1. EVALUATING NATURAL HISTORY
COLLECTIONS USE IN ONE
UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
Bethany Abrahamson
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Advisors: Kelly Miller, Tim Lowrey, Joe Cook
2. OUTLINE
Analyzing use of natural
history collections
(NHCs) through time
Challenges of analysis
Metrics
Methods and Results
Discussion
Conclusions
What we can learn
The next step
3. A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT NATURAL
HISTORY COLLECTIONS
Collections are important, people want to know
Funding groups and administrators
Other scientists
The public
The digital revolution
Current ways of informing about NHC importance
“Museums are for taxonomy” Diversification of use
Reviews, editorials
A new method: Analysis
5. WHY STUDY COLLECTIONS FROM THE
MUSEUM’S PERSPECTIVE?
Explore measures of NHC impact
Make collections (and collections records) more
useful to researchers and analysts
Figure courtesy of MSB Arthropods
6. CASE STUDY:
MUSEUM OF SOUTHWESTERN BIOLOGY
University of New Mexico
4,500,000++ specimens
“Regional”, major
holdings from American
Southwest, Central/South
America, and worldwide
Grown in size and scope
of collections since early
1990s
Six of ten divisions:
Arthropods!
Birds
Fishes
Herbarium
Mammals
Reptiles and Amphibians
7. CHALLENGES OF NHC ANALYSIS: COMPARING
ARTHROPODS TO VERTEBRATES AND BEYOND….
Different collections research applications
Different collection management methods
Different curator priorities
However,
collections do have
metrics that are
common across
divisions…
Figure courtesy of MSB Arthropods
10. EXPECTED TRENDS
Publications
New, innovative studies increase, traditional uses decrease?
Systematics?
Collection-specific
Loans
Loans of local specimens predominate
MSB growth = increased loans of non-NM specimens over time
11. PUBLICATIONS
1,387 publications over time (1940-May 2013)
From collection managers, journal databases
Titles, journal titles, and article keywords searched
Search phrases Keyword Groups (Keywords)
Some publications received more than one keyword
Simplified N-gram/content analysis
Figure Courtesy of Tom Giermakowski
13. LOANS
1,784 loan records over time (1968-May 2013)
54,509+ specimens loaned
Locations (state/province) recorded
Figure Courtesy of Tom Giermakowski
15. WHICH KEYWORDS CHANGE IN FREQUENCY
OVER TIME?
Evolution
(Spearman
Signed-Rank, ns)
Morphology (ns)
Decreasing
Life History
(P<0.001)
0.12
Proportion Keyword
Arthropods
Increasing
Arthropods
Proportion of Keywords v. Decade
0.1
0.08
0.06
Evolution
Life History
Morphology
0.04
0.02
0
Decade
16. WHICH KEYWORDS CHANGE IN FREQUENCY
OVER TIME?
Birds
Increasing
Evolution (ns)
Genetics (ns)
Birds
Proportion of Keywords v. Decade
0.3
Decreasing
Disease (ns)
Variation (ns)
Proportion Keyword
0.25
0.2
Disease
Evolution
Genetics
Variation
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
1980-1989 1990-1999 2000-2009 2010-2013
Decade
17. WHICH KEYWORDS CHANGE IN FREQUENCY
OVER TIME?
Fishes
Proportion of Keywords v. Decade
Fishes
Increasing
Conservation
(P<0.05)
Genetics (ns)
0.7
Decreasing
Ecology
(P<0.05)
Proportion Keyword
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
Conservation
Ecology
Genetics
0.2
0.1
0
Decade
18. WHICH KEYWORDS CHANGE IN FREQUENCY
OVER TIME?
Herbarium
Proportion of Keywords v. Decade
Herbarium
Increasing
Ecology (ns)
Morphology (ns)
0.14
Proportion Keyword
0.12
0.1
0.08
Ecology
Morphology
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
2000-2009
2010-2013
Decade
19. WHICH KEYWORDS CHANGE IN FREQUENCY
OVER TIME?
Mammals
Proportion of Keywords v. Decade
Mammals
Increasing
Decreasing
Life History
(P<0.05)
0.3
Proportion Keyword
Genetics
(P<0.05)
Systematics
(P<0.05)
0.35
0.25
0.2
Life History
0.15
Genetics
Systematics
0.1
0.05
0
Decade
20. WHICH KEYWORDS CHANGE IN FREQUENCY
OVER TIME?
Evolution (P<0.05)
Decreasing
Morphology
(P<0.05)
Reptiles and Amphibians
Proportion of Keywords v. Decade
0.12
Proportion Keyword
Reptiles and
Amphibians
Increasing
0.1
0.08
0.06
Evolution
Morphology
0.04
0.02
0
Decade
21. HOW DOES THE ARTHROPODS DIVISION
COMPARE TO OTHERS OVERALL?
Proportion Keyword: Systematics
Proportion of Keyword “Systematics” vs. Decade
1.2
1
Arthropods
0.8
Birds
0.6
Fishes
0.4
Herbarium
0.2
Mammals
0
Reptiles and
Amphibians
Decade
22. DO CURATORS AFFECT THEIR PARTICULAR
AREAS OF RESEARCH?
Proportion of Keyword Before/After Curator Hire
0.6
Proportion
0.5
0.4
0.3
Before
After
0.2
0.1
0
Systematics
Arthropods
Evolution
Birds
Evolution
Fishes
Biogeography Conservation
Mammals
Rept. and Amph.
Research Interests
23. DO THE PROPORTION OF LOANS OF
SPECIMENS FROM NM CHANGE OVER TIME?
Most of the top
species loaned were
species that can be
found in NM.
The proportion of
loans of NM
specimens have
decreased over time.
Proportion Loans with NM
specimens, Total Museum
Proportion
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
Proportion NM
0.3
0.2
0.1
R² = 0.657
0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year
24. ARE SPECIMENS FROM NM BEING LOANED MORE
THAN OTHERS?
Proportion of Specimens Collected in NM
0.9
0.8
0.7
Proportion
0.6
0.5
Specimens in
Collection
0.4
0.3
Specimens
Loaned
0.2
0.1
0
Arthropods
Birds
Fishes
Herbarium
Division
Mammals Reptiles and
Amphibians
25. CONCLUSIONS: PUBLICATIONS
Growth of papers over time
Arthropods:
Evolution, Morphology (not
Life History)
Much yet to be discovered
Arthropods leads
Systematics
Curator
Age, size of collection are likely
other factors
Trends toward new uses;
away from traditional uses
(except systematics!)
26. CONCLUSIONS: LOANS
Top species found in NM
Overall decrease in NM
loans (Arthropods: even
less)
Large regional collections
are not only good as
repositories for local
specimens but also for
specimens collected
elsewhere
Curator influence
Figure courtesy of kellymillerlab.com
27. WHAT CAN WE LEARN?
Publications
Good metric for NHC
relation to science
Compiling
publications lists:
difficult, but important
Keyword phrases
pros and cons
Loans
Patchy, unwieldy
format
A kind of publication
What can arthropods
collections do?
Digitization
Tracking
Publications
Search
engines, Changing
journal policies
28. THERE IS MUCH (AND MORE) TO LEARN FROM
COLLECTIONS ANALYSIS
Step 1: What I plan to do
Parametric tests
Effect of cultural trends
More datasets
Across
museums, museum
types, science overall
Social science content
analyses
Step 2: What we can take
away
Fill a gap in knowledge for
future researchers
Use in other museums
29. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Advisors
Collection managers
K. Miller, T. Lowrey, J. Cook
D. Lightfoot, S. Brantley, A. Johnson, P. Tonne, A.
Snyder, J. Dunnam, and T. Giermakowski, D. McDonald
Assistance
R. Mallis, N. Gilkey, M. Howland-Davis, S. Brantley, Y. Wei
Several anonymous reviewers
This project will be completed May 2014 for a Master of
Science degree in Biology.
In what ways are NHCs used to further scientific knowledge?Can their use be measured?Are there patterns to how NHCs are used?Has NHC use changed over time?An exploratory study
Research program, kinds of work
Topics in publications that reference NHCs likely change over timeRe word
University collections house local species and prioritize the preservation of threatened and protected speciesReword
Arthropods and Herbarium: many undiscovered species vs. threatened/endangered species in other divisions
Titles existed for each, but not always journal or keyword
(H1: loaned specimens collected in NM is significantly different than expected)