Anthropologically introduced biases in natural history collections, with a case study on the invertebrate paleontology collections from the middle Cambrian Spence Shale Lagerstätte

Whitaker, Anna F.; Kimmig, Julien

doi:10.26879/1106

Cited by 22 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(120 reference statements)

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“…It is notable that previously described fossil tardigrade taxa are known from the less intensively sampled Canadian and New Jersey amber, with just over 100 and approximately 130 species reported, respectively [ 43 , 44 ]. A possible explanation may be the level of attention to detail involved in the amber screening process, given that Burmese, Baltic and Dominican amber are primarily commercially mined and prepared, and thus introduce a substantial collector bias for large and visually appealing inclusions [ 45 ]. This highlights the need for precautions in preparing and analysing samples of ambers since they might contain valuable tardigrade inclusions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tardigrade in Dominican amber

et al. 2021

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Tardigrades are a diverse group of charismatic microscopic invertebrates that are best known for their ability to survive extreme conditions. Despite their long evolutionary history and global distribution in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, the tardigrade fossil record is exceedingly sparse. Molecular clocks estimate that tardigrades diverged from other panarthropod lineages before the Cambrian, but only two definitive crown-group representatives have been described to date, both from Cretaceous fossil deposits in North America. Here, we report a third fossil tardigrade from Miocene age Dominican amber. Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et sp. nov. is the first unambiguous fossil representative of the diverse superfamily Isohypsibioidea, as well as the first tardigrade fossil described from the Cenozoic. We propose that the patchy tardigrade fossil record can be explained by the preferential preservation of these microinvertebrates as amber inclusions, coupled with the scarcity of fossiliferous amber deposits before the Cretaceous.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tardigrade in Dominican amber

et al. 2021

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“…Despite the rarity of exceptional preservation, continuous survey efforts at the Spence Shale by amateur collectors—the Gunther family, Phil Reese, and Paul Jamison (Whitaker and Kimmig, 2020)—have provided many excellent specimens of both biomineralizing fauna (e.g., polymerid trilobites, brachiopods, echinoderms, hyolithids, agnostids) (Babcock and Robison, 1988; Gaines and Droser, 2005; Briggs et al, 2008; Conway Morris et al, 2015; Foster and Gaines, 2016; Kimmig et al, 2019) and soft-bodied biotas (Robison, 1969; Rigby, 1980; Conway Morris and Robison, 1988; Robison et al, 2015; Foster and Gaines, 2016; Kimmig et al, 2019), including enigmatic forms (e.g., Kimmig and Selden, 2020). In addition to body fossils, abundant trace fossils are preserved within bioturbated intervals, suggesting fluctuations in bottom-water oxygenation that were periodically conducive to colonization by benthic communities (Garson et al, 2012; Kimmig and Strotz, 2017; Hammersburg et al, 2018).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synchrotron imagery of phosphatized eggs in Waptia cf. W. fieldensis from the middle Cambrian (Miaolingian, Wuliuan) Spence Shale of Utah

2021

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Exceptionally preserved fossil eggs and embryos provide critical information regarding paleoembryogenesis, reproductive strategies, and the early ontogeny of early arthropods, but the rarity of preservation of both eggs and egg-bearing organisms in situ limits their use in detailed evolutionary developmental (evo-devo) studies. Burgess Shale-type deposits preserve rare instances of egg-bearing arthropods as carbonaceous compressions; however, the eggs are usually poorly preserved with no compelling evidence of embryos. We describe the first record of a brooding specimen of Waptia cf. W. fieldensis from the Spence Shale, a Cambrian (Wuliuan Stage) Burgess Shale-type deposit in northeastern Utah and southeastern Idaho. This is the first record of an egg-bearing arthropod from the Spence Shale and it exhibits two distinct modes of preservation among eggs within the single clutch: carbonization and phosphatization. Unlike the egg-bearing Burgess Shale specimens, many eggs of this Utah specimen are also preserved three-dimensionally. In addition, synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy reveals internal distributions of mineral phases, along with potential remnants of the egg membrane and attachment structures, but, as in the Burgess Shale, no explicit traces of developing embryos. The distinct modes of preservation highlight the existence of diagenetic microenvironments within some eggs, but not in others during fossilization.

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“…The collection and mobilisation of species occurrence records provide the cornerstone for our understanding of past and current species distributions. However, these activities are typically conducted non-randomly along the axes of space, time an taxonomy; hence, the resultant data are biased towards particular locations, periods and species, respectively (Barends et al, 2020;Daru et al, 2018;Delisle et al, 2003;Isaac and Pocock, 2015;Reddy and Dávalos, 2003;Whitaker and Kimmig, 2020). These biases become more complicated when multiple datasets, each with their own idiosyncrasies, are aggregated (Whitaker and Kimmig, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these activities are typically conducted non-randomly along the axes of space, time an taxonomy; hence, the resultant data are biased towards particular locations, periods and species, respectively (Barends et al, 2020;Daru et al, 2018;Delisle et al, 2003;Isaac and Pocock, 2015;Reddy and Dávalos, 2003;Whitaker and Kimmig, 2020). These biases become more complicated when multiple datasets, each with their own idiosyncrasies, are aggregated (Whitaker and Kimmig, 2020). Consequently, there is no guarantee that any slice of species occurrence data will be suitable for any particular analytical use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring trends in pollinator distributions across the Neotropics from publicly available data remains challenging despite mobilisation efforts

Boyd¹,

Aizen²,

Barahon-Segovia³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Aim: Aggregated species occurrence data are increasingly accessible through public databases for the analysis of temporal trends in species’ distributions. However, biases in these data present challenges for robust statistical inference. We assessed potential biases in data available through GBIF on the occurrences of four flower-visiting taxa: bees (Anthophila), hoverflies (Syrphidae), leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae), and hummingbirds (Trochilidae). We also assessed whether and to what extent data mobilisation efforts improved our ability to estimate trends in species’ distributions.Location: The Neotropics.Methods: We used five data-driven heuristics to screen the data for potential geographic, temporal and taxonomic biases. We began with a continental-scale assessment of the data for all four taxa. We then identified two recent data mobilisation efforts (2021) that drastically increased the quantity of records of bees collected in Chile available through GBIF. We compared the dataset before and after the addition of these new records in terms of their biases and their impact on estimated trends in species’ distributions.Results: We found evidence of potential sampling biases for all taxa. The addition of newly-mobilised records of bees in Chile decreased some biases but introduced others. Despite increasing the quantity of data for bees in Chile sixfold, estimates of temporal trends in species’ distributions derived using the post-mobilisation dataset were broadly similar to what would have been estimated before their introduction.Main conclusions: Our results highlight the challenges associated with drawing statistically robust inferences about trends in species’ distributions using publicly available data. Mobilising historic records will not always enable trend estimation because more data does not necessarily equal less bias. Analysts should carefully assess their data before conducting analyses: this might enable the estimation of more robust trends and help to identify strategies for effective data mobilisation. Our study also reinforces the need for well-designed, standardized monitoring of pollinators worldwide.

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Anthropologically introduced biases in natural history collections, with a case study on the invertebrate paleontology collections from the middle Cambrian Spence Shale Lagerstätte

Cited by 22 publications

References 72 publications

A tardigrade in Dominican amber

A tardigrade in Dominican amber

Synchrotron imagery of phosphatized eggs in Waptia cf. W. fieldensis from the middle Cambrian (Miaolingian, Wuliuan) Spence Shale of Utah

Inferring trends in pollinator distributions across the Neotropics from publicly available data remains challenging despite mobilisation efforts

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