Location: Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research
Project Number: 2080-30500-001-033-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 15, 2025
End Date: Aug 14, 2027
Objective:
The objective of the project is to integrate the U.S. National Pollinating Insect Collection’s specimen data into the existing USDA/ARS Biocollections Symbiota portal for management and research access to the data. Integration into the ARS Biocollections will allow for increased management of valuable data on bee occurrences and ecology for ARS researchers, stakeholders, and the public. Data access for ARS researchers will enable critical analyses on bee health.
Approach:
The project will focus on completing the following tasks:
1. Migrate the U.S. National Pollinating Insect Collection’s specimen data from its native database format into the USDA Biocollections portal.
2. Develop the Symbiota code to enable redaction of entire specimen records from public viewing in the USDA Biocollections portal, for protection of species of concern and ongoing research data (to be released after publication).
3. Develop the Symbiota code to enable the ability to redact entire collections and their specimen records from view for all users without editor or administrator permissions for that collection, for protection of data integrity.
4. Develop the Symbiota code to better support pertinent data fields (eventTime, samplingEffort) in public search (table and list view), collections search, batch editing, uploading, and downloading tools.
5. Develop the Symbiota code to enable storing, viewing, adding, editing, and downloading references (i.e., publications) associated with records.
6. Develop the Symbiota code to enable storing, searching, viewing, adding, editing, and downloading quantitative (i.e., numeric) traits/measurements of occurrence records.