Butterflies and Moths of North America Presented at Lepidopterists’ Society

The Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) project is supported through a partnership among the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), the Big Sky Institute at Montana State University, and the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.  NBII Partner Kelly Lotts will present a poster and oral presentation about this project at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society (LepSoc 2010), July 8-11, 2010 in Leavenworth, WA.  What began as two independent repositories of butterfly and moth county records compiled for lepidopterists, BAMONA has grown into a vast citizen science project with hundreds of volunteers.  As of May, the BAMONA Web site provided access to a database of more than 275,000 butterfly and moth occurrence records, over 3,000 photographs, and more than 4,500 species pages.  Quality-controlled data contributed by lepidopterists and citizen scientists from across the United States and Mexico are publicly available via checklists and maps. By fall, the BAMONA project will take another big leap when a new version of the Web site is launched to the public.  This improved BAMONA site will include Canadian data, maps displaying point data and recent submissions, and a new online, streamlined submission/review process.  In addition, a Web Mapping Service of the BAMONA data will be published so that interested scientists can utilize these data in mapping applications.  At LepSoc 2010, Ms. Lotts will strengthen existing collaborations with the Lepidopterists' Society, seek new partnerships with amateur and professional lepidopterists, and promote public participation and use of this international dataset.

Photo: Echo Azure (Celastrina echo).  Photo by © Kelly Lotts.

Calling All Shutterbugs: Go On Safari for Pollinators

Did you know that roughly one-third of the food you eat requires insect pollination? However, bees and other pollinators face increasing risk from pesticide use, habitat loss, climate change and diseases. You can help scientists find out more about how bees are doing by taking digital photographs for “Bee Hunt.” This citizen science project is part of Discover Life, a key partner of the USGS-NBII Invasive Species Information Node. So go grab your pith helmet, watch a short video describing how to take photographs in the field, and join Discover Life for an exciting small-scale safari. Discover Life is also rallying citizen scientists to monitor plants, fungi, lichens, ladybugs, moths, butterflies, caterpillars and other critters. For more information, contact Nancy Lowe at nancy@discoverlife.org.

Photograph by © Sam Pickering, 2006-2008. Wheel bug nails non-native bee (Arilus cristatus).

USGS Pollinator Research and Bioinformatics Showcase on the National Mall

U.S. Geological Survey  (USGS) Scientists Steve Hilburger (Program Analyst, USGS Wildlife Program), Sam Droege (Wildlife Biologist, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and Coordinator of the USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory), and Elizabeth Sellers (Manager, Pollinators Project of the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure) will showcase examples of USGS pollinator research and biological informatics tools at the Inter-departmental National Pollinator Week Exhibit hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) beside the National Mall (adjacent to the USDA People's Garden) in Washington D.C. on June 21, 2010. This event builds on the cooperative energy initiated at an inter-departmental pollinator collaboration meeting hosted by USDA in March, and provides an opportunity for more pollinator-related information exchange and discussion among Federal agencies and with the public.  National Pollinator Week is from June 21-27, 2010.

(Photo: Giant resin bee (Megachile sculpturalis) on thistle. Franklin Park, Purcellville, VA.  © Elizabeth Sellers 2009).

First Detailed National Map of Land-Cover Vegetation Released Will Help Determine Places with Habitat to Support Wildlife

The most detailed national vegetation U.S. land-cover map to date was released today by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The map will enable conservation professionals to identify places in the country with sufficient habitat to support wildlife.

The map, produced by the USGS Gap Analysis Program (GAP), can be viewed online and downloaded for free.


“These data are critical for determining the status of biodiversity, as baseline data for assessing climate change impacts, and for predicting the availability of habitat for wildlife,” said John Mosesso, Gap Analysis Program Manager. “Large datasets of this type are extremely important to land and wildlife managers because they allow for analysis and planning across extensive geographic areas.”

The GAP national land cover data, based on the NatureServe Ecological Systems Classification, is the most detailed, consistent map of vegetative associations ever available for the United States and will help facilitate the planning and management of biological diversity on a regional and national scale.

GAP’s mission is to keep common species common by providing information on the status of native species. The creation and dissemination of the national landcover dataset and online map viewer furthers that goal by putting crucial information into the hands of conservation professionals. Information about land cover is a key component of effective conservation planning and the management of biological diversity. 


Landcover Map Portrays Complex Data
The final version of the landcover map contains 551 Ecological Systems and modified Ecological Systems (the modified ecological systems represent 32 land use classes which depict developed and/or disturbed land cover classes). The map combines data from previous GAP projects in the Southwest, Southeast, and Northwest United States with recently updated California data. For areas of the continental United States where ecological system-level GAP data has not yet been developed, data from the LANDFIRE project compiled by Landscope was used. This allows for the construction of a seamless representation of ecological system distributions across the continental United States.

The map also meets natural resources agencies’ need for a way to characterize land cover. Finally, the new map furthers the mission of GAP to promote conservation by providing state, regional, and national assessments of the conservation status of land cover types to resource managers, planners, and policy makers who can use the map and its underlying data to make informed decisions.


Online Map Viewer Shows Data at Multiple Scales
The online map viewing interface has been designed to allow users to explore land cover data at three levels of complexity.  Level 1 contains eight classes: grassland, shrubland, forest, aquatic, sparse and barren, recently disturbed, riparian, and human land use. Level 2 contains 43 classes, and incorporates information on elevation and climate. Level 3 contains the full 583 classes. This online tool facilitates exploration of ecological system distribution patterns at multiple scales and allows users to calculate statistics on the types of vegetation occurring within a mapping zone, a state, or a county.

As part of the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) — a collaborative program coordinated by the USGS to provide increased access to data and information on the nation’s biological resources — GAP data and associated analytical tools have been used in hundreds of applications, from basic research to comprehensive state wildlife plans, and from education projects in schools to ecoregional assessments of biodiversity.

GAP has developed land cover data since the 1980s — initially on a state-by-state basis and more recently on a regional basis. The national land cover map provides seamless coverage across political boundaries, facilitating its use by governmental agencies, researchers, conservation organizations and others.

(Photo: Online Map Viewer for Land-Cover Classification Map. The GAP (GAP Analysis Program) online map viewer shows land cover classifications at three levels. Courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey Multimedia Gallery)
(This technical announcement was originally published by the U.S. Geological Survey)

Vegetation Characterization Products Now Available for Fossil Butte National Monument

USGS-National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP) documentation for Fossil Butte National Monument has been completed and is available on the VCP Web site. Products include aerial photography - graphic of orthophoto mosaic, spatial orthophoto data, and flightline index; project report - photointerpretation key, vegetation descriptions, vegetation key, photos of map class, and accuracy assessment; field data - graphic of field plots, plots field database, physical descriptive for plots, and species list for plots; geospatial vegetation information - graphics of vegetation communities, geodatabase, and plot and AA photos; accuracy assessment information - graphic of accuracy assessment points, and contingency matrix; metadata, and a link to NPS information about Fossil Butte National Monument. The goal of the VCP is to classify and map the vegetation communities of National Parks that have a natural resource component. Complete documentation is currently available for seventy-three park units and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge units. The VCP is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The USGS Vegetation Characterization effort includes the management and upkeep of the VCP protocols, Web-based access to the standards, and the Web-based access to NPS Vegetation Characterization program finished products.

(Photo: Fossil Butte National Monument - is located in Lincoln County in southwestern Wyoming. It can be accessed from U.S. Highway 30 approximately 21 km (13 miles) west of Kemmerer, and includes 3,351 ha (8,281 acres).

Webinar on NBII's Raptor Search Engine Now Online

NBII's Raptor is not your ordinary Web search engine! A brief webinar that gives background on this specialized search engine is now available through the Help link above the Raptor search box found on every NBII Web page , or by going directly to the Raptor Webinar page.  From the webinar, the viewer-listener can learn the reasons that the NBII implemented Raptor, and how the NBII chooses information and Web sites to add to sources searched by Raptor (users are invited to make suggestions for more additions).  The use of Raptor's unique features are also explained, including using the clustering function to enable exploration, discovery, and learning not possible with other search engines.  An e-mail address to use for sending suggestions and feedback is given at the end of the webinar.

USGS-NBII Scientist to Participate in Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Executive Council Meeting

Mark Fornwall, NBII's OBIS-USA node manager, will participate in the U.S. delegation during negotiations related to the transfer of the international Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) from its current status as a part of the global Census of Marine Life to a more permanent home in the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). The move, approved by IOC members at the Assembly last June, will ensure the continued existence of OBIS and foster integration with other oceanographic data systems within the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program. The development of regional nodes and the adoption of international standards and protocols for the interoperability of marine biogeographic data within OBIS, is a great successes for the Census of Marine Life.  For the first time, marine biodiversity can be mapped and investigations can be conducted on the biogeography of the world’s oceans, changes in species distributions can be monitored, and causal factors affecting biodiversity can be investigated.

(Photo: Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), Hawaii. Photo by Paul Wang. Photo courtesy of the USGS Newsroom).