Western Washington University
Bellingham, Washington
Insect Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biology Department, Western Washington University
Contact: Dr. Merrill A. Peterson
The Visionary Digital BK+ system (installed December 2009) is being used in Merrill Peterson's insect ecology and evolutionary biology lab in the Biology Department at Western Washington University to support a research program in insect biodiversity informatics. Our primary (NSF-funded) project in this area is to develop a website featuring interactive identification keys and species accounts for ~1100 species of Pacific Northwest moths. Our goal is to enable non-experts to identify and learn about all of the macromoth species in the region. In the first phase of the project, we are tackling all of the families except the Geometridae, which we hope to add after completion of the first phase. Click here for a preview of our moth website.
John Huddleston, a technician working in the lab, is the principal photographer for this project. In addition, John will be developing the web interface for the project, drawing on his extensive background in computer science. Lars Crabo is providing taxonomic expertise and nearly all of the specimens for imaging. Undergraduate students in the Peterson lab are developing matrix-based keys (using Lucid software), and writing species accounts for many of the moth species. Lars and Paul Hammond (Oregon State U.), are writing species accounts for the most challenging groups. Rich Zack and Jon Shepard, collaborators at WSU's James Entomological Collection, are databasing moth collection records from throughout the Pacific Northwest. These data will be used to support interactive distribution maps on the individual species accounts.
The BK+ system will also be used to enhance undergraduate education in WWU's Biology Department. For example, Merrill will generate images with it to enrich his general entomology course with images of insect diversity and key morphological features. In addition, colleagues in the Biology Department are excited about using the system to image microscope slides in support of an introductory biology course for majors, enabling instructors to project an image of a representative slide to show the entire class what they should be looking for on their individual slides. With the incredible flexibility and quality of this imaging system, it's clear that we're only just beginning to take advantage of its tremendous range of possibilities for enhancing research and teaching at WWU.
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