There has been a flurry of activity at Notes from Nature these past few days, as a number of new Expeditions join us in the Plants section, and new sections for Aquatics and Fossils are launched, all in time for the 3-day WeDig Bio event that launched today!

Starting in Australia….

It all kicked off at the Australian Museum, where the  DigiVol  team gathered a group of volunteers to spend the day transcribing some fascinating specimens – check out their projects here: https://www.wedigbio.org/content/digivol. You can help out with these projects at any time, or if that’s your corner of the world, why not join them on Saturday for a great chance to hang-out with others interested in Biodiversity Collections around the world?

….over to Europe – live in London at the time of writing ….

As the planet turned, we were handed the baton here in London at the Natural History Museum, where we have a team of Visiteers joining us in our Specimen Preparation Area in the Cocoon, helping us to transcribe our ‘Killer Within’ chalcid slides. These tiny wasps are parasitoids, meaning they lay their eggs inside other insects.

When chalcid eggs hatch, the emerging larvae eat the inside of their host. They then grow and pupate until mature enough to burst out as adults, finally killing the host. These tiny creatures play a very important role as biological control agents – they are the natural enemy of a wide range of insect pests that damage our food crops, thus reducing the need for chemicals and pesticides, and saving a significant amount of money as well. You can join us too!

Primulaceae from Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

We’re joined by our London neighbour Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, who have launched their Primulaceae Expedition in the Herbarium section.

The tropical Primulaceae form a species-rich but poorly known group. Research at Kew aims to further understand the taxonomy, evolution and diversification of the family to mirror our understanding of the temperate Primulaceae.  When thinking of Primulaceae, most of us will picture the spring flowers primroses and cowslips.

These are not only charismatic wild flowers but are also important in horticulture. Traditionally, Primulaceae contained only temperate herbaceous groups and whilst known to be very closely related to Myrsinaceae, was kept separate, primarily on account of Myrsinaceae being woody and tropical. However, based on a suite of similar morphological characters and more recent DNA evidence, all species of Myrsinaceae have been placed in Primulaceae. Come take a look!

Amaranthaceae from the Botanischer Garten Berlin

And just a short trip down to the European continent, we are joined by  the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, and their newly launched Amaranthaceae Expedition in the Herbarium.

These plants represent the most species-rich lineage within the flowering plant order of Caryophyllales, and are economically important to study because they include vegetables such as spinach (Spinacia oleracea) or forms of beet (Beta vulgaris) (beetroot, chard), and ‘pseudocereals’ such as lamb’s quarters (Chenopodium berlandieri), quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and kañiwa (Chenopodium pallidicaule).

A number of species are popular garden ornamental plants, (such as Alternanthera, Amaranthus, Celosia, and Iresine), others are considered weeds (such as redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) and alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides)), and many others cause pollen allergies.

Up Next: North America

Where will you visit? What projects will you join?

Now it’s your turn!

Your help transcribing these specimen labels will allow many more scientists around the world to study the mechanisms of their evolution and investigate biological diversity around the world.

It is essential to link information about organisms and specimens in the collections, to secure this data sustainably and to make it widely accessible and usable. You are helping us to make these collections accessible around the world, and this important information on biodiversity available to everyone.

If you’d like to find an event happening near you, check out the WeDigBio event listings. But you can take part in any of these digitisation projects, from anywhere in the world!