Digital Data in Biodiversity Research Conference

Human societies and ecological communities are facing wicked problems at local, state, national, and global scales. The United Nations recognizes a “triple planetary crisis” in the intertwined challenges of “climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.” These challenges cause and extend into others including pandemics and threats to food security. Species occurrence and trait data from digitized biological collections have the potential to provide a critical baseline for better decisions. As part of its sustainability planning, iDigBio has been interviewing researchers and environmental decision makers to assess demand for data products, services, and platforms. These interviews have pointed to several opportunities and directions which now must be prioritized against the mission and capabilities of the team and community. Future project phases will include acquiring pilot customers.