Bee-hind the Scenes: Documenting Digital Traces of Prominent Natural History Bee Specimens

Bee type specimen CASTYPE1652 (or WD:Q117956333 as found in results of wd-types), held at the California Academy of Sciences, is embedded in a web of historic and ecological connections. We aim to pilot workflows to capture such connections for prominent specimens in citable knowledge packages to accelerate research.

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About

This initiative came out of several collaborations, including the NSF Big-Bee project NSF#2102006 and the Open Traits Network. In a first attempt to practice articulating these ideas and help accelerate their development, we sent a Letter of Inquiry to the Sloan Foundation for support on 16 March 2023 and got a thanks-but-no-thanks reply on 5 May 2023. In preparing for the letter, we received (solicited) encouragement from folks associated with the following organizations:

• California Academy of Sciences
• UC Santa Barbara Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration
• Milwaukee Public Museum
• University of Florida
• Meise Botanic Garden
• Pensoft Publishers
• Knowledge Pixels
• iDigBio
• TDWG
• Encyclopedia of Life
• Plazi

Thank you!

If you'd also like to express your support, have ideas on how to help develop these ideas, or are interested to learn more, please contact Jorrit or Daniel.

References

• Seltmann KC, Allen J, Brown BV, Carper A, Engel MS, Franz N, Gilbert E, Grinter C, Gonzalez VH, Horsley P, Lee S, Maier C, Miko I, Morris P, Oboyski P, Pierce NE, Poelen J, Scott VL, Smith M, Talamas EJ, Tsutsui ND, Tucker E (2021) Announcing Big-Bee: An initiative to promote understanding of bees through image and trait digitization. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 5: e74037. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.5.74037.
• Gallagher, R.V., Falster, D.S., Maitner, B.S. et al. Open Science principles for accelerating trait-based science across the Tree of Life. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 294–303 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1109-6.
• Keller, A., Ankenbrand, M. J., Bruelheide, H., Dekeyzer, S., Enquist, B. J., Erfanian, M. B., Falster, D. S., Gallagher, R. V., Hammock, J., Kattge, J., Leonhardt, S. D., Madin, J. S., Maitner, B., Neyret, M., Onstein, R. E., Pearse, W. D., Poelen, J. H., Salguero-Gomez, R., Schneider, F. D. … Penone, C. (2023). Ten (mostly) simple rules to future-proof trait data in ecological and evolutionary sciences. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14, 444– 458. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14033.
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• Stoev P, Komerički A, Akkari N, Liu S, Zhou X, Weigand A, Hostens J, Hunter C, Edmunds S, Porco D, Zapparoli M, Georgiev T, Mietchen D, Roberts D, Faulwetter S, Smith V, Penev L (2013) Eupolybothrus cavernicolus Komerički & Stoev sp. n. (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae): the first eukaryotic species description combining transcriptomic, DNA barcoding and micro-CT imaging data. Biodiversity Data Journal 1: e1013. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.1.e1013.
• Jeschke JM, Heger T, Kraker P, Schramm M, Kittel C, Mietchen D (2021) Towards an open, zoomable atlas for invasion science and beyond. NeoBiota 68: 5-18. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.68.66685.