SOCIETAL BENEFITS
LINNE will have far-reaching and important societal benefits including:
IMPROVING EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
LINNE will substantially increase the resources, motivation, and excitement for training a new generation of taxonomists. LINNE will incorporate the latest technologies to link scientists with other scientists, biological collections, and state-of-the-art instruments for efficient species discovery, description, and classification. It will attract students to taxonomy and create opportunities for the development of new careers. Expertise and data will be accessible throughout the world for educational and outreach activities. Information will be readily available to elementary students and their teachers, providing opportunities for exposure to biological diversity and appreciation for nature in the most formative years.
- Education: Source materials for classroom instruction and outreach
programs, including images and published information, will become readily
available — principally in electronic form. These materials will enhance
organism-based instruction.
- Natural resource management: Improved information on biodiversity will
improve our ability to identify areas to be protected (those with high species
diversity or endemism) and exploitable resources.
- Biosecurity: A wide array of species could be used to disrupt the economy
and health systems of the United States. LINNE will minimize the time needed
to access data on the identification and distributions of these species.
- Our natural heritage: Biological collections contain a unique record
of the natural and cultural history of our nation. They are the most informative
data source on changing landscapes and patterns of species distributions.
- Invasive species: Interception of potential agricultural, forest or
medical pest species at U.S. borders will be greatly facilitated by access to
a distributed network of taxonomic resources.
- Agriculture and medicine: Management of pests, use of organisms as
biological control agents, and control of vectors of diseases are all dependent
upon accurate and timely species identifications and the information contained
in biological collections.
- Bioprospecting: Successful identification of new pharmaceuticals, foods,
and other as yet-undiscovered uses for organisms requires taxonomic research and
distributional information from biological collections.
- Forensic Science: Forensic science is based on protocols that require
accurate identifications of organisms and distributional information from biological
collections.
- History of science: Early and modern explorers, from Lewis and Clark
to molecular phylogeneticists, deposit voucher specimens in biological collections.
These specimens provide a unique and irreplaceable source of historical data.
- International collaboration: Cyberinfrastructure will allow taxonomists to
instantaneously share resources.
PREDICTING DISTRIBUTIONS OF CHAGAS DISEASE VECTOR BUGS IN MEXICO
Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is a chronic, incurable disease that causes
serious cardiac degeneration. It is a critical human health concern from northern Mexico to
Argentina. The geographic distributions of Chagas vectors, which are blood-feeding bugs of
the subfamily Triatominae, are poorly known. Recently, in a collaborative effort, the
Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica (Cuernavaca, Mexico), Instituto de Biologia of the
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and the University of Kansas Biodiversity Research
Center have explored using museum specimen records to understand the distributions of vectors.
Shown on the map is the predicted, potential distribution of Triatoma mexicana, endemic to
eastern Mexico. The yellow squares are known records (museum specimen collection localities),
based on specimens in multiple collections. The red area is the predicted, potential geographic
distribution based on ecological niche modeling in relation to 12 months of Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index values from the AVHRR satellite. Collection records from from any single
museum would not result in such a widespread predicted distribution. Predictions such as
this are being used to guide vector control efforts in Mexico.
