Brent Mishler
Image Credits: Echinarachnius juliensis, Charles Darwin, MCZ Harvard; Agraulis vanillae ssp. nigrior Kevin Robertson, Tall Timbers Research Station; Hibiscus coccineus Austin Mast, R. K. Godfrey Herbarium (FSU); Eosalpingogaster cochenillivora, Ximo Mengual, USNM ENT00036835; Mytilus galloprovincialis Luciana
Genio, USNM 199373; Penestomus egazini , Jeremy Miller, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis; Splachnum luteum Hedw.,Biopix: JC Schou, Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria; Digitothyrea polyglossa (Nyl.) Morreno & Egea,Photographer: Matthias Schultz, Consortium of North American Lichen
Herbaria; Falcidens hartmanae spicule, Kelvin Barwick, SCAMIT; Eupolybothrus werneri, Nesrine Akkari, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis; Tarundia cinctipennis, Gundvi Lindberg, NHRS-HEMI000000171; Calligrapha species, Wills Flowers, INBio; Naemia seriata, Matthew Greenstone, USDA-ARS-Insect Biocontrol Laboratory;
Philoliche Philoliche umbratipennis, Shelah Morita, North Carolina State University; Specularius impressithorax, Forest and Kim Starr, USGS Haleakala Field Station; Kallstroemia grandiflora, Steven Baskauf, Vanderbilt University. Many images from http://www.morphbank.net.
Acknowledgements and text from: iDigBio, The National Resource for Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections at https://www.idigbio.org/; A Strategic Plan for Establishing a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance (NIBA) at http://digbiocol.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/niba_brochure.pdf; iDigBio, Roles &
Goals presented in New Orleans at TDWG 2011. iDigBio is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections Program (#EF1115210). Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under
Grant No. (EF1115210). Any opinions findings and conclusions or other recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do no necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.