Geological Society of America

T310 Natural History Museums in the 21st Century—Programming for the Future While Preserving the Past I

Wednesday, 25 October 2017
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 3A

THE EPANDDA PROJECT: LINKING THE PALEOBIOLOGY DATABASE, IDIGBIO, AND IDIGPALEO FOR BIOLOGICAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT, AND OUTREACH

Paper number: T310-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:15 AM – 9:30 AM

Authors

Jocelyn A. Sessa Presenting Author
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Susan Butts
Yale University Peabody Museum, IP Division, New Haven, CT
Talia S. Karim
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
Gil Nelson
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Christopher A. Norris
Yale University, Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT
Danielle J. Serratos
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Rapid City, SD
Dena Smith
National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA
Mark Uhen
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Abstract

Over the last decades, several online resources have become established within the paleontological community for a diversity of scientific needs: the Paleobiology Database (PBDB), a database of fossil occurrences built largely of primary scientific literature; iDigBio, the national hub for neontological and paleontological specimen data; and iDigPaleo, a specimen-based website built for educational use. While each resource is useful on its own, aggregating data from them is laborious and problematic, as the connectivity between modern and fossil, and specimen and literature-based resources does not currently exist. Funded by the NSF EarthCube initiative, the enhancing Paleontological and Neontological Data Discovery API (ePANDDA) project is using application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate the paleontological and neontological resources of these three sites. ePANDDA connectivity allows each respective database to query the others for information on all aspects of specimens and taxa, and return synthetic data to the user. For example, a neontologist could begin a search in the iDigBio portal using a taxonomic name. In addition to modern specimen records available in iDigBio, they will receive paleontological records in iDigPaleo and the PBDB. The connectivity of these resources facilities addressing research questions currently difficult to answer, even with multiple researchers working as a group.

The input of end users in the creation of software widgets that use the API was sought at two workshops in 2016. During this presentation, we will demonstrate several of these software widgets, including one that geolocates a user and displays records from all three databases of all organisms within a specified radius. We will also showcase how iDigBio will use information from the PBDB to suggest updates (aka, annotations) to an iDigBio collection record, for example, to update outdated taxonomy, or to fill in missing stratigraphic information. Similarly, the PBDB will use the ePANDDA API to display links to taxa within iDigBio and iDigPaleo. The presentation will also include discussion of how ePANDDA can collaborate with other existing geological and biological resources.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 49, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2017AM-298208

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