Repatriation of Specimen Data to Reinforce National Systems of Biodiversity Information
Patricia Koleff, Jorge Soberón, Cecilia Fernández and Juan Manuel Martínez.
National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio), Liga Periférico- Insurgentes Sur 4903 Col. Parques del Pedregal. Tlalpan 14010. Mexico D.F. Mexico (pkoleff@xolo.conabio.gob.mx)Biodiversity management requires knowledge of the distribution of species. Scientific collections can contribute substantially to document species occurrence but unfortunately most specimens in museums and herbaria are not computerized. Moreover, most of the specimens that were collected in developing, biodiversity rich nations are deposited in institutions in the developed countries. In this work we present some of the methods that Conabio (The National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity of Mexico) has used to access the data in the labels of nearly a million specimens in collections abroad. Often the specimens come with digital images. Conabio has obtained about 76,500 digital images of specimens from foreign collections. Voucher specimens information has been compiled in databases, accordingly to standards. Geo-reference of specimen records lacking of geographical coordinates data adds remarkable value to specimen data. Some of these data are already web available through the collection nodes of the World Biodiversity Information Network (REMIB). We also discuss issues related to data quality control and complementary data needed for different kinds of analysis.