Aquatic invertebrates are a key component of freshwater ecosystems, and an understanding of aquatic invertebrate taxonomy is central to freshwater science. The North American Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Digital Reference Collection (NAAMDRC) was created by the U.S. Geological Survey Aquatic Experimental Lab (AXL) at the Fort Collins Science Center to provide users with a graphic tool to aid in the identification and verification of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Many aquatic ecology labs possess a collection of reference organisms that technicians and taxonomists may compare and confirm against expertly identified and verified type specimens of a particular taxa. A digital reference collection (DRC) can overcome several problems associated with these traditional physical reference collections including (1) many biologists do not have easy access to reference collections (2) physical reference collections are often highly regional and thus limited in scope; and (3) DRCs solve the problem of rarity where infrequently collected taxa may be missing from physical collections but are easily captured digitally. Finally, physical voucher specimens have intrinsic value associated with them (e.g., costs associated with collection, identification, curation, and storage), but are inherently fragile. AXL has developed a method for cataloguing and digitizing reference specimens in such a way that a series of digital images provides enough information on key structures that a physical specimen is no longer necessary for verification. By using the most up-to-date and widely used taxonomic keys available, we have annotated important defining characteristics of each specimen so that non-expert technicians or those without access to a reference collection can more easily identify invertebrates found in aquatic samples. In addition to digital images, the database includes metadata associated with each specimen. This ancillary data documents habitat type, time and location of collection, the names of the verifying taxonomists, and any additional taxonomic information associated with each specimen to further aid in identification and verification of taxa. Specimens in the DRC are typically presented at genus level because species level keys are unavailable for immature stages of most aquatic insects, where immature stages are most often encountered in freshwater science. Our goal is that this DRC will be used as a tool by researchers and practitioners of freshwater science to:
- Advance freshwater research that depends on taxonomic identification of aquatic invertebrates
- Enhance teaching of aquatic ecology in K-12 and university classes
- Aid training of graduate students conducting freshwater research
- Support resource management agencies and private sector companies in processing aquatic macroinvertebrate samples
- Provide a clearing house of high quality, public-domain images that can be used with proper citation for scientific presentations and publications by the broader freshwater science community
