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Editorial
Newsbytes
General Newsbytes
BioMap Diary
BioMap Directive Committee
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Project BioMap: the homestretch
After two and a half years of hard work, Project BioMap is reaching
the end of its first phase. Past editorials have stressed the importance
of museums, of scientific collecting and of joint efforts for conservation.
The time has come to think about the importance and future use of
the data compiled.
By the end of the project we calculate the Darwin database will
have data for over 230,000 Colombian specimens in museums around
the world with more than 25,000 person-hours of work invested. This
task has been completed in a very professional and meticulous way
and data are now being checked and rechecked to assure the highest
quality possible. Almost all the information has been compiled in
a single database, rather than dispersed among many countries and
institutions with obvious difficulties for access. Time fast approaches
for this information to be made available and used. The first outcome
of the project will be this innovative experience of sharing and
making public all this information. Without doubt we have learnt
much about database management, data request and use and access
of data stored in collections. This learning process surely will
cross cultures and country boundaries since this is one of the first
experiences of this type in Latin America and has aroused great
interest among scientists and curators in other Latin American countries
that surely will soon develop similar projects.
The potential applications of the data gathered are very diverse,
from obtaining documented lists for specific localities, municipalities
or departments, to the support of important conservation initiatives.
We will analyze the history of bird collectors in Colombia, how
many specimens where collected by each one and in which museums
they are deposited. We will also have a very good idea about the
amount of specimens collected for each species of Colombian bird,
their origins and where they are deposited. With data from localities
combined with knowledge about the ecology of each species and present
distribution of appropriate habitats, we can model the distributions
of each species and subspecies; a powerful tool in conservation
biology. This approach was used in a very interesting way in the
Red Book of Colombia’s Threatened Birds (Libro Rojo de Aves
de Colombia) to add precision to the category of threat for 112
threatened bird species in the country. One of the current uses
of information contained in museum specimens is that of prioritizing
conservation areas. With information on the distribution of key
species (p.e. endangered or range restricted) areas of special interest
for conservation may be identified. Based on these principles BirdLife
International, an international partnership of bird conservation
organizations, has developed research on Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs)
and identifying and protecting the most Important Bird Areas (IBAs)
on the planet. The general scope of the IBA program is not only
the conservation of birds but of biodiversity, based on the premise
that birds are good indicators for biodiversity conservation. Birds
have the advantage of being relatively well known in terms of distribution,
threats and requirements.
The BioMap information will be of great use in the identification
of these important areas and their conservation.
November – December 2003: Systematization of 5,456 Colombian
specimens from Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County -LACM.
December 2003 – January 2004: Systematization of 4,037 skins
from the Instituto Vallecaucano de Investigaciones Científicas
INCIVA in Cali (Scientific Research Institute of Valle del Cauca).
January 2004: Systematization of 2348 Colombian specimens in the
Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology - WFVZ in California.
January 2004: Systematization of 32 Colombian specimens from San
Diego Natural History Museum - SDNHM.
January 2004: New Colombian coordinator – Loreta Rosselli
- takes over.
January – May 2004: Revision and correction of Darwin Database
(taxonomy, collectors, localities and general tables).
February 2004: Systematization of 5,014 skins from the Natural History
Museum of the Universidad del Cauca.
March 2004: Systematization of 72 specimens from Universidad de
Nariño.
March 2004: Seventy-three records from Museum “Madre Caridad
Brader” of the School of Franciscan sisters in Pasto, Nariño.
March 2004: Systematization of 38 skins from of the Champagnat Institute,
Pasto.
April 2004: Systematization of 790 specimens from the collection
of the Natural History Museum of the Universidad de Caldas.
April 2004: Systematization of 51 specimens from the La Salle del
Museum, Colegio de La Salle, Cúcuta
April 2004: Twenty-six entries from San José de Guanentá
School, San Gil, Santander.
April 2004: 1448 entries from Universidad Industrial de Santander,
Bucaramanga.
May 2004: Beginning of georreferentiation of localities of birds
collected in Colombia.
May 2004: Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá 477 specimens
were entered in the database.
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News From Europe
BioMap work was completed in Europe with the systematization of
Colombian specimens from all collections by our European cataloguer
- Nigel Cleere.
Juan Carlos Verhelst and Clara Isabel Bohórquez continue
with their Master’s degree studies in King’s College,
London, UK. They attended classes between January and May and since
then commenced their graduate projects which they hope to finish
by September. They took courses on Environmental Management, Environmental
GIS and Remote Sensing. They are helping with georreferentiation.
News from Colombia
New national coordinator: Beginning January, Loreta Rosselli took
over as new Colombian coordinator for Project BioMap. Loreta is
a biologist graduated from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá,
with a Masters degree in ornithology from the Universidad de Costa
Rica and has worked in different ornithology topics. She will replace
Sussy De La Zerda who has moved to San Diego, California. We thank
Sussy for her great work and wish her all the best.
New Director in the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad
Nacional de Colombia: Gloria Galeano became the new director of
the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, a principal partner of the
BioMap Alliance in replacement of Gonzalo Andrade. Several meetings
have taken place to inform her of progress and planning.
On February 12 Andrea Morales, Diana Arzuza and Loreta Rosselli
attended a workshop on georreferentiation with Roberto Jaramillo
from the GIS department in Conservation International (CI) to resolve
questions on the methodology that will be used in assigning geographical
coordinates to localities.
Andrea Morales gave talks on the importance and management of biological
collections and Project BioMap in the Universidad del Cauca, Universidad
de Nariño and Universidad Industrial de Santander.
Andrea Morales and Paula Maldonado (biologist from Javeriana University
who entered data from Colombian museums during the first semester
of 2004) visited Valle del Cauca, Cauca, Nariño, Caldas and
Santander departments.
Collections from INCIVA and the Universidad del Cauca belong to
the group that hold more than 4,000 specimens and are very interesting
for their regional coverage. They have skins of well-known collectors
such as F. Carlos Lehmann and K. von Sneidern.
In Pasto, San Gil and Cúcuta the collections are composed
exclusively of specimens mounted for exhibition with little data.
The skins date from 1940 and have been collected and mounted by
members of religious orders. The specimens are frequently highly
toxic since arsenic was used in their preparation at the beginning
of the twentieth century.
Collections belonging to public universities (University of Nariño,
University of Caldas and University of Industrial de Santander)
have specimens with complete data that are unique in their regions
and not found in other institutions. These collections are growing
and are focused on the local avifaunas.
On May 3 the georreferencing process for localities of the records
in BioMap began at high speed. Ecologists Ana Milena Piñeros
and Angélica Pérez are helping us in this arduous
labor, with support by database expert Juan Carlos Rodríguez
from Conservation International Colombia. The first step in this
task has been the standardization of locality names and search for
geographical coordinates already available for these localities.
Afterwards we will proceed to look for coordinates for localities
for which no such data exist.
In collaboration with Mauricio Alvarez and Sergio Córdoba
from the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute
a digitalized version of historic, out-of-print works on distribution
and taxonomy of Neotropical birds is almost ready to be distributed
among Colombian collections.
News From North America
Sussy De La Zerda finished her visit to various California collections.
In the Los Angeles County Museum 5457 records from Colombia in the
Museum’s database. She checked 1053 specimens for additional
details. Most skins are from the 50´s and 60´s, they
belong to 58 families and cover most of the country with an emphasis
from Cauca and Nariño departments. Most birds where collected
by M.A. Carriker. Kimball Garrett, administrator of the collection
collaborated enormously. Leah and Alejandro Gedeon kindly offered
accommodation. From June Colombian biologist Sylvia Heredia will
collaborate as a volunteer with Project BioMap finishing the revision
of specimens in LACM.
In Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology (WFVZ) holds 2,348
specimens of Colombian birds mostly collected by M.A. Carriker and
C.J. Marinkelle in the 60´s. The collection director is Linnea
Hall, the collection administrator is Rene Colorado, and the administrative
director is Sonia Keirans.
In San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) we found 34 skins collected
by J.M. Scott and other five people in Valle del Cauca. Some specimens
come from animals kept in the San Diego Zoo. Collection curator
and administrator: Philip Unit.
In Berkeley curator Carla Cicero and John Dumbacher and Douglas
Long, curator and director at the California Academy of Sciences
kindly collaborated in our visits. In Berkeley Juan Luis Parra provided
accommodation.
Other news
During this period the BioMap family grew! We welcome the arrival
of Tamar Guberek-De La Zerda born to Sussy De La Zerda, former Colombian
coordinator, and Thomas Devenish-Arzuza born to Diana Arzuza, Colombian
Cataloguer. Congratulations!
Acknowledgements
The BioMap team wishes to thank all directors, curators and assistants
in all the collections visited as well as the directives and administrative
personnel of the different institutions for their wonderful collaboration
and hospitality. Numerous persons and institutions supported us
with accommodations in different cities across the world! The constant
help and support of the staff in Conservación Internacional
Colombia and the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales of Universidad
Nacional de Colombia has been essential through all this process.
Many thanks to all!
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Activities to be completed over the coming months are:
• Geo-reference all localities of ever specimen.
• Meticulously truth all data in the Darwin database.
• Commence data analysis.
• Organize the national workshop to prioritize conservation
and research actions for the future based on information gathered
by BioMap.
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| BioMap Directive
Committee |
Gloria Galeano – Instituto de Ciencias Naturales,
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Robert Prys-Jones (chair) – The Natural
History Museum.
Jose Vicente Rodriguez - Conservation International
- Colombia
Alvaro Espinel - Conservation International –
Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, USA
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