What can lichens tell us about air quality over time?  How does human activity affect the health of our aquatic and terrestrial habitats?  What are the most likely transmission vectors of the Hantavirus?

These questions and more can be answered by natural history collections.  Scientists, educators, and policy-makers use data from natural history collections every day to tackle the most pressing questions of our time.  Data published by museum collections and aggregated by data portals such as iDigBio, GBIF, and VertNet have become an essential resource for answering important scientific and societal questions.

Are your data contributing to this essential research?  We want to help you and your data to become an active part of the vibrant biodiversity data-sharing community.  We want your data to contribute to the next great breakthrough or solution to a global issue.

We can help you to:

• Expand the exposure and use of your data through inclusion in biodiversity data portals around the world,

• Improve the quality of your data and your local databases,

• Register your collection with GBIF,

• Receive reports detailing how many people have discovered your data and what data they are looking for, and,

• Get feedback from the people who use your data.

iDigBio and VertNet have been helping collections to mobilize their data for years.  Collectively, we’ve published more than 300 million occurrence records, and we want to help your collection contribute to this important work.

We’ll work with you regardless of your knowledge, experience, or collection size.  All you need is a collection of biodiversity data and a desire to realize the potential of your data. We will do the rest.

If you’re ready to make your data a part of the solution or just want to learn more about what it means to mobilize, please contact us.  We’re looking forward to welcoming you into our community.