POSTER SESSION - SPONSORED BY THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Smithsonian Antarctic Invertebrates Online

Summary

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is the official national repository for the 19 million Antarctic invertebrates collected by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP). The Antarctic Invertebrates website, http://invertebrates.si.edu/AntIZ.htm is the online portal to specimen information, maps, DNA sequences and multimedia. Through this portal, researchers worldwide now have access to the complete dataset for this collection. Tools already in place include descriptive and bibliographic information for the 5300 known species, taxonomic and geographic searches, mapping of specimens and station data, and general information about NMNH’s unidentified holdings. Nearly half of the species have photographs and original descriptions, and several now include DNA barcodes. Literature references and descriptions will soon be shared with the Encyclopedia of Life.In 2010, pending renewal of funding by NSF, tools will be added to incorporate data from other institutions interested in sharing their collections online. The present map function will be replaced by an ArcGIS platform which will permit the pooling of new map data including bottom type, bathymetry and sea surface temperature with existing specimen data. USAP map data will be served through the website. This combined dataset will greatly facilitate Antarctic biodiversity research. Good governance of living natural resources in the Antarctic depends on international cooperation and information sharing. Historical biodiversity and species distribution data are critical to today’s global climate change research agenda. NMNH is committed to making its Antarctic data and holdings widely and easily accessible.

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Speakers

Ms. Helen Campbell SCADM Deputy Chief Officer, United Kingdom
Alan Cooper U.S. Geological Survey
Peter Barrett Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University, New Zealand
Robert DeConto Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts
Robert Dunbar Environmental Earth Systems Science, Stanford University
Carlota Escutia Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (IACT), Spain
Dr. Martin Seigert Head of the School of GeoSciences
Nigel Wardell Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Italy
Jon Childs U.S. Geological Survey
John Hocevar Oceans Director
Allison Kole Campaigns Assistant, Science and the Governance of International Commons
Igor Krupnik Smithsonian Institution
Mr. Michael Lang Director, Smithsonian Marine Science Network; Director, Smithsonian Scientific Diving program; Office of the Under Secretary for Science, Smithsonian Institution, United States
Scott E. Miller Smithsonian Institution
Mr. Michael Lang Director, Smithsonian Marine Science Network; Director, Smithsonian Scientific Diving program; Office of the Under Secretary for Science, Smithsonian Institution, United States
Martin Sayer NERC Facility for Scientific Diving, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, United Kingdom
Rafael Lemaitre Smithsonian Institution
Valery Lukin Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Russian Antarctic Expedition
Robert A. McCabe
Anita Dey Nuttall Canadian Circumpolar Institute, University of Alberta
Frank Rack ANDRILL Science Management Office, University of Nebraska Lincoln
Laura De Santis Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale GS, Italy
Richard Levy GNS Science, New Zealand
Tim Naish Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Robert DeConto Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts
Carlota Escutia Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (IACT), Spain
Tina Tin Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC)
Rupert Summerson Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Australia
Professor David Walton Professor Emeritus, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Julie A Hambrook Berkman Foundation for the Good Governance of International Spaces
Dr. Michele Zebich-Knos Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA

Schedule

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