Cobb et al. 2014. The Current State of Arthropod Biodiversity Data: Addressing Impacts of Global Change. Presented at https://www.idigbio.org/content/collections-21st-century-symposium Program available at https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Collections_for_the_21st_Century

1. The Current State of Arthropod Biodiversity Data:
Addressing Impacts of Global Change
Neil S. Cobb (Northern Arizona University) Katja Seltmann,
(American Museum of Natural History), and Nico Franz
(Arizona State University)
May 5, 2014
Tri-Trophic Thematic Collection Network

2. The Current State of Arthropod Biodiversity Data:
Addressing Impacts of Global Change
 Focus on North American– United States > Canada
 How many species can we model future distributions under climate change? (n>30)
 Museum Occurrence records:
 Major taxonomic and functional groups
 Biogeography
 Timeline
 Linking trophic connections

3. Race Against Time
Arthropods comprise ~70% of described species, only 15% of climate impact studies
~15% of arthropod species have been described, 70% for North America(?)
Less than 10% of arthropod species have “enough” occurrence data
Arthropod occurrence data resides primarily in museum collections
600,000 million specimens worldwide, <50,000,000 digitized (8%)
Cannot predict climate change impacts without knowing existing species distributions

4. 4
Arthropods Dominate Biodiversity ~70%
Really: Insects Dominate Biodiversity ~63%
Or at least Binomial Biodiversity

5. North American Arthropod Functional Diversity: Major Players
Araneae
Orthoptera
Hemiptera
Coleoptera
Hymenoptera
Diptera
Minor insect orders,
Crustacea, Myriapods,
non-spider arachnids
Lepidoptera
Seven Major Terrestrial Arthropod Orders
Economic & Health Impacts
Pests (Herbivores & Parasites)
Ecosystem Services
Parasitoids & Predators
Pollinators
Herbivores (Biocontrol & Food)
Ants
Decomposers

6. Understanding Climate Change Impacts on Arthropods
Ecological Niche Modeling, Species Distribution Modeling
Document Present
Distributions
Promote Data
Acquisition
Near-Future
Goals
Predict
Biodiversity
Understand
Mechanisms
Present
Goals
Way in the
Future Goals
Predict Future
Species
Distributions
Model Cross-Trophic
Interactions

7. Predicting Impacts of Climate Change on Species Distributions
BIOMOD2+ Modeling Workflow
 30-100 occurrence localities
 Distributed over entire range

8.  How many arthropod species are observable in the field?
 Museums currently hold the vast majority of arthropod occurrence data!!
Field Observable
Arthropod Taxa
Dragonflies some damselflies
Butterflies
Ants
Grasshoppers
Mantids
Crickets
Cockroaches
Earwigs
Vespid Wasps
Projects that use
observations
Odonata Central
Butterflies & Moths of NA
BugGuide
Discoverlife (Bee Hunt)
Life on Loosestrife
Cricket Crawl
Lost Ladybug
Great Sunflower Project
# of NA Arthropod
Species that can be
Observed in Field
3,001 species
6,000 aquatic species??
9,000 total observable species
95,000 total unobservable species

9. The Data
 Museum Occurrence Records for United States & Canada
 Three sources of data
Southwest Collections of Arthropods TCN Tri-Trophic TCN
GBIF
4,606,160
(500k) (900k) (3.2 million)

10. Methods
The “Seltmann model 865B”
Biodiversity Cluster Array
1. Compile Raw data
2. Clean Data
3. Format Data
4. Compile & run scripts

11. Museum Occurrence Records for United States & Canada
2,166 Families
20,153 Genera
80,161 species (105,000(?) total)
4,606,160 Specimen Records
3,7331,257 Georeferenced Records (81%)
2,803,956 Identified to Species (77%)

12. Canada USA Mexico
# of Collections
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
# of Specimens (Millions)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
North American Arthropod Collections
(USA-Canada-Mexico)

13. Key Estimates
Current Holdings
237 million specimens accounted for
>17 million not accounted for
254 million Total specimens in NA collections
85 million Total North American specimens (?)
Annual Additions
3.8 million total new specimens per year
1.2 million new North American specimens per year
# Specimens (Millions)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
North American Arthropod Collections
Total
Arthropod
Specimens
(USA-Canada-Mexico)
North
American
Specimens
North American
Specimens
Digitized

14. North American Arthropod Collections
Key Estimates
Current Holdings
237 million specimens accounted for
>17 million not accounted for
254 million Total specimens in NA collections
85 million Total North American specimens (?)
Annual Additions
3.8 million total new specimens per year
1.2 million new North American specimens per year
# Specimens (Millions)
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Can we catch up?
NA
Specimens
Digitized
To Date
NA
Specimens
Digitized
Per Year
NA
Specimens
Collected
Per Year
(USA-Canada-
Mexico)

15. North American Arthropod Collections
Total
Arthropod
Specimens
(USA-Canada-Mexico)
North
American
Specimens
North American
Specimens
Digitized
# Specimens (Millions)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

16. 400
300
200
100
5-Fold increase in digitization
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 2055
Year
# Digitized Specimens (millions)
0
Projected # of NA specimens
Current rate of digitization
Can we catch up?

17. Biogeography of NA Arthropod Collections
692,749 Species Records (Georeferenced)
# Records / 2500 km2

18. Timeline of Arthropod Collecting
120 4.2 million total records
120
100
80
60
40
20
1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year Collected
Number
0
100
80
60
40
20
1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year Collected
# Specimens Digitized (Millions)
0
1,526 records before Columbus
637 records in future
2011
2012
2013
1.6 million records
Pre-Climate Change

19. Research Ready Data (identified to species & georeferenced)
50000 52,604 species
less than 30 >= 30 >= 100 >= 500 >=1000
# of Occurence Records
Number of Species
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
8,871 species (11%)

20. Taxonomic Distribution: Databased Species
Araneae
Orthoptera
Hemiptera
Hymenoptera
Coleoptera
Diptera
Lepidoptera
Number of Species
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
# Species in NA # Species in database

21. Araneae
Orthoptera
Hemiptera
Coleoptera
Hymenoptera
Diptera
Lepidoptera
# Records (Millions)
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Taxonomic Distribution: Expected vs Observed Records
Expected Observed

22. Vector pests Aquatics Herbivores Pollinators Predators Parasitoids
# of Species
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Ecological Distribution: Databased Species
# Species in NA # Species in database

23. Vector pests Aquatics Herbivores Pollinators Predators Parasitoids
# Records (Millions)
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Ecological Distribution: Expected vs Observed Records
Expected Observed

24. Status of Research-Ready Arthropod Biodiversity Data
1. Fraction of specimens digitized, but enough to model for climate change impacts.
2. Current rate of digitization needs to increase exponentially to fully utilize existing specimen data.
3. Biogeography of specimen records suggests significant bias.
4. Historical data indicate a number of taxa can be used to test for climate change responses now.
5. Taxonomic breadth of data generally good (except Diptera).
6. Ecological categories demonstrate good coverage (except predators & parasitoids).

25. Stacked Species Distribution Models
• Can assess overlap among species
• Predicted community “types”
• Examine Biotic Interactions
Present
2090
Plant
Enemies
Herbivore
Pollinator Networks

26. Modeling Biotic Associations
Assessment of Trophic Network Data
1. Rigorous
Data-filtering
Framework
2. High
confidence
in < 20%
of recorded
associations

27. Conclusions
TCN Collaboration
Lots to do Lots to work with
Take Your Pick
Really
11% Full

28. Next Steps
Extend analysis to Mexico and Central America.
Compare with other continents and oceans as well as other phyla in North America.
Create website that provides near real time statistics to
identify gaps and advertise research-ready data.

29. Timeline Biogeography of NA Arthropod Collections
692,749 Species Records (Georeferenced)

30. Conclusions: A few suggestions
Promote Interoperability of user-friendly databases & software (Symbiota, Arthropod Easy, GBIF [Arctos], CalBug?)
Push for technological advances (InvertNet imaging [100’s to >1000 specimens per image])
Crowd-sourcing (Notes from Nature)
Increase # of observable species (DiscoverLife)
Extend beyond political boundaries (SpeciesLink, GBIF)

31. Specific ways museums can address climate change impacts on Arthropods
1. Provide occurrence records from museum specimens
2. Provide expertise
A. Monitoring Programs
B. Observational Inventories
C. Taxonomic revisions
D. Identification Services through loans
E. Training Taxonomists and Parataxonomists

32. We compiled distribution records for all Sphingidae of Sub-Saharan Africa (south of ca.
17° N latitude, including Madagascar), based on an extensive search of published
literature and the internet:
1. Lepidoptera blogs,
2. specimen trading sites,
3. the Barcode of Life Database (http://www.barcodinglife.org),
4. the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (http://www.gbif.org )
5. correspondence with a large number of professional and amateur collectors,
6. our own field sampling, and
7. through databasing several major natural history collections
(e.g. museums in London, Berlin, Paris, Munich, Tervuren and Pittsburgh).

33. Assessment of Trophic Network Data
Filtered Association Network
Unfiltered
Association
Network (Raw
Data)
High
confidence
in < 20%
of recorded
associations

35. Proposed Activities to increase our knowledge of species distributions.
Crowdsource data entry (Notes from Nature)
Promote technological advances (InvertNet)
Increase “informed” observations (mobile identification apps, NextGen field kit)

36. COLLECTING EVEN DATA:
The occurrence of an insect
species on a plant genus
Compute frequency
of occurrence on a
particular plant genus
Compare with all insect
collecting events on any plant
ANALYSIS: evaluate insect/plant
associations with different scores
Modify algorithm to improve fit
of model to data based on results
Scores: High, Medium, or Low
confidence in insect--plant
association
HEURISTIC DATA:
Larvae present?
Multiple specimens?
Voucher specimen available?

38. ~105,000 Described Arthropod Species occur in US-Canada
Possibly ~35,000 Undescribed Arthropod Species

40. 1. Small labels
2. Poor taxonomic resolution
3. Lack of coordination
Use sp, sp., spp, sp? Etc as example
iDigBio takes everything: when are going to start improving the quality of the data?

41. 476,946 insect specimens
37
collections and subcollections
476,946
online records
388,451
georeferenced records
21,505
type records
41
records of species in redlists
5,855
distinct accepted species
spp. names records
accepted 190,855
synonyms 2,361
not found 209,372
not identified 74,358

42. Focus on North America – United States
Over 6,000 species of potential pests
World Food Production would be reduced by 1/3 as a result
of unchecked insect pests