mushrooms-nhmj-ij-2019-01-15

Study Extent

The study extent covers the entire territory of Jamaica. The preserved specimens were collected across all parishes and cays.

Sampling

Specimens were collected using standard methods in the field. These collections were for general collecting to expand the national collections, specific collections for projects focusing on a specie, genus, family, group or combinations thereof.

Quality Control

Persons were trained by project partners from the British Museum of Natural History in the digitization of specimens and the setting up of workflows. Additionally training in data cleaning, management and publishing was received through the BID capacity building workshop. Verification of data were performed in house by Botanist and Data Entry Officer and checked on the GBIF data portal.

Method steps

1. Specimen selection is carried out first with Jamaican specimens with complete label data being referred to specimens with incomplete label data. These specimens are removed from the general collections. The label data is then transcribed from the label and entered into the relevant fields within an excel file. The specimen is then moved through steps of verification where the inputted data is cross checked with the label data. Other cleaning exercises are also carried out including formatting, name verification through the GBIF Tool, conversion of measurements (e.g. coordinates and altitude) and standardization of collector names and authorities. Unique identifiers are obtained from a unique identifier generator online and these are added to the data records as a new column. The file is then saved as a CSV file and uploaded to the GBIF Intergrate Publishing Toolkit platform.

The range is the island of Jamaica which is located within the Greater Antilles. The island is the second smallest within the Greater Antilles and rich in biodiversity.