Regional Collections Are an Essential Component of Biodiversity Research Infrastructure

Monfils, Anna; Krimmel, Erica; Bates, John M.; Bauer, Jennifer E.; Belitz, Michael W.; Cahill, Blake; Caywood, Alyssa M.; Cobb, Neil S.; Colby, Julia; Ellis, Shari; Krejsa, Dianna; Levine, Todd; Marsico, Travis D.; Mayfield-Meyer, Teresa J; Miller-Camp, Jess; Nelson, Roy M. Gil; Phillips, Molly; Revelez, Marcia A.; Roberts, Dawn R.; Singer, Randal A.; Zaspel, Jennifer M.

doi:10.1093/biosci/biaa102

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Although this number may seem small when compared to other major natural history collections in Europe, the Portuguese natural history collections are rich in specimens from biodiversity hotspots, such as the Mediterranean region and the tropical regions spanned by their former colonial possessions and range from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day. As recently noted by Monfils et al (2020), smaller, regional collections play a fundamental role in modern biodiversity research and conservation, comparable to those of larger museums. This is especially true for the IICT collections, which represent, for some African countries, the largest (or among the largest) herpetological collections available.…”

Section: The Future Of Portuguese Natural History Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections

Ceríaco¹,

Parrinha²,

Marques³

2021

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The herpetological collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon, are amongst the most important collections from the former Portuguese territories in Africa and Asia. The collection comprises more than 5000 preserved specimens, including type specimens of nine taxa, Trachylepis adamastor, Trachypelis thomensis, Panaspis thomensis, Naja peroescobari, Dalophia angolensis, Hemidactylus nzingae, Boaedon fradei, Platysaurus maculatus maculatus, and Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda. The collection was abandoned in the early years of 2000s and was at risk of being lost. In this paper the entire collection is reviewed, a catalogue provided of the extant specimens, and a brief account of the history of herpetological research at IICT given. Details are also provided on the recovery of the collection and a protocol to rescue abandoned collections.

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Section: The Future Of Portuguese Natural History Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections

Ceríaco¹,

Parrinha²,

Marques³

2021

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“…The frequent reliance on small open databases is probably due in large part to the prevalence of small databases within specific research areas (Costello and Wieczorek 2014 , Ball-Damerow et al 2019 , Singer et al 2020 ) and may also be partially explained by a lack of familiarity with or trust in large databases (Faith et al 2013 ). We recognize many values of small databases, including responsiveness to specific disciplinary requirements (Franz and Sterner 2018 ) and the cultivation of strong relationships between data curators and communities of data users (Blair et al 2020 , Monfils et al 2020 ). However, small open databases may lack the standardization and interoperability that are built into larger data aggregators (Poisot et al 2019 ), they may lack consistent leadership to maintain growing content and keep up with developing best practices (Costello et al 2013 ), and they are more likely to become technologically obsolete, rendering the data inaccessible (Vines et al 2014 , Tessarolo et al 2017 , Ball-Damerow et al 2019 , Blair et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Sources Of Presence-only Biodiversity Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Data Practices among Users of Primary Biodiversity Data

et al. 2021

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Presence-only biodiversity data are increasingly relied on in biodiversity, ecology, and conservation research, driven by growing digital infrastructures that support open data sharing and reuse. Recent reviews of open biodiversity data have clearly documented the value of data sharing, but the extent to which the biodiversity research community has adopted open data practices remains unclear. We address this question by reviewing applications of presence-only primary biodiversity data, drawn from a variety of sources beyond open databases, in the indexed literature. We characterize how frequently researchers access open data relative to data from other sources, how often they share newly generated or collated data, and trends in metadata documentation and data citation. Our results indicate that biodiversity research commonly relies on presence-only data that are not openly available and neglects to make such data available. Improved data sharing and documentation will increase the value, reusability, and reproducibility of biodiversity research.

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“…If a healthy exercise of sovereignty is the appropriation of biodiversity through knowledge, much remains to be done in Ecuador. This context highlights the necessity to deepen programmes of inventory and collection (Monfils et al 2020), as well as to improve access of scholars to these resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New morphological data on the rare sigmodontine Mindomys hammondi (Rodentia, Cricetidae), an arboreal oryzomyine from north-western Andean montane forests

Brito¹,

Tinoco²,

Curay³

et al. 2021

NBC

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The monotypic rodent Mindomys Weksler, Percequillo & Voss, 2006 (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) is one of the rarest members of the speciose tribe Oryzomyini. As this species is restricted to the Chocó forests of the western Andean slope in northern Ecuador, our knowledge is based on a few specimens collected decades ago. Here we add the first data on some aspects of external anatomy (cheiridia examined in fresh, ears, rhinarium), genital anatomy (penis), soft anatomy (palate, stomach, caecum) and postcranial skeleton retrieved from a full adult male, recently trapped in Reserva Drácula, Carchi, Ecuador. Several features of this specimen, paradoxically the first to be added to Ecuadorian mammal collections, reinforce the view that Mindomys is an arboreal sigmodontine.

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Regional Collections Are an Essential Component of Biodiversity Research Infrastructure

Cited by 18 publications

References 10 publications

Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections

Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections

Open Data Practices among Users of Primary Biodiversity Data

New morphological data on the rare sigmodontine Mindomys hammondi (Rodentia, Cricetidae), an arboreal oryzomyine from north-western Andean montane forests

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