Biodiversity into your hands - A call for a virtual global natural history ‘metacollection’

Michael Balke; Stefan Schmidt; Axel Hausmann; Emmanuel FA Toussaint; Johannes Bergsten; Matthew Buffington; Christoph L. Häuser; Alexander Kroupa; Gregor Hagedorn; Alexander Riedel; Andrew Polaszek; Rosichon Ubaidillah; Lars Krogmann; Andreas Zwick; Martin Fikáček; Jiří Hájek; Mariano C. Michat; Christopher Dietrich; John La Salle; Beth Mantle; Peter KL Ng; Donald Hobern

doi:10.1186/1742-9994-10-55

Biodiversity into your hands - A call for a virtual global natural history ‘metacollection’

Michael Balke, Stefan Schmidt, Axel Hausmann, Emmanuel FA Toussaint, Johannes Bergsten, Matthew Buffington, Christoph L. Häuser, Alexander Kroupa, Gregor Hagedorn, Alexander Riedel, Andrew Polaszek, Rosichon Ubaidillah, Lars Krogmann, Andreas Zwick, Martin Fikáček, Jiří Hájek, Mariano C. Michat, Christopher Dietrich, John La Salle, Beth MantlePeter KL Ng, Donald Hobern

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Abstract

Many scientific disciplines rely on correct taxon delineations and identifications. So does a great part of the general public as well as decision makers. Researchers, students and enthusiastic amateurs often feel frustrated because information about species remains scattered, difficult to access, or difficult to decipher. Together, this affects almost anyone who wishes to identify species or verify identifications. Many remedies have been proposed, but we argue that the role of natural history collections remains insufficiently appreciated. We suggest using state-of-the-art mass imaging technology and to join forces to create a global natural history metacollection on the internet, providing access to the morphology of tens of millions of specimens and making them available for automated digital image analysis.

Original language	English
Journal	Frontiers in Zoology
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-10-55
Publication status	Published - 2013
Externally published	Yes

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10.1186/1742-9994-10-55Licence: CC BY

Biodiversity into your handsFinal published version, 606 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Balke, M., Schmidt, S., Hausmann, A., Toussaint, E. FA., Bergsten, J., Buffington, M., Häuser, C. L., Kroupa, A., Hagedorn, G., Riedel, A., Polaszek, A., Ubaidillah, R., Krogmann, L., Zwick, A., Fikáček, M., Hájek, J., Michat, M. C., Dietrich, C., La Salle, J., ... Hobern, D. (2013). Biodiversity into your hands - A call for a virtual global natural history ‘metacollection’. Frontiers in Zoology, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-10-55

@article{0e20793983e948b9884caa451d12708c,

title = "Biodiversity into your hands - A call for a virtual global natural history {\textquoteleft}metacollection{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "Many scientific disciplines rely on correct taxon delineations and identifications. So does a great part of the general public as well as decision makers. Researchers, students and enthusiastic amateurs often feel frustrated because information about species remains scattered, difficult to access, or difficult to decipher. Together, this affects almost anyone who wishes to identify species or verify identifications. Many remedies have been proposed, but we argue that the role of natural history collections remains insufficiently appreciated. We suggest using state-of-the-art mass imaging technology and to join forces to create a global natural history metacollection on the internet, providing access to the morphology of tens of millions of specimens and making them available for automated digital image analysis.",

keywords = "mass digitisation, natural history collections, collection access, metacollection, cybertaxonomy, online resources, robotic imaging, accessions, DNA extraction",

author = "Michael Balke and Stefan Schmidt and Axel Hausmann and Toussaint, {Emmanuel FA} and Johannes Bergsten and Matthew Buffington and H{\"a}user, {Christoph L.} and Alexander Kroupa and Gregor Hagedorn and Alexander Riedel and Andrew Polaszek and Rosichon Ubaidillah and Lars Krogmann and Andreas Zwick and Martin Fik{\'a}{\v c}ek and Ji{\v r}{\'i} H{\'a}jek and Michat, {Mariano C.} and Christopher Dietrich and {La Salle}, John and Beth Mantle and Ng, {Peter KL} and Donald Hobern",

year = "2013",

doi = "10.1186/1742-9994-10-55",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

journal = "Frontiers in Zoology",

issn = "1742-9994",

publisher = "BioMed Central",

number = "1",

}

Balke, M, Schmidt, S, Hausmann, A, Toussaint, EFA, Bergsten, J, Buffington, M, Häuser, CL, Kroupa, A, Hagedorn, G, Riedel, A, Polaszek, A, Ubaidillah, R, Krogmann, L, Zwick, A, Fikáček, M, Hájek, J, Michat, MC, Dietrich, C, La Salle, J, Mantle, B, Ng, PKL & Hobern, D 2013, 'Biodiversity into your hands - A call for a virtual global natural history ‘metacollection’', Frontiers in Zoology, vol. 10, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-10-55

TY - JOUR

T1 - Biodiversity into your hands - A call for a virtual global natural history ‘metacollection’

AU - Balke, Michael

AU - Schmidt, Stefan

AU - Hausmann, Axel

AU - Toussaint, Emmanuel FA

AU - Bergsten, Johannes

AU - Buffington, Matthew

AU - Häuser, Christoph L.

AU - Kroupa, Alexander

AU - Hagedorn, Gregor

AU - Riedel, Alexander

AU - Polaszek, Andrew

AU - Ubaidillah, Rosichon

AU - Krogmann, Lars

AU - Zwick, Andreas

AU - Fikáček, Martin

AU - Hájek, Jiří

AU - Michat, Mariano C.

AU - Dietrich, Christopher

AU - La Salle, John

AU - Mantle, Beth

AU - Ng, Peter KL

AU - Hobern, Donald

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - Many scientific disciplines rely on correct taxon delineations and identifications. So does a great part of the general public as well as decision makers. Researchers, students and enthusiastic amateurs often feel frustrated because information about species remains scattered, difficult to access, or difficult to decipher. Together, this affects almost anyone who wishes to identify species or verify identifications. Many remedies have been proposed, but we argue that the role of natural history collections remains insufficiently appreciated. We suggest using state-of-the-art mass imaging technology and to join forces to create a global natural history metacollection on the internet, providing access to the morphology of tens of millions of specimens and making them available for automated digital image analysis.

AB - Many scientific disciplines rely on correct taxon delineations and identifications. So does a great part of the general public as well as decision makers. Researchers, students and enthusiastic amateurs often feel frustrated because information about species remains scattered, difficult to access, or difficult to decipher. Together, this affects almost anyone who wishes to identify species or verify identifications. Many remedies have been proposed, but we argue that the role of natural history collections remains insufficiently appreciated. We suggest using state-of-the-art mass imaging technology and to join forces to create a global natural history metacollection on the internet, providing access to the morphology of tens of millions of specimens and making them available for automated digital image analysis.

KW - mass digitisation

KW - natural history collections

KW - collection access

KW - metacollection

KW - cybertaxonomy

KW - online resources

KW - robotic imaging

KW - accessions

KW - DNA extraction

U2 - 10.1186/1742-9994-10-55

DO - 10.1186/1742-9994-10-55

M3 - Article

SN - 1742-9994

VL - 10

JO - Frontiers in Zoology

JF - Frontiers in Zoology

IS - 1

ER -