THE DIGITAL DATA REVOLUTION AND OUR CHANGING VIEW OF THE CRETACEOUS WORLD

The digital revolution has greatly improved the digital preservation and availability of paleontological data, first from literature sources, and more recently from museum collections. While preservation and accessibility are critical milestones in collection stewardship, research utility and ease of public consumption are important to furthering the broader impacts of paleontological data. Using the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), iDigBio, and NHMLA Invertebrate Paleontology collections we evaluate how well these datasets represent the Cretaceous marine fossil record. We focus specifically on the Eastern Pacific and Western Interior Seaway regions, and the Cenomanian to Maastrichtian interval. These datasets were evaluated for the completeness, accuracy, and quality of occurrence, locality, and taxonomic data, and the potential and limitations of contextual data.

iDigBio collections have greater occurrence data in most Cretaceous time bins compared to the PBDB but overall age and lithostratigraphic data are poorly reported to biodiversity aggregators, limiting their research utility. The majority of records in both datasets were identified to species level resolution. However, the completeness of our sampling of species through time is not even in either region. Nevertheless, both datasets reveal distinct patterns of taxonomic composition, reflecting regional differences in depositional environment that is also reflected in dominant lithologies and preservation. Variable data quality, lack of taxonomic and stratigraphic resolution, and the significant effort required to clean, standardize and transform digitized collections present challenges to downstream users looking to activate these data.

Nevertheless, digitization initiatives have significantly increased the accessibility and discoverability of biodiversity data. Resources like the Cretaceous Atlas of Digital Life and virtual field experiences provide navigable educational opportunities which combat traditional barriers such as lack of resources, funding, and expertise. Through these platforms, which are enriched with interactive maps and specimen imagery, we can capitalize on the ongoing digital revolution to illustrate the geologic and paleontologic history and scientific importance of the Cretaceous World.