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Story: DIGIT Seed Money Awards for 2004
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In 2004, the DIGIT seed money programme has awarded a total of US$737,744 to 16 digitisation projects. Using this funding, over 2.6 million specimen (including more than 50,000 types) and observational records will be added to the GBIF network. The taxonomic distribution of the awards is 7 botanical, 2 mycological, and 4 entomological collections, and one collection each for slime molds, mollusks and birds; the project investigators and their collaborators are located in 25 different countries.
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| Released on: |
16 December 2004 |
| Contributor: |
Meredith Lane |
| Language: |
English |
Spatial coverage: |
Not applicable |
Keywords: |
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| Source of information: |
GBIF Secretariat |
| Concerned URL: |
http://www.gbif.org/rfp2004/digit_rfp2004 |
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DIGIT4web
The DIGIT Request for Proposals for seed money awards solicited the
following types of projects:
- Completion of the work needed to make significant data sets of species occurrences (label and/or observational data) publicly accessible, and
- Initiation of the work necessary to capture, manage, make accessible and add value to information associated with the specimens held in Natural History Collections and/or large repositories of species level observational data in an efficient and cost effective manner.
In response to the Request for Proposals, 74 preproposals were received by the GBIF Secretariat and 28 of the projects were asked for full proposals. The proposals were evaluated for scientific excellence. In addition, they
were evaluated on how well they supported the GBIF philosophy by
demonstrating a commitment to making the resulting data freely
available using the recommended GBIF information architecture and addressing the issues of data compatibility and interoperability by using recommended GBIF standards. Review criteria also included:
- measurable outcome or product,
- addressing the overall goal of making primary species-occurrence data available,
- significantly contributing to one or more global initiatives such as the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation or the Global Taxonomic Initiative,
- partnering among natural history institutions or organisations,
- data sharing with countries of origin,
- earliest possible access to significant datasets,
- leveraging of long-term funding to support the digitisation process,
- training and capacity building, and
- adherence to preparation and submission instructions.
The titles of the 16 projects that were awarded seed money serve as links to
more detailed information below.
Project Coordinator: Rodrigo Bernal
Award: $49960
Managing Institution: Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
Digitisation of Collections at the National Colombia Herbarium
Abstract: The National Colombian Herbarium is starting the digitization of its 500,000 specimens. GBIF funding will enable the Herbarium to digitize 125,000 specimens of Colombian plants, including 3720 types. Information from all records and images of all types will be made publicly available through the GBIF network. The following data will be made publicly available for each specimen: Family, ScientificName, IdentifiedBy, YearIdentified, TypeStatus, CatalogNumber, Collector, CollectorNumber, YearCollected, MonthCollected, DayCollected, Country, StateProvince, County, MinimumElevation, MaximumElevation, DateLastModified. In partnership with this project, the Herbarium of the Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany, will digitise and will capture digital images of 1500 types of American plants described in the 19th century by August Grisebach. These specimens will be also made publicly available.
Additional Institutions: Herbarium of the Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany
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Project Coordinator: Finn Borchsenius
Award: $49061
Managing Institution: Department of Systematic Botany, University of Aarhus
Herbarium, Aarhus C, Denmark
Setting up Danish herbaria as data providers to GBIF
Abstract: The project will add 185,000 plant and fungi specimen records from existing databases to the GBIF pool, including 21,500 nomenclatural types, from two Danish herbaria, the University of Aarhus (AAU) and the Botanical Museum, University of Copenhagen (C). Approximately 50% of the types will have high-resolution digital images available on-line. The work will include development of wrapper software for setting up GBIF provider services based on Filemaker Pro databases. These tools together with their documentation will be made freely available to any other institution wishing to use them, including partners in Latin America and Asia with whom the two Danish herbaria have long standing research collaboration and capacity building relationships.
Additional Institution: Botanical Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
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Project Coordinator: Gerrit Davidse
Award: $49950
Managing Institution: Missouri Botanical Garden, , St. Louis, MO, USA
Geo-referencing and Imaging Mesoamerican Vascular Plant Specimens
Abstract: During this project we plan to geo-reference an estimated 207,876 specimen records-from approximately 14,848 unique collecting sites-of Mesoamerican plants in the herbaria at the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana (EAP) and the Missouri Botanical Garden (MO) and to make them available dynamically on the Internet through GBIF and our own Web sites. Significant training in geo-referencing, imaging, and Internet presentation of data will take place at EAP and MO. Specific goals are: (1). Quickly make the 25,628 EAP existing databased specimen records available on the Internet. (2). Geo-reference 207,876 Honduran and Salvadoran specimens at EAP and MO for which sufficient descriptive information exists. (3). Publish our gazetteer of Mesoamerican botanical collecting sites on the Internet. (4). Implement an interface for the EAP database, BRAHMS, that will give EAP an independent capability to present its data on the Internet and to become a GBIF provider. (5). Database and image all EAP type specimens and make them available on the Internet. (6). Fully repatriate MO data to EAP for use in the national inventory of Honduran plants.
Additional Institution: Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
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Project Coordinator: Mark Ero
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: National Agricultural Insect Collection, Boroko, Papua New Guinea
Digital Image Database of the Insects of Papua New Guinea
Abstract: The EntomID-PNG project aims to compile a database of all Papua New Guinea insect species. Such a database is deemed to be important first and foremost on a national and regional level to facilitate the identification of insects needed to address issues of conservation, crop protection, and quarantine. GBIF funding will be used to complete a database of all taxa from the two most species-rich insect orders, the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, which are kept in the national entomological collections of Papua New Guinea and in the Australian National Insect Collection, including geo-referenced locality data of all identified specimens (totaling 240,000) and digital images of all taxa.
Additional Institutions : Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst , Boroko, NCD, PNG; PNG Forest Research Institute, Lae, Morobe Province, PNG; University of Papua New Guinea, Waigani, NCD, PNG; PNG University of Technology, Lae, Morobe Province, PNG; New Guinea Binatang Research Center, Madang, PNG; Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, USA; Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC), CSIRO, Canberra, Australia
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Project Coordinator: Yasuo Ezaki
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo; University of Hyogo Yayoigaoka 6-chome, Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture Japan
Name Service under English Translation for Natural History Specimens Digitized in Japanese
Abstract: Although most label data of natural history specimens in our two museums are digitized, they are, however, mostly in Japanese, and this is popular condition found in the Japanese Natural History Museums. A challenging software has recently been constructed to translate the labels from Japanese into English. Based on it, a working group centered in the Hyogo Museum is trying to convert Japanese labels of their specimens into English. In this project, it is aimed that labels translated into English are to be confirmed to Darwin-core, and open to public with DiGIR protocol, according to the GBIF standard. Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History is joining this working group, and labels of about 150 thousands specimens of insects will be ready to provide their information. Total 1.6 million records will be open to public through the GBIF Japan-node server.
Additional Institutions: Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History & Human History, University of Tokyo, Japan
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Project Coordinator: Ledis Regalado Gabancho
Award: $16492
Managing Institution: Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática , Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba
Digitization of Cuban Pteridophytes Collections
Abstract: The Caribbean pteridophyte flora, specifically in the Greater Antilles, is one of the richest in the world, having 1200 species and 45% of endemism. This fern flora is quite distinctive; of 1200 species, 780 do not occur in the Lesser Antilles and among the remaining species, about 185 are rather widely distributed in Tropical America. About 65% of endemics occur in two to four islands. This distinctiveness is reinforced by four endemic genera. Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola have the highest diversity with more than 600 species each.
The aim of this project is digitizing the three main collections of Cuban ferns, which house about 15000 specimens, covering a period from 1859 to the present, collected in all the Cuban territory. Considering that the taxonomy of Cuban fern flora is being currently revised for the first time as a whole, this project will contribute to make this revision public reaching higher interested community.
The outcome data and images will be kept in the "Centro Nacional de Biodiversidad" (National Biodiversity Center), CeNBio, located at the Institute of Ecology and Systematics, being the Technical Focal Point of the Cuban CHM, with copies in the National Botanic Garden and The Ferns Garden, in Santiago de Cuba.
Additional Institutions: Jardín Botánico Nacional (National Botanical Garden), Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba; Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad, Jardín de los Helechos (Fern Garden), Santiago de Cuba, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba
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Project Coordinator: K.D. Hyde
Award: $25000
Managing Institution: Department of Ecology & Biodiversity, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Digitization of fungal specimens at CMU, HUE, HKU(M), MIB, MRC, SWFC and YU, including comprehensive visualization of type specimens
Abstract: This proposal developed with EASIANET, IMACA, Landcare Research and Asian partners involves digitization of fungal specimens and records from Asia, providing a model system for fungal databasing. Approximately 10,000 fungal specimens, especially microfungi, from Chiang Mai University and MRC (Thailand), HUE (Vietnam), HKU(M), KIB, SWFC and YU (China) and MIB (Mongolia), will be digitalized on the Internet using an integrated portal system already developed for fungal data delivery at Landcare Research. Links to the GBIF network will be made as a Data Provider through the Darwin Core schema. A major component is to photograph all type, and some newly collected and important pathogenic specimens incorporating taxonomic characters.
Additional institutions and individuals:
A. Aptroot, CBS, Utrecht, The Netherlands ; T. Baljinova, Division of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, UlaanBaatar, Mongolia ; J. Cooper, Landcare Research, Christchurch, New Zealand ; D. Desjardin, Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA ; EASIANET; E. Grand, Post Doc., Mushroom Research Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand ; R. Halling, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York, USA.; M.T. Hang, Microbiology and Biotechnology Department, Hanoi University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam ; International Mycological Association Committee for Asia; S. Lumyong, Department of Biology, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand; E. McKenzie, Landcare Research, Auckland, New Zealand; S. Pongsupasamit, Department of Agro-Sciences, Mae Jo University, Chiang Mai, Thailand; S.L. Stephenson, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA; Z.L. Yang, Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS, Kunming, Yunnan, China ; K.Q. Zhang, Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resource, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, PR China ; D.Q. Zhou, South Western Forestry College, Yunnan, China
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Project Coordinator: Ming-guang Li
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: The Museum of Biology, Sun Yat-sen University,
Guangzhou, P. R. China
Digitization of Specimen Data of the Herbarium of Sun Yat-sen University, China
Abstract: China is an area of rich plant species diversity. The project will be jointly completed by the herbaria of Sun Yatsen University, South China Agricultural University and Hainan Institute of Forestry Science. The plant specimen represented selected families from China and would be able to fill some gaps of information on the GBIF specimen data. Fifty thousand existing plant specimen data (in Chinese) and 10000 new specimen entries will strictly follow the Darwin Core V2. All specimen labels will be translated into English and all specimen images will be taken using a digital camera. Specimen data will be made publicly available through GBIF portal. Project will be completed by December 2005.
Additional Institutions:
Herbarium, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, P. R. China; Herbarium, Hainan Institute of Forestry Sciences, Hainan Province, P. R. China
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Project Coordinator: David W. Minter
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: CABI Bioscience, Egham, Surrey, UK
Digitizing the CABI Bioscience Fungal Reference Collection (IMI), a Global Resource
Abstract: Since inception in 1920, IMI, the CABI Bioscience Fungal Reference Collection, has received over 400,000 specimens from around the world. Information accompanying these specimens constitutes a unique international resource covering distribution of fungi and their associations with other organisms. Since 1989, about 190,000 records have been digitized, mostly from handwritten accessions books. All digitized information meets GBIF adopted Darwin Core V2 data exchange standards. The project aims to digitize the remaining 210,000 records and, as soon as possible, make Darwin Core V2 Mandatory Fields and additional fields [Related Catalogue Item (ie associated organism scientific name), Substratum, Locality, Collector and Collection Year] of all 400,000 records freely available on the internet both directly and through the GBIF data portal. Data-sets for individual countries will be repatriated in accordance with the CBD. Existing best practice documentation for digitizing fungal data will be amplified with successful improvements implemented.
Additional individuals and institutions:
Ron Barrow, CARINET, the Caribbean LOOP of BioNET INTERNATIONAL; Dilip K. Aurora, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, New Delhi, INDIA; S.S. Soetikno, ASEANET, the SE Asian LOOP of BioNET INTERNATIONAL, Selangor, MALAYSIA
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Project Coordinator: Heimo Rainer
Award: $49825
Managing Institution: University of Vienna, Institute for Botany, Vienna, Austria
Digitization of Botanical Collections in Austria (DIGIBOTA)
Abstract: Austrian botanical institutions will be connected to form a nationwide network by means of a data aggregation node, which will propagate information onto a dedicated national biodiversity information portal and subsequently to the global GBIF network. In the initial phases of a long term project to digitize all botanical collections in Austria, emphasis will focus on selected plant groups, that are well represented in participating institutions and highly relevant for ongoing national (Flora of Austria) and international projects (Flora Hellenica, Fl. Iranica, Fl. of China, Fl. Neotropica). GBIF seed money will be used for digitizing efforts to populate the databases. Information for approx. 180.000 specimens, 40.000 images, including 15.000 type specimens and citation of the protologues, will be provided free for the general public over the internet. Updated information on the content of the databases will be provided at the projects home page, http://herbarium.botanik.univie.ac.at/digibota/ .
Additional Institutions:
Museum of Natural History, Vienna, Austria; Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Biologiezentrum Linz, Austria; Steiermärkisches Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria; Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck Austria; Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden, University of Graz, Austria; Vorarlberger Naturschau - INatura, Austria
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Project Coordinator: George Roderick
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: Insect Biology and Essig Museum of Entomology, University of Calif., Berkeley, CA, USA
Invasion Biology of Insects--Collections and Data
Abstract: The study of biological invasions has become a central focus in ecology, evolutionary biology, and conservation biology. This GBIF project will complement a recently funded grant (National Science Foundation, Research Collections Network) which is designed to explore the synthesis of geographical, historical, and genetic, information on biological invasions using museums and specimen databases, coupled with the production of web accessible (DiGIR) providers.
For the overall effort (GBIF + RCN) we have chosen terrestrial arthropods as a focal group because of their impact in a variety of habitats, including natural, urban, and agricultural settings.
GBIF support will digitize specimen labels, which is an element not included in the funding from NSF. We will specifically target tephritid ('true') fruit flies (4700 specimens), coccinellid ('lady bird') beetles (6000 specimens), and aphids (31,500 specimens), currently held respectively in the collections of three participating institutions: Bishop Museum, Hawaii; Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra; Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley, California.
Because of the importance of these particular insect groups as invasive insects worldwide, digitized specimen label data will be an invaluable asset to researchers, economists, managers, and the general public.
Additional Institutions:
Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii (BPBM); Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, Australia (ANIC)
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Project Coordinator: L. Ronkay
Award: $49000
Managing Institution: Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
Digital Database off the Insects of Mongolia (DIDIM)
Abstract: The Department of Zoology of the Hungarian Natural History Museum is in a unique research position concerning Inner Asia, particularly Mongolia. This not only means the huge number of specimens collected (more than 500000; over 10000 taxa; mostly in the 1960s and the 1980s) from all characteristic habitat types but principally the unmatched completeness of scientific elaboration. The overwhelming majority of the material was determined (where specialists exist at all) and published (578 scientific papers; 8000 pages; 200 specialists; 20 countries), with 1600 species described as new and further 1900 recorded firstly from Mongolia. Though the data originally were not georeferenced, however, since the precise itinerary available, we will provide coordinates as well. Since vast majority of the data originate from a region that is poorly represented in species databases our efforts will also contribute to the electronic catalogue of taxon names. Images of the primary types from Mongolia deposited in our museum will also be available through the internet.
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Project Coordinator: Martin Schnittler
Award: $48456
Managing Institution: Botanical Institute and Botanical Garden, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Greifswald, Germany
Linking local databases for collections of plasmodial slime molds (Myxomycetes) to create a global web-based herbarium
Abstract: The proposed project will link and extent five ongoing initiatives to database myxomycete collections in institutions with researchers working actively in that field. In case of funding the additional money will be used i) to speed up ongoing specimen digitalization and ii) to create a global virtual herbarium using these databases via the GBIF network with an estimated total of 90,000 specimens, containing almost one third of all types. Since myxomycete specimens are difficult to gather, and many species are therefore seemingly rare, a joint virtual herbarium would enable taxonomists to access sufficiently large series of specimens.
The proposed project would complement a large research project funded by the Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (PBI) of the U.S. National Science Foundation by creating the baseline to access herbarium specimens. This would help to overcome the current situation characterized by numerous taxa described as new to science from a single collection due to the inaccessibility of comparison material. The data base will further provide a baseline for (still lacking) molecular studies in the group. Last, the project would be an effective way to share data with the countries of origin, since all of the five applicants have intensively worked in developing countries with a highly diverse flora and fauna. The project will be beneficial for the resolution of fundamental, applied, educational, and nature conservational tasks.
Additional Institutions:
National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise, Belgium; Botanical State Collection Munich, Munich, Germany; V.L. Komarov Institute of Botany, Russian Academy of Sciences, Laboratory for Systematics and Geography of Fungi, St. Petersburg Russia; Real Jardin Botanico, Plaza de Murillo 2, 28014 Madrid, Spain; UARK, research, University of Arkansas, Department of Biological Sciences, Fayetteville, AR USA (in cooperation with D. Farr, USDA National Agriculture Laboratories, National Fungus Collections BPI, Beltsville, MA, USA)
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Project Coordinator: Cameron Slatyer
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: Department of the Environment and Heritage, Natural Heritage Assessment Section, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Capture of Australian Land Mollusca Label and Observational data from Australian Collections
Abstract: Land molluscs are a significant element of the biota of the Australian continent, comprising an estimated 1% of the named invertebrate species in continental Australia. The land mollusc fauna includes Gondwanan relicts as well as more recent radiations. The sensitivity of land molluscs to moisture in the landscape makes them ideal environmental indicators and several studies in eastern Australia have demonstrated their excellent potential as indicators for other invertebrate taxa because of comparative ease of collection and identification. The proposal seeks to build a database comprising 97,350 geocoded specimen records, comprising 86% of the available Australian records (databased and un-databased) and a large database compiled by the Chicago Field Museum. This will be a major collaborative effort by the States of Australia. The output will be a database of nearly all the available specimen records for the land molluscs of the continent of Australia, its off-shore islands and external territories and will permit the remaining 14,928 records databased the following year (2005-6). This database will be made available to GBIF. The outcome will be a readily accessible source of important biodiversity information on a locally, highly endemic group, available for querying in academic studies and conservation and land management, and a very significant contribution to the goals of GBIF.
Additional Institutions:
Australian Museum, Australia; Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, USA; Museum Victoria, Australia; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Australia; Queensland Museum, Australia; Queen Victoria Museum, Australia; South Australian Museum, Australia; Western Australian Museum, Australia
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Project Coordinator: Leslie Gordon Underhill
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: Avian Demography Unit, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
Southern African historic bird database (SABASE): a tool for research and conservation
Abstract: The ultimate goal of SABASE is to produce the Atlas of Historic Distributions of Southern African Birds. SABASE will have immense conservation value, providing insight into range expansions/contractions, enabling allocation of IUCN threat categories. It will facilitate understanding of the influence of global climate change on distributions, by providing baseline distributions prior to serious anthropogenic influences. The visual impact of historical range maps compared to current ranges will help to communicate the extent of human-induced changes on bird distribution to students, to raise public awareness of biodiversity issues, and to influence decision makers. The immediate goals are fourfold:
- Compile data on museum specimens and other equivalent records (bird ringing and nest-record card data) into SABASE.
- Digitize and georeference label data from remaining specimens in southern African and European collections.
- Improve data quality by checking date and location against expeditions by the collector.
- Make data available via GBIF systems.
SABASE will provide the platform for research on historic distribution of birds in southern Africa. The database of the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP), containing seven million distribution records observed between 1980 and 1991, will be included in SABASE and made available via GBIF, so that the data will span the 20th century.
Additional Institutions:
Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Durban Natural Science Museum, Durban, South Africa; Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart, Germany
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Project Coordinator: Judy West
Award: $50000
Managing Institution: Australian National Herbarium, CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Digitisation of Australian type collections held at Kew with repatriation of data to Australia
Abstract: This project will digitize, via images and herbarium specimen data, the Type, historically and taxonomically significant collections of selected taxa of plants of Australian origin held in the Herbarium, RBG Kew. The data will be made available as part of Australia's Virtual Herbarium (AVH) project with images delivered via the Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). They will also reside in Kew's Herbarium Catalogue (HerbCat) which is accessible online via ePIC, Kew's digital resource discovery tool. Through national nodes data will be made available to GBIF's DIGIT program. The project will form the basis of a model for data sharing and ensuring participation of partner countries. The project will result in two primary products:
- Approx. 10,000 specimens of Australian Type and historical collections held at Kew imaged and databased (incl. geocoding) to the highest quality, and made available via GBIF, and
- Contribution to the development of protocols and methodologies for sharing of data, and maintenance and sustainable management of the project.
Additional Institutions:
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.; Australian National Herbarium, Canberra ACT Australia.; Western Australian Herbarium, Perth, Western Australia.; Northern Territory Herbarium, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.; State Herbarium of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia.; Queensland Herbarium, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.; National Herbarium of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.; National Herbarium of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.; Tasmanian Herbarium, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.; Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria.; Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra ACT, Australia
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Please note that this story expired on 2005/01/31
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