Using Museum and Herbarium Data in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (2020-04-09)
Channel: Earth Sky Sea
Date: 2020-04-09

The rapid rise of online biodiversity collections repositories like GBIF and citizen science initiatives like iNaturalist have enabled amazing advancements in evolutionary biology, biogeography, and conservation. Nonetheless, straightforward analysis of specimen and observational data is frequently encumbered by inaccuracies. As a result, these data must always be “cleaned” before use, but steps in cleaning procedures and common but hidden pitfalls along the way are challenging to address.

In this webinar we provide entry points for going from ‘download to data’ for all kinds of specimen/observational data (animal, plant, fungi, etc.), including:

* Online biodiversity specimen repositories and differences between them, including tips and tricks for downloading biodiversity data
* A reproducible, transparent workflow for ensuring:
** Taxonomic integrity (taxonomic name resolution)
** Temporal accuracy (dates, collectors)
** A full account of geographic location uncertainty (georeferencing, coordinate precision versus uncertainty)
* How to report these procedures in publications

Recorded: April 9th, 2020, from 1 to 2:30 pm Central Standard Time.