Putting your finger upon the simplest data

Over the past decades, digitization endeavors across many institutions holding natural history collections (NHCs) have multiplied with three broad aims: first, to facilitate collection management by moving existing analog catalogues into digital form; second, to efficiently document and inventory specimens in collections, including imaging them as taxonomical surrogates; and third, to enable discovery of, and access to, the resulting collection data. NHCs contain a unique wealth of potential knowledge in the form of primary biodiversity data records (PBR): at its most basic level, the ¿what, where and when¿ of occurrences of the specimens in the collections. But as T.S. Eliot famously said, ¿knowledge is invariably a matter of degree¿. For such data to be transformed into digitally accessible knowledge (DAK) that is conducive to an understanding about how the natural world works, release of digitized data (the ¿this we know¿) is necessary. At least two billion specimens are estimated to exist in NHCs already, but only a small fraction can be considered properly DAK: most have either not been digitized yet, or not released through a discovery facility. Digitizing is relatively costly as it often entails manually processing each specimen unit (e.g. a herbarium sheet, a pinned insect, or a vial full of invertebrates). How long could it take us to transform all NHCs into DAK? Can we keep up with the natural growth in collections

Las Colecciones del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad de Navarra. I. Vertebrados

Se presenta el Catálogo de la Colección de Vertebrados expuesta en el Museo de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad de Navarra. La mayor parte de la colección, de ámbito mundial, proviene de la antigua Colección del Colegio Lecároz (Navarra). Se exponen unos 800 ejemplares de más de 400 especies. Se proporciona información taxonómica, topográfica e histórica de las piezas

BIDDSAT: visualizing the content of biodiversity data publishers in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility network

In any data quality workflow, data publishers must become aware of issues in their data so these can be corrected. User feedback mechanisms provide one avenue, while global assessments of datasets provide another. To date, there is no publicly available tool to allow both biodiversity data institutions sharing their data through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility network and its potential users to assess datasets as a whole. Contributing to bridge this gap both for publishers and users, we introduce BIoDiversity DataSets Assessment Tool, an online tool that enables selected diagnostic visualizations on the content of data publishers and/or their individual collections

Catálogo de colémbolos ibéricos. Base de datos.

Se presenta un catálogo alfabético, informatizado, que incluye las especies de colémbolos que han sido citadas en la bibliografía científica para España y Portugal continentales e Islas Baleares. Para cada taxón se dan referencias a los trabajos en los que aparece citada, con la denominación correcta o como sinónimo (se incluyen referencias cruzadas), el tipo de información contenido en la referencia, el lugar o lugares y biotopo o biotopos de cita. El catálogo está sujeto a constante actualización

Spatial priorities for freshwater fish conservation in relation to protected areas

Abstract1. Freshwater habitats are vital for both humans and nature owing to theirexceptional biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services, but they are currentlyfacing serious threats. The designation and management of protected areas havebeen proposed as the most feasible way to ensure conservation objectives for thefuture. However, traditional approaches have not protected freshwater faunaeffectively, especially freshwater fish.2. Previous studies have identified the most irreplaceable terrestrial places toachieve conservation goals. Here, the aim was to investigate how the presentnetwork of protected areas preserves irreplaceable rivers for freshwater fish.3. The irreplaceability of the world's river basins was calculated using InternationalUnion for the Conservation of Nature Red List distribution maps, considering therarity, richness, and conservation status of their freshwater fish fauna. Theoverlap between irreplaceable basins and the present network of protected areaswas also calculated.4. The results highlight the conservation significance of tropical rivers, particularlythose in the Neotropics. The subset of the basins covering 30% of the mostirreplaceable land surface (in line with the United Nations 30by30 target)encompasses 99% of freshwater fish species. However, protected areas do notseem to provide sufficient protection to these basins, as 89% of their surface arealies outside protected areas. Only 7% of freshwater ecoregions meet the UnitedNations 30by30 target.5. Given the context of climate change, allocating new protected areas becomescrucial in providing better survival opportunities for freshwater fish species.Despite the limitations inherent to the absence of total knowledge of freshwaterfish biogeography and the irreplaceability index itself, this study identifies prioritysites for their conservation that may help inform decision-making in the future toestablish more effective protected areas

Anfibios y Reptiles del Museo de Zoología de la Universidad de Navarra

Se presenta el Catálogo actualizado de la Colección de Anfibios y Reptiles del Museo de Zoología de la Universidad de Navarra. Una pequeña parte de la colección se halla expuesta al público y forma parte del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad de Navarra. A fecha de edición, la colección completa incluye más de 2500 ejemplares, de los que dos tercios son anfibios. Entre otras, 50 especies ibéricas están representadas en la colección

From expert to data-driven biodiversity knowledge: assessing ecosystem irreplaceability with IUCN red list data for freshwater fish

Critical as they are for humans and nature, freshwater ecosystems are threatened-but the extent and depth of these threats are not well understood, especially if essential biodiversity data are lacking. Any policy aimed at protecting such ecosystems must first assess the threat factors and the potential harm, well before proposing conservation measures such as the creation and development of Protected Areas (PAs). These assessments must be done using a deep and sound knowledge of the actual and potential biodiversity variables. Freshwater ecosystems have been largely neglected in traditional PA design and management (Abell et al. 2007), be it for scarcity of biodiversity data, or for more perception-related reasons such as visibility and accessibility driving the allocation of conservation resources to more data-rich environments

Game of tops: trends in GBIFs community of users

Building on the development of Biodiversity Informatics, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) undertook the task of enabling access to the world¿s wealth of biodiversity data via the Internet. To date, GBIF has become, in many respects, the most extensive biodiversity information exchange infrastructure in the world, opening up a full range of possibilities for science

Imaging Soil Mesofauna. The Land in Between

This chapter will try to make some generalisations on current approaches to the imaging of small specimens. By that, we mean those with sizes lying typically between that of microphotography and that of macrophotography. These constraints do not necessarily mean a requirement for taxon-specific techniques. Rather, mainstream imaging procedures can be successfully used, although it is advisable to consider certain characteristics of the taxa in question. A case, or rather ‘bookcase’, study (i.e. different taxonomic groups) depicting our laboratory’s procedures will act as a basis for discussing several issues. Assemblages of the largest specimens can be pictured, though rarely, with SLR cameras fitted with a good macro lens. However, mesofauna are usually imaged under the stereomicroscope or by transmitted light microscopy. Preserved specimens are typically mounted on slides and imaged at low power under optical or scanning electron microscope, and details are captured at higher magnifications. Surfaces, and superficial features, are targeted more often than internal structures, and optical techniques are much more common for contrast improvement than chemical stains. The main drive should be directed at ensuring a good scientific usability of the images. Thus, compromises will be needed where feature visibility, enhancement, and fidelity conflict with aesthetic qualities.The wide spectrum of soil mesofauna means that a variety of handling and preparation procedures, as well as several observation and imaging techniques, are applied even within a group. Thus, the proposed ”bookcase” study will have several tiers at times, where techniques differ for specific groups