Caveat consumptor notitia museo: Let the museum data user beware

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14310%2F19%3A00112019" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14310/19:00112019 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/geb.12995" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/geb.12995</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb.12995" target="_blank" >10.1111/geb.12995</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Caveat consumptor notitia museo: Let the museum data user beware

Original language description

Issue Lot accession information from natural history collections represents a potentially vital source of large datasets to test biodiversity, biogeography and macroecology hypotheses. But does such information provide an accurate portrayal of the natural world? We review the many types of bias and error intrinsic to museum collection data and consider how these factors may affect their ability to accurately test ecological hypotheses. Evidence We considered all Texas land snail collections from the two major repositories in the state and compared them with an ecological sample drawn across the same landscape. We found that museum collection localities were biased in favour of regions with higher human population densities and iconic destinations. They also tended to be made during attractive temporal windows. Small, uncharismatic taxa tended to be under-collected while larger, charismatic species were over-collected. As a result, for most species it was impossible to use museum lot frequency to accurately predict frequency and abundance in an ecological sample. Species misidentification rate was approximately 20%, while 4% of lots represented more than one species. Errors were spread across the entire shell size spectrum and were present in 75% of taxonomic families. Contingency table analysis documented significant dependence of both misidentification and mixed lot rates upon shell size and family richness. Conclusion Researchers should limit their use of museum record data to situations where their inherent biases and errors are irrelevant, rectifiable or explicitly considered. At the same time museums should begin incorporating expert specimen verification into their digitization programs.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Global Ecology and Biogeography

ISSN

1466-822X

e-ISSN

1466-8238

Volume of the periodical

28

Issue of the periodical within the volume

12

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

13

Pages from-to

1722-1734

UT code for WoS article

000484852800001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85071622680