[Nhcoll-l] Search engines for non-botany natural history collections

[Scott LaGreca]

Dear Colleagues,

I’m trying to estimate the number of species of organisms in a particular section of Duke Forest, a preserve/teaching/research forest owned by Duke University (where I work). I’ve searched the literature and found some publications that include e.g. plant inventories, etc. for Duke Forest, but not that many.

So I have been exploring using the different online natural history specimen search engines to answer my question. As a botanist I have a good handle on the search engines I can use to search herbaria (for vascular plants, bryophytes, you name it). I simply used the key words “Duke Forest” (or “Korstian Division”, the name of the section of Duke Forest I’m focusing on); I also drew polygons on maps within the search engines, which was also helpful. So, I now have a good rough estimate of the number of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and non-lichen fungi for the Korstian Division.

But I am not as familiar with similar search engines for non-botany (and non-mycology) natural history collections. I am aware of eBird, but I think that includes mostly observations, not actual specimen records, right? (Still, I may tap into it, since we have a lot more birdwatchers active than actual bird collectors). I’ve also heard of FishNet, for fish; but it is unlikely to give me any data for a forest…

Are there comparable search engines for species (specimen) records of herps, mammals, insects, and non-insect invertebrates (annelids, molluscs, spiders, etc.)?

Side note: I don’t really want to rely on iNaturalist observations because I’ve seen so many misidentifications there. But I will if I must. (Convince me!). iNaturalist also doesn’t have historical data (because the app is only a few years old—but am I wrong about this? Is anyone uploading historical records into iNaturalist?).

Again, I’m aiming to get a rough number of species of organisms for a given geographic area. If you can help me, please send me direct messages (rather than to the listserv) because I subscribe to the digest of this listserv, and I only receive my digest once per month. So I may not see your reply for a month.

Thanks for any help or advice you can give me.

Sincerely yours,

Scott

Scott LaGreca, Ph.D.
Collections Manager, Lichens
Duke Lichen Herbarium
Room 137 Biological Sciences Building
130 Science Drive
Box 90338
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708 USA
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