USING BIONOMIA TO QUANTIFY SPECIMEN UNIQUENESS AND DETERMINE DIGITIZATION PRIORITIES

Natural history museum collections are a major source of data for posing and answering big paleontological questions. Today, millions of fossil specimen records from such collections are publicly available through online data aggregators. With millions more scientifically valuable specimens reposited at institutions worldwide, collections staff are challenged with determining how to prioritize further digitization. Given the plethora of data already available, it benefits the scientific community to determine which currently undigitized specimens would provide unique value and to prioritize their prompt digitization.

The 19^th century Baron de Bayet collection at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) comprises tens of thousands of undigitized fossil specimens, mostly invertebrates. Observations of the Bayet collection reveal that it is composed of dozens of subcollections amassed by distinct individuals (Bayet collectors) who, like researchers today, specialized in particular taxa, localities and geologic time periods. Using Bayet collector as a proxy for their particular combination of these criteria when prioritizing digitization efforts can capture that collector’s unique research perspective. These specimens may also provide historical value, such as representation of localities that are no longer collectable due to urbanization.

In order to determine the uniqueness of undigitized Bayet fossils, the author is using the online tool Bionomia to identify Bayet collectors’ specimens that have already been digitized by other institutions and are available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Underrepresented collectors’ specimens can then be prioritized by CMNH for immediate digitization. To further validate digitization need, the author is also examining the availability of GBIF data sets similar to, but not affiliated with, those of Bayet collectors. If a Bayet collector’s specialty is duplicated in GBIF by more recent work, digitization priority of the Bayet specimens may be low unless other historical value of the specimens is discovered. Use of Bionomia also reveals opportunities for data managers to improve specimen record quality by standardizing collector nomenclature and using collector biographical information to verify specimen collection date.