140 / 232
139
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE
REPORTS
|
No. 3, July 2, 2016
of their high richness and sensitivity to environmental
variables, arthropods offer some of the finest-grained data
with which to assess terrestrial biodiversity at individual
localities (alpha diversity) and changes across landscapes
(beta diversity). But because many arthropods lack
formal scientific names, ecological inventories may refer
to unidentifiable species using an informal name (e.g., a
morphospecies designation). But unlike formal taxonomic
names, informal names are rarely used as a basis for
accumulating knowledge. By posting libraries of images
and DNA sequence data for informal species concepts and
assigning them a persistent unique identifier, we provide a
basis for accumulating knowledge about a species regard-
less of whether it has a formal name.
Keywords: biodiversity informatics, cyberdiversity,
cybertaxonomy, GBIF, XML markup
Poster presentation
A broad spectrum inventory of a small
Caribbean island
Jeremy A. Miller
1
, Michael Stech
1
, Tinde van Andel
1,2
,
John Smit
1,3
, Ton de Winter
1
, Ed Colijn
3
, Lucas
Alferink
1,4
, Basje de Jonge
1,4
, Malamatenia Kaniadaki
1,4
,
Saskia Bantjes
4
, Elizabeth Haber
2
, Tessa Huijts
2
, Chantal
Posthouweer
4
, Thomas Verheijden
4
, Rens Vogel
4
, Sophie
Zwartsenberg
2
, Jöran Janse
5
, Bart Kluskens
5
, Elfriede
Schotsmans
5
, Ellen van Norren
6
, Wesley Overman
6
,
Sil Westra
6
, Roland Butot
1
, Koos Biesmeijer
1
, Hannah
Madden
7
, Berry van der Hoorn
1
1
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Postbus 9517, 2300
RA Leiden, The Netherlands;
2
Wageningen University,
Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708 PB Wageningen, The
Netherlands;
3
European Invertebrate Survey, Ken-
niscentrum Insecten, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden,
The Netherlands;
4
Leiden University, Rapenburg 70,
2311 EZ Leiden, The Netherlands;
5
Ravon, PO Box
1413, 6501 BK Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
6
Zoog-
diervereniging (Dutch Mammal Society), Postbus
6531, 6503 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
7
Stenapa,
Sint Eustatius National Parks Foundation, Gallows
Bay, Sint Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles
jeremy.miller@naturalis.nlIn October 2015, a team of researchers and students
conducted a rapid inventory of Sint Eustatius, a 21 km
2
island in the Lesser Antilles. Eleven quarter hectare plots
were established, each randomly placed within a dif-
ferent major vegetation zone. A sampling protocol was
established targeting vascular and non-vascular plants,
lichen, vertebrates, gastropods, and arthropods (focusing
on Araneae, Coleoptera, Formicidae, and Heteroptera).
The aim of the study is to investigate which taxonomic
groups can stand as surrogates for others in conservation
assessment based on the Species Accumulation Index
(SAI). Ultimately, we will determine whether monitoring
a subset of taxa can be used as a proxy for the island’s
biodiversity as a whole. For megadiverse groups, not all
species will be determined using formal scientific names.
Nevertheless, all will be assigned persistent identifiers
linked to image libraries and DNA sequences as prescribed
by the Cyberdiversity approach. The Caribbean presents
challenges for determining which species are shared by
which islands. Because this is a Cyberdiversity inventory,
independent investigators will be able to use our image
libraries and sequence data to compare the biota of Sint
Eustatius with that of other Caribbean islands.
Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, species accumula-
tion index, surrogacy
Student - poster presentation
Investigating the effects of fluoxetine on
anti-predator behavior of orb weaver
Larinioides cornutus
(Araneae: Araneidae)
*Madeleine Miller, Rebecca J. Wilson, Thomas C. Jones
Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and
Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson
City, TN 37601, USA
zmkm14@etsu.eduBiogenic amines have been shown to regulate aggression-
related behaviors in both vertebrates and invertebrates,
potentially playing a role in the overall fitness of the
animal. Being both predators and prey, spiders are an ideal
model organism for studying such behavior in the labora-
tory and field. In orb-weaving spiders, a careful balance
of aggression must be maintained to optimize foraging
20
th
International Congress of Arachnology