RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL APPLICATIONS OF A WEB-BASED PALEONTOLOGIC DATABASE FOR FLORISSANT FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

The paleontological resources of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument include about 1700 species of plants and insects that have been referenced in more than 380 publications over a period of 130 years. Many of the type specimens from this site have never been illustrated in publication, and often the publications do not indicate the museums at which the type specimens are housed. Currently, type and published collections of Florissant fossils are housed in at least 17 different museums throughout North America and Europe. Because this information pertaining to the Florissant fossils has become complexly scattered throughout the literature and between different museums, the National Park Service has developed a new database that integrates taxonomic, museum collection, and publication data into a single format. New photographs are now available for all of these specimens. The database is now coming online as a web site with three different portals designed to accommodate users ranging from scientific researchers to educators and students to the layperson.

The web site will facilitate further research by providing easy access to information and photographs that document Florissant’s taxonomic diversity, and it will lead researchers directly to the museums at which significant fossils are housed and the publications in which they were described. Updated taxonomic information forms a separate database to which all specimens are linked, providing higher taxonomic classifications of plants and insects based upon contemporary concepts. About 4000 pages of relevant publications are available in a digital archive linked to the bibliographic database. Another facet of the web site still under development will provide educators and students with curricula designed for high school and college students. These educational applications will use the database to draw random fossil samples that the students will identify and use to develop hypotheses about paleoclimate. For the layperson, the web site will provide a gallery of some of Florissant’s most impressive fossils along with a description of the significance of the Florissant fossil beds.