GUAM FOREST BIODIVERSITY INVENTORY

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: MCINTIRE-STENNIS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1018014
• Project Start Date: Oct 31, 2018
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2022
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION
(N/A)
MANGILAO,GU 96913

Performing Department
Experiment Station

Non Technical Summary
The main goal of this project is to build and maintain a Guam Forest Biodiversity Inventory. In its simplest form, a biodiversity inventory is a checklist of animals and plants inhabiting a geographic area or habitat of interest. In this case, the habitat of interest is Guam's forests. This project will be a major component of a larger project aimed at building a Guam Terrestrial Biodiversity Inventory to include all life forms found on the island.Guam's forest ecosystems are rapidly being degraded by invasive insect species and habitat destruction. Impacts of bird extinctions caused by the brown tree snake predation on Guam's forests are well known. But these impacts are rivaled by contemporary ecological disasters:In 2002, Guam's endemic cycad, Cycas micronesica, was the most abundant tree (DBH > 5 inches) in Guam's forests (Donnegon et al., 2002). In 2003 the Asian cycad scale (Aulacaspis yasumatsui) was detected on Guam infesting ornamental cycads. The scale quickly spread to wild cycads and started killing them. Within only three years, Cycas micronesica was placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and in 2016, this plant was placed on the US national endangered species list. It is estimated that 90% of Guam's cycads have been killed and there is no sign of recovery.Coconut (Cocos nucifera), is Guam's second most abundant tree species. Guam's palms are rapidly being killed by coconut rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) which was first detected on the island in 2007. It is likely that 50% or more of the island's coconut palms will be lost.Despite rapid destruction of Guam's forests, there is not even a basic checklist which can be used to document changes in biodiversity. A biodiversity inventory is needed:to document changes in Guam's ecosystemsto document detection of and impacts caused by invasive species which are arriving at a rapid rateto provide free, open access to information on Guam's flora and fauna (including images and occurrence maps) to the global scientific community, policy makers, and the publicto act as a digital repository for data from biological surveys and biological collectionsto provide links to scientific literature about taxa which occur on Guamto document ecological relationships among taxa such as hosts, predators, parasites and diseases

Animal Health Component

75%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

0%

Applied

75%

Developmental

25%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
136	0699	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
136 - Conservation of Biological Diversity;

Subject Of Investigation
0699 - Trees, forests, and forest products, general;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

biodiversity

invasive species

endangered species

Goals / Objectives
1 Goal: Liberate data from biological collections1.1 Objective: Complete digitization of the UOG insect collectionThe UOG insect collection catalog has already been made available online using Symbiota. Note that Symbiota automatically uploads data to GBIF. The next phase of this digitization project will be imaging of all taxa in the collection. Existing images will be uploaded and linked to specimen data. Images will be made for taxa which have not been previously imaged and these will also be uploaded.1.2 Objective: Complete digitization of the UOG herbariumDigital images are available for all herbarium sheets. The existing herbarium catalog will be converted from a local database to an online database using Symbiota or Specify. Both of these online collection database managers automatically upload to GBIF.1.3 Objective: Liberate data from the scientific literatureThe PI will organize extraction of Guam biodiversity information from primary scientific publications, starting with Insects of Guam I and II.2 Goal: Provide public access to Guam forest biodiversity data2.1 Objective: Build the Guam Forest Biodiversity Web SiteThe PI will launch a web site to serve as a portal to Guam forest biodiversity data stored in GBIF. Pages will be developed to dynamically generate lists such as those suggested above.3 Goal: Foster public interest in Guam's forest biodiversity3.1 Objective: Outreach and Citizen Science ActivitiesThe PI will offer annual workshops on the use of iNaturalist, a social networking app used by citizen scientists and naturalists which enables them to record biodiversity observations with images and georeferencing using smart phones. iNaturalist data which is validated as research grade by the community is automatically uploaded to GBIF.The PI will continue to maintain an iNaturalist project entitled Insects of Micronesia.The PI will work with the UOG Center for Island Sustainability to organize annual bioblitzes. A bioblitz is is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Participants in the bioblitzes will be trained to useiNaturalist which will be used to document results.4 Goal: Foster collaboration to help overcome the taxonomic impediment4.1 Objective: Collaboration with taxonomists, collectors and the biodiversity informatics communityCollaboration with taxonomists will be cultivated to help identify a large backlog of unidentified specimens in the UOG insect collection.Existing collaboration will be maintained with existing partners list in the Collaboration/Cooperation section of this proposal.The PI will participate in at least one scientific meeting per year covering biological collections and/or biodiversity informatics.The PI will encourage donation of voucher specimens to the UOG insect collection from biological surveys such as those being conducted by the Ecology of Bird Loss and the baseline surveys being done by military contractors in support of the military buildup.

Project Methods
The Guam Forest Biodiversity website will use the Global Biodiversity Information Facility as its backend database. Existing GBIF taxon occurrence records for Guam will be augmented from biological collection data extracted from digital catalogs of the UOG insect collection and the UOG herbarium, and from the scientific literature. Input to and output from GBIF will be facilitated by the use of modern biodiversity data standards, namely Darwin core archives. The website will be constructed using a Web2Py Python web framework.

Progress 10/01/20 to 09/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for data resulting from this project is anybody interested in Guam's biodiversity. This includes biologists, invasive species specialists, ecologists, resource planners, biosecurity officials, students, and the general public. Changes/Problems:The University of Guam insect collection has been mothballed in a small storage room with poor environmental conditions and insufficient work space. These problems impede progress on further digitization of the collection. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Plazi provided online training sessions specifically for this project. Topics covered whereIntroduction to Golden Gate Imagine SoftwareandEnhancing Material Citations. Seehttps://osf.io/f498p/wiki/home/for details. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Data from the Scientific literature For each chapter we annotate, the Plazi workflow creates a journal article published in Zenodo. This is essentially a republished copy of the original chapter with links to files containing extracted data. Links are provided for a GBIF checklist dataset which may be downloaded in several formats including Darwin core archive (DwCA). In addition, a dataset for each taxon within the chapter is created and stored in the Plazi Treatment Bank. For example, here are the publicly accessible online data products which were automatically appeared on the internet after we annotated theBees of Guamchapter: Zenodo article:Cockerell, T. D. A. (1942). Bees of Guam. In Insects of Guam I (pp. 188-190). Bernice P. Bishop Museum.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5160372 GBIF dataset:Cockerell T D A, carolina (1942). Bees of Guam.Plazi.orgtaxonomic treatments database. Checklist datasethttps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5160372accessed viaGBIF.orgon 2021-12-17. This dataset can be downloaded in several formats including Darwin core archive. Note that information within this dataset will be accessed whenever GBIF is queried. Taxon treatments:A page is available for each taxon which appears in the chapter: Cockerell, T. D. A. (1942). Apis mellifera Linnaeus. In Bees of Guam, pp. 188-190 in Insects of Guam I (p. 188). Bernice P. Bishop Museum.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5211876 Cockerell, T. D. A. (1942). Megachile laticeps Smith. In Bees of Guam, pp. 188-190 in Insects of Guam I (p. 188). Bernice P. Bishop Museum.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5164364 And so on for the 7 species in this chapter. Data from the University of Guam insect collection Data and images for each specimen accessioned by the UOG insect collection are uploaded to a publicly available online database athttps://scan-bugs.org/portal/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=180which is hosted by the Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network. All records are then automatically published on GBIF in a dataset athttps://www.gbif.org/dataset/56e311e3-43c6-4b99-aa21-af396074d5e3. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the last year of this project annotation of materials citations in Insects of Guam I and II will be completed and a journal article will be prepared documenting progress that has been made towards realization of a terrestrial biodiversity inventory for Guam.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1 Goal: Liberate data from biological collections and scientific literature We are datamining legacy literature about insects on Guam contained in Insects of Guam I and II. These volumes document insects collected during a comprehensive entomological survey of Guam done in 1936. All 37 chapters of Guam I and II have been datamined by Plazi with resultant datasets published in Zenodo, Treatment Bank and GBIF. We are currently enhancing materials citations annotation by extracting detailed data for each specimen or series examined in each species treatment section within each chapter. We have completed 12 chapters and are tracking our progress using an online status report athttps://aubreymoore.github.io/data-mining-insects-of-guam/MatCit-Validator/status_report.html. Insect occurrence records for Guam continue to accumulate in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Most records are from data sources being built and maintained by this project. GBIF.org(28 December 2020) GBIF Occurrence Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.15468/dl.yfwjwt 18,604 Guam insect occurrence records 15,136 records were sourced from the University of Guam Insect Collection online catalog. 457 records were sourced from iNaturalist research-grade observations. GBIF.org(17 December 2021) GBIF Occurrence Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.15468/dl.34ugmb 19,187 Guam occurrence records 15,147 records were sourced from the University of Guam Insect Collection online catalog. 776 records were sourced from iNaturalist research-grade observations 2 Goal: Provide public access to Guam forest biodiversity data Please see the section entitledHow have the results been disseminated to communities of interest. 3 Goal: Foster public interest in Guam's forest biodiversity The PI participated in a workshop for educators sponsored by the Guam Soil and Water Conservation districts entitledHealthy Forests, Healthy Communities. The PI participated in making a video recording about Guam's forests: Ares, Adrian. 2021. Video: Forests of Guam. Presentation for the 15th World Forestry Conference. Western Pacific Tropical Research Center, University of Guam. Accessed July 27, 2021.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27D-ovSzLBk. 4 Goal: Foster collaboration to help overcome the taxonomic impediment Nothing to report.

Publications

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Little progress on this project was made during FY2020 because work and travel were impeded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Datamining of biodiversity data from Insects of Guam I and II was delayed following accidental data loss. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Priority for the nextyear will be: * Completion of a datamining project to extract bidiversity data (occurrence records, ecological associations, etc.) from Insects of Guam I and Insects of Guam II. * Completion of digitization of the University of Guam Insect collection. Next step is adding images for all pinned specimens tot the online database.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Limited progress on this project was made during FY2020 because work and travel were impeded by the COVID-19 pandemic: * Plans to continue digitization of the University of Guam insect collection using student interns was cancelled because the University was closed. * Plans to participate in the 4th iDigBio Annual Digital Data Conference which was to be held at Indiana University were abandoned. * Public outreached in the form of local workshops was curtailed. Insect occurrence records for Guam continue to accumulate in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) [1]. Most records are from data sources maintained by this McIntire-Stennis project. * GBIF currently reports 18,604 Guam insect ocurrence records which include 16 orders, 228 families, 620 genera, and 1035 species. * 15,136 records were sourced from the University of Guam Insect Collection online catalog. * 457 records were sourced from iNaturalist Research-grade observations. Most of these are from the iNaturalist Insects of Micronesia Project. [1] GBIF.org (28 December 2020) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.yfwjwt

Publications

Progress 10/31/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for project output is the general public, the global scientific community, government agncies, and policy makers. All data and resulting documents will be made freely accessable on the world-wide-web. Changes/Problems:Facilities and environmental conditions in which the University of Guam insect collection are being kept are inadequate and are leading todeterioration of this valuable scientific resource. The project director is attempting to secure sustainable support for the collection via the University of Guam EPSCOR program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?https://scan-bugs.org/portal/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=180This project sponsored an internship to train students in curation and digitizationof the University of Guam insect collection. During the reporting period, three students participated. Fifteen entomology student volunteers participated in crowd-sourced datamining which extracted taxonomic and ecological information from Insects of Guam I, Bishop Museum Bulletin 172. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information was disseminated to the general public via the Insects of Micronesia Project on iNaturalist.org. This site was also used to transmit technical information on newly arrived invasive insects to government agencies such as USDA-APHIS and the Guam Department of Agriculture. Specimen records from the University of Guam insect collection were made available to the general public in an online catalog hosted by Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network(SCAN). Research quality data from iNaturalist and from SCAN were made available to the scientific community by automatic publication on the Global Biodiversity Information System (GBIF). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Progress was made on the following objectives: 1.1 Objective: Complete digitization of the UOG insect collection Three student interns werehired to continue digitization of the University of Guam insect collection. Images of several hundred pinned specimens were made and these will be added to the online catalog. 1.3 Objective: Liberate data from the scientific literature A data mining project extracted occurrence records and ecological associates (hosts, etc.) for 370 species of insects recorded in Insects of Guam I, Bishop Museum Bulletin 172. Data extraction was done by 15 entomology student volunteers using free crowdsourcing software called Turkle. We plan to publish the resulting dataset, as a Darwin core archive, in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 3.1 Objective: Outreach and Citizen Science Activities Monthly presentations on Guam's insects were made for the Guam Head Start program. The Insects of Micronesia iNaturalist project now has 2,013 observations of 312 insect species made by 90 people. One thousand and twenty-six observations were added to the project since the start of the reporting period. This iNaturalist project is becoming a useful online resource for identifying common insects on the island. This project is also being used for collecting, mapping, and sharing information on invasive species. 4.1 Objective: Collaboration with taxonomists, collectors and the biodiversity informatics community Dr. Benita Laird-Hopkins, an ecologist working with the Ecology of Bird Loss Project, has deposited over 5,000 pinned insect vouchers in the University of Guam insect collection. These insects were all reared from identified seeds of forest plants on Guam and Saipan. Batches of specimens have been sent out to specialist taxonomists for species determination. This unique dataset being compiled will extend our understanding of ecological associations between Guam's forest plants and insects.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Moore A. 2018. Failed attempts to establish IPM for Asian cycad scale and coconut rhinoceros beetle on Guam [Internet]. Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America; 2018 Nov 13 [cited 2019 Jan 21]; Vancouver, Canada. Available from: https://zenodo.org/record/2545065/files/Moore-Vancouver-2018.pdf