The role of natural history collections data in documenting the biological and geological diversity of the Arctic, with examples from the Canadian Museum of Nature
The document discusses the role of natural history collections at the Canadian Museum of Nature in documenting biological and geological diversity in the Arctic. It describes the museum's large Arctic collections, which include over 260,000 specimens collected during early Arctic expeditions. The collections provide data for research in fields like Arctic botany, zoology, and paleontology. Efforts are underway to digitize the collections and make records available online through databases, but many specimens remain undigitized. The museum aims to crowdsource digitization and work with other Arctic institutions to better document and share Arctic biodiversity data.
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The role of natural history collections data in documenting the biological and geological diversity of the Arctic, with examples from the Canadian Museum of Nature
1. Centre for Arctic
Knowledge and Exploration
The role of natural history collections data in documenting
the biological and geological diversity of the Arctic,
with examples from the Canadian Museum of Nature
Jeffery M. Saarela & Shannon Ascensio
6. Early Exploration of the Canadian Arctic
Sir William Parry Expedition – 1819-1820
Image: R. Higgitt, Herbarium, Royal Botanical Garden,
Edinburgh
John Franklin's overland expeditions
Images: National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich, London
1819-1822
1825-1827
8. Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration
collections-based research
Arctic Botany Arctic Mineralogy Arctic Phycology Arctic Zoology
Arctic
Palaeobiology
28. Challenges
Complete digitization @ CMN
• ca. 260K Arctic/Northern specimens
• ca. 154K of our specimens from north of
60 digitized and freely accessible online
• >100K specimens are NOT yet digitized
Complete high-resolution imaging
• Only a very small fraction of the Arctic
collection is currently imaged
Examples:
• just 15 of >17,000 Nunavut bird records
imaged (<0.1%)
• of >25K vascular plant specimens from
Nunavut, only 3000 (12%) imaged
• no Arctic zoology (fish, invertebrate,
crustacean, insect, mammal) are imaged
29.
30. European collections rising to the challenge
Large-scale data capture & digitisation in France, Netherlands &
Finland
Slide courtesy V. Smith, CC BY-NC-SA
32. Arctic Natural History Museums Alliance
“National natural-history museums need to step up and
actively share our knowledge of the Arctic regions and to be
more ambitious in our sharing of that knowledge with
scientific colleagues, public-policy decision-makers and the
general public.”
-- Meg Beckel, CEO, Canadian Museum of Nature
• Canadian Museum of Nature
• National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
• Swedish Museum of Natural History
• Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
• Finnish Museum of Natural History
• Icelandic Institute of Natural History
• Natural History Museum of Denmark
• Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
33. The Future of the Arctic
Specimens are critical to document change
Specimens
Museums
Researchers
34. Before they’re gone...
Eskimo Curlew
Photo: D. Bleitz, Galveston Island, 1962
Great Auk
1 of ca. 78 known skins
Photo: M. Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0
Labrador Duck
only 55 specimens
Photo: R. Somma, CC BY-SA 2.0