Description
This dataset contains the natural history specimens of the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago. The collection is composed of 589 specimens. In 2014, the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad & Tobago transferred their off-display natural history specimens to the UWIZM. As a result, these specimens are currently stored in the Zoology Room of the UWIZM.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 589 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Dalrymple A, Johnson L, Rutherford M, Ramnarine J, Deacon A (2023). Natural history collection of the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago (NMAGTT). Version 1.0. Test Organization #1. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=nmagttnaturalhistorycollection&v=1.0
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Test Organization #1. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 564c2ffd-2f19-4e9d-a498-7a740dbd4932. Test Organization #1 publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Secretariat.
Keywords
Occurrence; Specimen
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator
- Owner ●
- Originator
- Originator
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Metadata Provider ●
- Point Of Contact ●
- Principal Investigator
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7739-2925
Geographic Coverage
This collection consists of a variety of zoological specimens. It includes many from Trinidad and Tobago, as well as others from the wider Caribbean and some from the continents of North America, South America and Australia.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-47, -82], North East [28, 178.057] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
All specimens belong to Kingdom: Animalia. Specimens were identified from family – species level.
| Class | Actinopterygii, Amphibia, Aves, Elasmobranchii, Mammalia, Reptilia, Bivalvia, Cephalopoda, Gastropoda |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 1918-01-01 / 1992-01-01 |
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Project Data
Trinidad and Tobago supports a rich biodiversity, largely thanks to its geographical position as a pair of Caribbean islands situated just 11 km off the coast of South America. However, as a small island developing state, it faces numerous pressures of human development on biodiversity and habitat integrity. Well-functioning natural history collections are key in documenting, monitoring and managing this biodiversity. The project team is keen to build on the progress established during a previous BID regional project, which allowed the University of the West Indies Zoology Museum (UWIZM) to publish more than 21,000 records to GBIF and train a range of stakeholders. This project will mobilize data from the remainder of the UWIZM collection (including an extensive and agriculturally important land arthropod collection containing 45,000 specimens) while forging partnerships with two other national institutions with significant collections. The combined collections of the UWIZM, the National Herbarium of Trinidad and Tobago (NH) and the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago (NMAG) hold more than 100,000 specimens. Each of the three collections will hold greater value if they are available in a consistent format from a single source. This project aims to fill data gaps by digitizing these collections. These datasets will be published on GBIF, making them easily accessible to policy-makers and other stakeholders. Training workshops will be designed to increase awareness and build national capacity, access and use of GBIF and TTBIS, with the ultimate aim expanding T&T data published to GBIF by trained stakeholders able to prepare and publish their own datasets.
| Title | Improving national biodiversity data accessibility in Trinidad and Tobago |
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| Identifier | BID-CA2020-039-NAC |
| Funding | Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) is a multi-year programme funded by the European Union and led by GBIF with the aim of enhancing capacity for effective mobilization and use of biodiversity data in research and policy in the ‘ACP’ nations of sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. More information: https://www.gbif.org/programme/82243/bid-biodiversity-information-for-development |
The personnel involved in the project:
- Originator
- Originator
Sampling Methods
Specimens were mainly collected by hand, and brought to the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago.
| Study Extent | Global |
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| Quality Control | Specimen identifications were checked by the UWIZM. |
Method step description:
- Laboratory work: Fluid specimens were either desiccated or poorly preserved so each specimen was dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Most of the specimens were thought to be preserved in formalin but there were no object records to confirm this. Those with remaining fluid were re-fixed in formalin and stepped up in alcohol. Careful consideration was given to whether desiccated specimens were worth rehydrating. Some were left as dried specimens while others were revived through a simple rehydration technique using the detergent Contrad 70. The general process for this was as follows: 1. The specimen was placed in a heat-resistant container and completely covered with rehydrating fluid. 2. The container was covered and warmed to about 30-40°C on a hot plate. 3. The specimen was occasionally agitated to release gas bubbles. 4. When the specimen appeared to be rehydrated i.e. seen by the gradual re-expansion of cytoplasm and cell membranes, it was removed from the fluid and immersed in de-ionized water. 5. The specimen was rinsed in de-ionized water to remove any excess rehydrating fluid 6. Depending on the state of the specimen at this stage, they were either re-fixed or stepped up in alcohol. Digitising work: 1. Specimens in the collection were assessed for existing data (labels in jars, details in registers, etc.) 2. Identifications were confirmed or made using a variety of literature sources (scientific papers, books, online resources) 3. Specimens were photographed and properly stored 4. The data (information and photographs) were uploaded to the UWIZM Past Perfect database
Collection Data
| Collection Name | Natural history collection of the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago (NMAGTT) |
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| Specimen preservation methods | Formalin, Dried, Alcohol |
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Bibliographic Citations
- Gallus gallus domesticus Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed 7th June 2022. https://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/datazone/checklist?species=5091
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed 7th June 2022. https://www.itis.gov/
- Catalogue of Life. Accessed 7th June 2022. https://www.catalogueoflife.org/
- World Register of Marine Species. Accessed 7th June 2022. https://www.marinespecies.org/
- Mollusca Base. Accessed 7th June 2022. https://www.molluscabase.org/
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | https://ipt.gbif.org/resource?r=nmagttnaturalhistorycollection |
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