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

Anceta Wis CCBY-SA2.5viaWikipedia AmandaCCBY-SA2.5viaWikipedia

Stephantom CCBY-SA3.0viaWikipedia

Image:RealGrouchy,PublicDomain

PLoSBiol11(1):e1001466.CCBY2.5 FrançoisGénier ©CanadianMuseumofNature

Collections are the CoreSpecimens have many uses and are irreplaceable

Sokoloff

Natural Heritage Campuso >10 million specimenso 3.2 million catalogable specimenso 260,000 Arctic specimens

Early Exploration of the Canadian ArcticSir 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

CMC

Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1918

CanadianM

useumofH

istory

Khidas2015,Arctic

Kingeiders

Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Explorationcollections-based research

Arctic Botany Arctic Mineralogy Arctic Phycology Arctic Zoology

Arctic Palaeobiology

Eocene Epoch55-33 Mya

Today

Mar

iann

e Do

ugla

s©M

aria

nne

Doug

las

Image: Bob Hynes © Smithsonian Institution

Ansg

arW

alk

CC B

Y-SA

2.5

via

Wik

iped

ia

Fossil forest - Axel Heiberg Islandca. 45 Mya

Arctic Palaeontology

Images:Roger Bull © Canadian Museum of Nature

Ted Daeschler © T. Daeschler/VIREOEduard Sola CC BY-SA

Kennonv CC BY-SA 3.0

Tiktaalik roseae

375 Mya fossil fish with a mix of fish & amphibian traits

~3.5Mya

Rybcynski et al. 2013, Nature Communications

Image: Algkav and Dr. Blofeldbased on original by Yug, CC BY-SA 3.0Images: Martin Lipman © Martin Lipman

Image: Julius Csotonyi © Julius Csotonyi

Giant Ancient CamelTibia fragments

Donald McAllister (1934-2001)

Arctic Fishes

Arctic Marine Fishes of Canada…a new book coming 2016

Lake Trout

CMNbirdspecimensfromFoxeBasin

Holotype:Arcticperegrinefalcon(CMNAV46581)

Arctic Birds

Birdnestcollection

MartinLipman ©CanadianMuseumofNature

Large Skeleton Collection

Mitochondrial DNAdiversityinbowheadwhalesoftheCentralCanadianArctic

McLeodetal.2012,MarineMammalScience28:E426

Arctic Plants & Algae

Moonwort (Botrychium tunux)National Herbarium of Canada (CAN)

Joe Holmes © Canadian Museum of Nature

Google

Databased CAN and DAO northern specimens

Collections have collection information

DarwinCore:Astandardforsharingdataaboutbiodiversity

WieczorekJ,BloomD,GuralnickR,BlumS,DöringM,etal.(2012)DarwinCore:AnEvolvingCommunity-DevelopedBiodiversityDataStandard.PLoSONE7(1):e29715.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029715http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029715

DarwinCoreCategories:SimpleDarwinCoreiscomprisedofsevencategoriesof

terms(green)

Wieczorek J,BloomD,Guralnick R,BlumS,DöringM,etal.(2012)DarwinCore:AnEvolvingCommunity-DevelopedBiodiversityDataStandard.PLoSONE7(1):e29715.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029715http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029715

www.collections.nature.ca

CMNCollectionsOnline154K of 260K Arctic specimensonline

collections.nature.ca

Canadensys – network of Canadian collections

2,900,783 records(showing2,205,724georeferenced)

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) –half a billion specimens and observation records

GBIF – Specimens and Observations

GBIF – Observations

GBIF – Specimens

ChallengesComplete 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

European collections rising to the challengeLarge-scale data capture & digitisation in France, Netherlands & Finland

Slide courtesy V. Smith, CC BY-NC-SA

Crowdsourcing

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

The Future of the ArcticSpecimens are critical to document change

Specimens

Museums

Researchers

Before they’re gone...

Eskimo CurlewPhoto: D. Bleitz, Galveston Island, 1962

Great Auk1 of ca. 78 known skins

Photo: M. Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0

Labrador Duckonly 55 specimensPhoto: R. Somma, CC BY-SA 2.0