Abstract Detail

Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization

Feldsine, Natalie [1], Williams, Jordan [1].

Digitizing A Century of Natural History Observations: A Wealth of Phenology Records from the Collections of Mohonk Preserve’s Daniel Smiley Research Center.

Mohonk Preserve’s Daniel Smiley Research Center (DSRC) maintains unique long-term and strongly place-based datasets which include records of phenology events such as first bloom dates and songbird first arrival dates. As spring temperatures are increasing progressively early in the season, environmentally sensitive events such as emergence of spring flora have been shifting to occur at earlier dates than historically observed. These data were collected at specific locations and along established routes starting in 1913 and continuing through present day. These phenology data can be found in the DSRC’s Natural History Index Card Collection. The cards, together with the Preserve’s other natural history collections and weather/phenological data, are valuable for research because of their long-term consistency, providing a record of changes in the natural world over many decades. Each index card contains information similar to a museum specimen label (i.e. date, location, observer’s name, taxonomy), and other pertinent information such as weather, phenological information, and historical context. This trove of biodiversity, phenology, and general ecology data is stored on over 14,000 notecards, limiting access and analysis. The data found on these cards represent over 800 plant species, with over 150 species routinely observed for first bloom dates. We are working to improve access by undertaking a multi-year project to digitize the cards and over 3,000 items from our specimen collection and making them available via multiple online portals will help us to support new research on a variety of scientific topics, including phenology and species response to climate change and variations in land use over time, and demographic information about species of conservation concern.

1 - Mohonk Preserve, PO Box 715, New Paltz, NY, 12561, United States

Keywords:
phenology
natural history
digitization.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: BIHDI, Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization I
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Monday, July 19th, 2021
Time: 1:15 PM(EDT)
Number: BIHDI004
Abstract ID:388
Candidate for Awards:None