Networking. The
taxonomic community has responded expediently to requests concerning
therevid specimens. Many have collaborated with and helped students
and PIs during visits to their institutions, and via letters and
email. Expeditions conducted during this grant would not have
been possible without the cooperation and generosity of countless
colleagues and facilitators.
Representatives
from other PEET projects (R. Stotler & B. Crandall-Stotler;
D. Fautin; P. Arnofsky) and other individuals from scientific
meetings (R. Carlson, Ev Schlinger's acrocerid project; V. Moseley,
Louisiana State Arthropod Museum) where MANDALA has been demonstrated
have received versions and/or training in the use of the databases
and their adaptability to other taxa.
Databases. In
1998, the therevid databases, constructed using the cross-platform
(Mac & Win95/NT) database engine, Filemaker Pro, finally acquired
a real name to reflect their adaptability to a broader scope of
taxa than just the Therevidae. Its name, MANDALA, means "interconnectedness,"
"circle," and "relatedness." Gail Kampmeier,
in collaboration with F. Chris Thompson (consultant to our PEET),
and with input from all members of the Illinois team, continues
to refine MANDALA. The on-going refinements do not preclude data
entry by our enthusiastic group of primarily undergraduate students.
The
databases were initially demonstrated at the first NSF PEET meeting
in Kansas in September 1996. After that meeting and before showing
them at the TDWG (Taxonomic Databases Working Group) meeting in
Toronto in October 1996, the user interface to the Specimen database
underwent extensive revamping, expanding what had been crowded
into two layouts into eight, using a 'file folder' metaphor. Also
added were layouts for navigation and database management as well
as some specialized query layouts. More are planned as researchers
refine their search strategies.
Before
presenting the databases at the Entomological Society of America's
Informal Diptera Conference in December 1996, Gail Kampmeier added
the following features:
expanded tracking of multiple taxa determinations and
determiners (determnr.fp3);
expanded (unlimited) tracking of museum information, i.e.,
where specimens are coming from, residing, and moving to (deposit.fp3);
tracking of database users who create or modify records;
and
the ability to navigate to related records via a small
icon with a magnifying glass.
The
following changes were implemented in 1997:
created a "label.fp3" database for typing in
label information exactly as it appears without interpretation
or additional information. This database speeds up the process
of data input (less thought & interpretation required at
this step) and provides a place to proof information attached
to specimens;
created an illustration database (illus.fp3) to track
any type of illustration and link it to specimens, reprints,
and taxon names where appropriate;
revamped user interface to lots.fp3 and Reprints.fp3,
adding the ability to track collectors and authors respectively
in people.fp3 via a join file. This join file is used in the
new names.fp3 database (see below) and can handle determiners
and illustrators as well so that you can see everything a person
has done.
replaced the old flat hierarchy file "taxa"
with a new "names.fp3" database, conserving all the
old taxon numbers but implementing relationships among taxon
names and creating classification hierarchies in "classif.fp3";
added the ability to track multiple associated specimens
(assocsp.fp3) and their associations with the specimen in hand;
added the ability to create LIT (literature) numbers as
unique identifiers for specimens referred to in the literature
that are not associated with physical specimens. Locality/collector
information will go into the lots.fp3 db just as for a specimen
in hand; etc. Treatment of the specimen in the literature can
be tracked using a controlled language (popup selections) in
the bioassoc.fp3 database with the addition of fields designating
reprint and page number.
Thus
far, over 45,000 specimens in over 11,700 lots (unique collecting
events) have been recorded, covering nearly all specimens collected
from Australia (with the exception of the most recent collections),
the genera Ozodiceromyia and Cyclotelus, and a smattering
of species in other genera.
All
specimens of the genus Ozodiceromyia on deposit at the
University of Illinois from collections made by our group and
from museums worldwide are now in MANDALA, and most specimens
have been checked twice for accuracy of data. Students are nearly
done with the genus Cyclotelus, which is under revision
by Gaimari and Irwin.
The
number of records entered into the major databases as of 14 April
1998 (not including material from the 1960s, coded before this project
began) is:
Specimens (Specimen.fp3)....................45,143
Labels (label.fp3)..........................16,328
Lots (lots.fp3).............................11,734
Taxa (names.fp3).............................2,680
People (people.fp3)..........................2,214
Museums (museums.fp3)..........................213
Literature citations (Reprints.fp3)............180
Journals (journals.fp3)........................269
PEET
student Shaun Winterton visited the Irwin laboratory in April
1997 for an introduction to the use of the databases and returned
in March 1998 for more rigorous training with Gail Kampmeier on
using MANDALA. Upon returning to Australia he will enter records
of specimens of Nanexila and Agapophytus into the
database. Therevid specimens collected by the Yeates group during
the previous summer in Australia will be sent to the Irwin lab
to be entered into the database.
Interactive Keys.
Systematists, multimedia designers and programmers at the University
of Queensland and the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical
Pest Management in Brisbane have developed the LUCID systema
computer program designed for the interactive identification of
organisms in a multimedia environment. The system comprises the
key shell itself, termed LUCID, and the LUCID builder, a program
that allows systematists to quickly write their own interactive
keys for use in LUCID. The program allows the user to begin the
identification of an organism with any character and continue
in any desired character order. Still images, video, and sound
may be accessed at any stage to increase the speed and accuracy
of identification. A galaxy of information, images and other resources
may be retrieved using the organism's name as an index or "hook"
once the identification is complete. The program has now been
commercially released (Version 1) and funding is now being sought
to make Version 2 of the LUCID program compatible with WWW.
P.I.
Yeates demonstrated LUCID at both the first and second NSF PEET
meetings, as well as at the Entomological Society of America meetings
in Nashville in 1997. Highlighted at the second PEET meeting was
the recently completed builder feature, which allows swift composition
of interactive keys.
Communications.
The family Therevidae has been on the World Wide Web since April
1996 with periodic updates and additions as time permits by Kampmeier
using the input from all of the therevid PEET project. The site
details the objectives of our PEET research, profiles therevid
research participants, provides minutes of meetings, and recounts
therevid hunting expeditions. Although the databases are not yet
searchable via the WWW, portions of them will be made available
as information on the various groups is published.
