Discovering Biodiversity

Catalog description

Collecting natural history specimens is not only an expression of our human curiosity for the natural world. This activity forms the evidential basis of much that we understand about biodiversity, its evolutionary history, and what changes take place across ecological space and time. How do biodiversity scientists build up this knowledge? More precisely, how do we create specimen-based information that drives our understanding of past, present and future trends in biodiversity? This research-active course gives critical skills in documenting biodiversity 'from the specimen up.' Students learn about current methods in biodiversity documentation in the field and research collection, including concepts and practices needed to collect, process, digitize, publish and analyze high-quality biodiversity data through open, standard-compliant information environments.