co-operation
LifeDesks
18-06-2009 10:09
Yesterday I created a new LifeDesk on Neotropical
snails.
The site provides tools for classification, taxon pages, bibliography and image galleries.
Potentially this is a great tool and I hope that, in the end, it may contain all information that gives a relevant and accurate picture of this group. At least, I will start to supply data for the Orthalicidae. With one taxon page and one bibliographic item put up, the start has been made. Until now, I was unable to upload an image that I wanted to complement the taxon page.
The first potential improvement I noticed is a link to other sites, like e.g. MorphBank, that gather partially the same information (images, bibliography). It is a nuisance to do double work and to go through different learning curves; each site has its own way of navigating and managing. Inevitable, but tedious. Integration by linking should be the direction to move forward.
This is part of the ongoing Encyclopedia of Life project, aiming at making taxonomy available to anyone at a click of your keybord. However, to make this authoritative one has to rely on the few experts that are available. But also non-experts may contribute, albeit the tools are not in place yet for making direct contributions.
If you feel you can make a useful contribution to document the biodiversity of Neotropical snails, please become a member of the team. You are more than welcome!
The site provides tools for classification, taxon pages, bibliography and image galleries.
Potentially this is a great tool and I hope that, in the end, it may contain all information that gives a relevant and accurate picture of this group. At least, I will start to supply data for the Orthalicidae. With one taxon page and one bibliographic item put up, the start has been made. Until now, I was unable to upload an image that I wanted to complement the taxon page.
The first potential improvement I noticed is a link to other sites, like e.g. MorphBank, that gather partially the same information (images, bibliography). It is a nuisance to do double work and to go through different learning curves; each site has its own way of navigating and managing. Inevitable, but tedious. Integration by linking should be the direction to move forward.
This is part of the ongoing Encyclopedia of Life project, aiming at making taxonomy available to anyone at a click of your keybord. However, to make this authoritative one has to rely on the few experts that are available. But also non-experts may contribute, albeit the tools are not in place yet for making direct contributions.
If you feel you can make a useful contribution to document the biodiversity of Neotropical snails, please become a member of the team. You are more than welcome!
Meeting colleagues
12-12-2008 14:09
Today I attended a meeting with colleagues
from
Naturalis.
It had something special since it served also to
acquaintance people that will form the new Dept.
of Terrestrial Zoology as of 1 January 2009.
The organisation goes through a lot of changes, the most important is the recently announced transformation into the ‘Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit’ (NCB; Dutch Center for Biodiversity). It will involve a merger of the Zoological Museum in Amsterdam and the National Herbarium (Leiden, Wageningen). The consequences will be additional facilities and housing in due time.
It was the first time that entomologists, malacologists and herpetologists were presenting their research to each other, together with associate researchers. My presentation was entitled “Neotropical land snails: a continued fascination”.
Here a quick overview of the Orthalicidae is depicted. Note the enormous variation, both in shell shape, size, coloration, etc. Also there are several examples of adaptive radiation (Galápagos) and non-adaptive radiation (Guayana Highlands) represented in this family. They keep me faciated...
The organisation goes through a lot of changes, the most important is the recently announced transformation into the ‘Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit’ (NCB; Dutch Center for Biodiversity). It will involve a merger of the Zoological Museum in Amsterdam and the National Herbarium (Leiden, Wageningen). The consequences will be additional facilities and housing in due time.
It was the first time that entomologists, malacologists and herpetologists were presenting their research to each other, together with associate researchers. My presentation was entitled “Neotropical land snails: a continued fascination”.
Here a quick overview of the Orthalicidae is depicted. Note the enormous variation, both in shell shape, size, coloration, etc. Also there are several examples of adaptive radiation (Galápagos) and non-adaptive radiation (Guayana Highlands) represented in this family. They keep me faciated...
The globalization of malacology
16-06-2007 15:50
The world is flat, we
all know. But usually we think of it in economical
interrelations between countries. Besides that one
can think about the effects of globalization in terms
of sustainability, if one takes a broader stand. But
frankly, until recently I hadn't thought of it from a
malacological viewpoint.
As I have pointed out earlier during my NMV presentation, I try to set up relevant co-operations with like-minded malacologists and have located a few in Latin America amongst others. However, two recent stories made me realize once again how dependent this is on circumstances. And how these circumstances can influence the fate of co-operation.
The first story came from Brazil, where a well-known malacologist was dismissed for whatever reason, though he was nearing the age of retirement. That being sad enough, the consequence is that biologists working in his group were also out of their jobs from one day to the other. As a result, one of them - who was interested in doing her Ph.D. research on Orthalicoidea - had to quit her research subject at once and find a new job. Sad enough, this ends a promising co-operation, although we remain in touch.
Secondly, this week I had a Skype call with a Colombian malacologist with whom I set up an interesting project on Plekocheilus. Let us remain optimistic about the question whether her biology degree equals a M.Sc. or not. But as a side note she said that University was closed already for some time and that everybody was forced into holidays by the government. The most shocking thing I learned, however, was that an appointment only lasts for 3 months; after that a renewal costs a lot of bureaucratic hasles.
The lessons I draw from this is a) setting up a co-operation needs a deep understanding of the local circumstances of your partner, plus a high frustration toleration on both sides; b) NUFFIC would be wise to revise the condition of job permanency for her grant programmes, as this condition can be met by the very, very happy few only.
As I have pointed out earlier during my NMV presentation, I try to set up relevant co-operations with like-minded malacologists and have located a few in Latin America amongst others. However, two recent stories made me realize once again how dependent this is on circumstances. And how these circumstances can influence the fate of co-operation.
The first story came from Brazil, where a well-known malacologist was dismissed for whatever reason, though he was nearing the age of retirement. That being sad enough, the consequence is that biologists working in his group were also out of their jobs from one day to the other. As a result, one of them - who was interested in doing her Ph.D. research on Orthalicoidea - had to quit her research subject at once and find a new job. Sad enough, this ends a promising co-operation, although we remain in touch.
Secondly, this week I had a Skype call with a Colombian malacologist with whom I set up an interesting project on Plekocheilus. Let us remain optimistic about the question whether her biology degree equals a M.Sc. or not. But as a side note she said that University was closed already for some time and that everybody was forced into holidays by the government. The most shocking thing I learned, however, was that an appointment only lasts for 3 months; after that a renewal costs a lot of bureaucratic hasles.
The lessons I draw from this is a) setting up a co-operation needs a deep understanding of the local circumstances of your partner, plus a high frustration toleration on both sides; b) NUFFIC would be wise to revise the condition of job permanency for her grant programmes, as this condition can be met by the very, very happy few only.