Extending mammal specimens with their essential phenotypic traits
Natural history collections are repositories of biodiversity specimens that provide critical infrastructure for studies of mammals. Over the past 3 decades, digitization of collections has opened up the temporal and spatial properties of specimens, stimulating new data sharing, use, and training across the biodiversity sciences. These digital records are the cornerstones of an "extended specimen network," in which the diverse data derived from specimens become digital, linked, and openly accessible for science and policy. However, still missing from most digital occurrences of mammals are their morphological, reproductive, and life-history traits. Unlocking this information will advance mammalogy, establish richer faunal baselines in an era of rapid environmental change, and contextualize other types of specimen-derived information toward new knowledge and discovery. Here, we present the Ranges Digitization Network (Ranges), a community effort to digitize specimen-level traits from all terrestrial mammals of western North America, append them to digital records, publish them openly in community repositories, and make them interoperable with complimentary data streams. Ranges is a consortium of 23 institutions with an initial focus on non-marine mammal species (both native and introduced) occurring in western Canada, the western United States, and Mexico. The project will establish trait data standards and informatics workflows that can be extended to other regions, taxa, and traits. Reconnecting mammalogists, museum professionals, and researchers for a new era of collections digitization will catalyze advances in mammalogy and create a community-curated trait resource for training and engagement with global conservation initiatives.
Authors
- Jocelyn P. Colella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2463-1029)
- Nathan S. Upham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5412-9342)
- Rebecca J. Rowe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0492-568X)
- William D. Duncan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9625-1899)
- Robert D. Bradley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1973-2661)
- Joseph A. Cook (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3985-0670)
- John P. Dumbacher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8942-1554)
- K.M. Fitzgerald
- Alyssa Semerdjian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7818-3547)
- Robert Guralnick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6682-1504)
- Helena Machado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8415-4848)
- Shannen L. Robson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8825-5432)
- Julie M. Allen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7625-3050)
- David Bloom (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1273-1807)
- Laura Steger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0878-4132)
- Alyson Wilkins
- Jeffrey E. Bradley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7390-2978)
- Eric A. Rickart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6274-0501)
- Matthew D. Carling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9401-7844)
- Raphael LaFrance
- Maureen Flannery
- Chris R. Feldman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2988-3145)
- Adam W. Ferguson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6931-6420)
- Dakota M. Rowsey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5925-0579)
- Chris J. Conroy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7198-9651)
- Kayce C. Bell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6835-0021)
- Cody W. Thompson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6686-6056)
- Katherine M. Thibault
- David C. Blackburn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1810-9886)
- Andrew Doll (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1038-1690)
- Silvia Pavan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5975-7030)
- Dianna Krejsa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1806-6115)
- S. W. Peterson
- Sharlene E. Santana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6463-3569)
- Angela D. Hornsby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0927-2101)
- Richard D. Stevens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9821-0633)
- Jessica E. Light (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6462-3045)
- Bryan S. McLean (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1293-5298)
- Edward Davis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0918-5852)
- Jonathan L. Dunnum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7868-3719)
- Elizabeth A. Wommack (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9172-0120)
- Theodore Stankowich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6579-7765)
- Katrina M Derieg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0320-1804)
- Alexandra Coconis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0451-3690)
- Adrienne Raniszewski
- John R. Demboski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5163-4113)
- Kaitlin Hood
- Heidi Amarilla-Stevens
Institutions
- Texas Tech University (US)
- University of Wyoming (US)
- Science Museum of Minnesota (US)
- Florida Museum of Natural History (US)
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (US)
- University of Nevada, Reno (US)
- University of Kansas (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US)
- University of New Mexico (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- Cal Poly Humboldt (US)
- University of Utah (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (US)
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science (US)
- Field Museum of Natural History (US)
- California Academy of Sciences (US)
- National Ecological Observatory Network (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (US)
- Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (US)
- Natural History Museum of Utah (US)
- Arizona State University (US)
- California State University, Long Beach (US)
- University of Montana (US)
- Virginia Tech (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Florida College (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Mammalogy
- Published
- 2025-07-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaf062
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.68