News Articles
Published: 08-06-2021
iDigBio researchers and staff joined nearly 2000 other attendees from over 60 countries at the virtual Botany Conference, July 18-23, 2021. Talks throughout the conference showcased the essential role of herbaria–and digitized data associated with herbarium specimens–in the botanical sciences. In addition to contributing talks of their own, iDigBio researchers and staff collaborated...
Published: 07-19-2021
The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) Education Committee hosted the first ever virtual Natural History Education DemoCamp. The goal of the NHE DemoCamp is to share, discover, and discuss educational materials that have a framework in natural history. This is building upon our previous iterations of the 'education share fair' that were hosted at...
Published: 07-14-2021
TDWG 2021, the annual conference of Biodiversity Information Standards, will be held virtually October 18-22, 2021, hosted by the University of Florida. The theme of this year’s conference, Connecting the world of biodiversity data: standards uniting people, processes, and tools, will build on lessons learned during the preceding 18 months of virtual interaction and...
Published: 07-08-2021
Assessment of the pinned specimen digitization progress of the University of Alaska Museum Insect Collection
Ashley L. Smith, Derek S. Sikes, Taylor L. Kane, Adam Haberski, Jayce B. Williamson, Renee K. Nowicki, Michael J. Apperson
University of Alaska Museum, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
This article was originally published in the Alaska...
Published: 07-02-2021
Written by Erica Krimmel.
This month let’s celebrate a friendly beetle that you’ve likely encountered, perhaps out on a hike or at home in your garden: the Soldier Beetle, i.e., a member of the family Cantharidae. These insects are globally distributed and their long antennae and striking colors–often red, orange, or yellow contrasting with black or brown–make them...
Published: 05-26-2021
"If their lives are short, they are merry," and "they still continue on singing till they die." - Benjamin Banneker
Photo by lalo_pangue on Flickr.
There has been plenty of buzz already about the 17-year cycle of the cicada happening this year, but few people know about Benjamin Banneker, a Black man born in 1731, who was one of the...
Published: 05-24-2021
Thoreau still contributes to climate change research
New study uses Henry David Thoreau’s observations of fruiting times
Digitized museum specimens, such this bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis), were used to determine the time of fruit ripening. © Consortium of Northeast Herbaria.
Researchers from Boston University (BU) combined Henry David Thoreau’s fruiting...
Published: 05-06-2021
Phlox
Contributed by: Molly Phillips
Phlox drummondii found on the roadside in Florida this spring. Photo contributed by Shari Ellis.
Driving around in the rural landscapes of Florida this time of year is simply breathtaking as all the wildflowers start popping up along the roadsides and fields. One particularly striking flower that is a regular on my drives into town is...
Published: 05-06-2021
The Guatemala Biodiversity Portal, a national digitization effort using Symbiota
Contributed by Samanta Orellana
Guatemala is a small but colorful and highly biodiverse country located in Central America. Its unique topography and historical biogeography correlate with a wide variety of ecosystems and endemic Mesoamerican species richness that has been documented in national and...
Published: 03-10-2021
To Live Forever? The Mesmerizing Case of the Immortal Jellyfish
By Cat Chapman
Is it possible to never die, to live forever? Surely, this is a question many of us have pondered at least once in our lives. Imagine the freedom it would grant us, to never face dying of old age; to be so lucky to witness infinite historical milestones, achievements of humanity and civilization, to...