Cataloging Biology Specimens

Biology Specimen Cataloging Guidelines

Point Reyes National Seashore

Revised 01/14/2004

The National Park Service General Conditions for the Scientific Research and Collecting Permit states that each specimen (or groups of specimens labeled as a group) that is retained permanently must bear NPS labels and must be accessioned and cataloged in the NPS National Catalog (ANCS+).
Specimen Documentation & Disposition

Before collection begins:

Following permit or project approval contact the Museum Curator at Point Reyes for an accession and catalog numbers for those specimens to be preserved permanently, which are any specimens not destroyed through analysis.

Discuss whether the specimens are to come to the park collection storage or go to non-NPS repository. If stored at another institution, collector must provide the name of an official to whom the Curator will contact about a long-term loan agreement for the storage of specimens.

Discuss your curatorial methods to be certain they are compatible with NPS standards. Specimen labels and the data they contain is also a consideration. Measurements can be recorded in metric or standard decimal format, just be consistent please.

During project:

Enter specimen data into the Excel database provided by NPS. Familiarize yourself with the 12 data fields needed by NPS to create a catalog record and be sure this information is recorded in the field or lab (see details below about the spreadsheet.

Call the curator with any questions about collection, curation and storage of specimens.

After collection completed:

When data entry, processing and labeling is completed on all specimens collected, mail a diskette containing the completed database, or attach the database file to an email message and send to the curator. Arrange specimen delivery or notify the Seashore Curator that the collection is ready for deposit elsewhere.
Provide 2 copies of completed research papers, publications or final reports to the curator for the Park research library.

Carola DeRooy, Archivist/Curator

Point Reyes National Seashore

One Bear Valley Rd

Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

carola_derooy@nps.gov

415-464-5125

Biology Cataloging Spreadsheet

Data fields were exported from the ANCS+ National Park Service cataloging program into a Microsoft Excel 97 template provided to you. In order to import the records back into ANCS+ there are a few important guidelines to follow below. If you are unable to use the template in Microsoft Excel please contact the Museum Curator to discuss other acceptable data options.

Data Fields

Table: See table on pages 3-5 for explanation of contents for each field.

Mandatory Fields: Only 12 mandatory fields must be completed to create the record. THE FIELDS MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK " * " ARE MANDATORY, as indicated on the chart on pages 3-5. Fields without as asterisk are optional but please fill in as many as possible.

Locality Field:

To record the location where the specimen was collected at least one of the following location fields must be entered: Township/Range/Section, UTM Coordinates, or Latitude and Longitude. UTM coordinates are preferable. Please note that another field named location refers to the place where the specimens are to be stored, not their collection site.

Formatting:

Please do not use commas within the cells/fields of the Excel database. The NPS database exports and imports data in ASCII text format.

In order for the data to be successfully imported into the NPS National Catalog program, please do not make any changes, additions or deletions to the EXCEL database structure/format (including, adding or deleting columns or changing the font).

TABLE OF BIOTEMPLATE DATA FIELDS

* = REQUIRED FIELDS

BIOTEMPLATE HEADINGS	CORRELATES TO THIS ANCS+ FIELD	COMMENTS	SAMPLE DATA ENTRY
*Catalog #	Catalog Number	Issued by curator after collected	PORE 7705
*Accession #	Accession Number	When a permit is issued, a park collection number will be assigned by the curator	PORE - 00448
*Class 1	Classification 1	Biology	BIOLOGY
*Class 2	Classification 2	Kingdom	PLANTAE
*Class 3	Classification 3	Class	ATHROPHYTA
*Class 4	Classification 4	Phylum. Family, or Order	SCROPHULARIACEAE
*Sci. Name	Scientific Name	Genus Species (no comma)	CORDYLANTHUS MARITIMUS
Com. Name	Common Name		NORTH COAST BIRDS BEAK
*Location	Permanent storage location	Enter PORE if the specimen will be stored at the park repository or if not, please enter the institution	PORE
*Item Count	Item Count	Total number of specimens per catalog entry	1
Descrip.	Description	Distinguishing or significant features of specimen	FLOWERING
Dimen/Wgt	Dimensions/Weight	Consistently use metric OR English measurement units	8 CM x 2 CM
Collector	Collector	Use first name or initials first ( a space) and last name second, no commas	R. M. BROWN
Collect #	Collection Number	Enter temporary identification number assigned to the specimen in the field or lab by the collector in lieu of catalog numbers. Collectors should have a number assigned to the specimens that correlate with the data entry about that specimen.	Spec25
*Coll Date	Collection Date	Dd/mm/year	10/01/1997
Other Nos	Other Numbers	Please place other numbers such as a catalog number from another institution here	UCB 97/3550.21
*Ident By	Identified By	Please use first name first (a space) and last name second, no commas	NUTTALL (JEPSON)
Ident Date	Identified Date	Dd/mm/year	05/04/1997
* Locality	Locality	Enter the area within the park that the specimen was found	IN 1973 BURN AREA NEAR EDGE OF ESTERO TRAIL
Park	Park	Please enter PORE	PORE
*TRS	Township/Range/Section		T.20N_R.118W_Sec.5
County	County	County where specimen found	MARIN
State	State	Please enter CA	CA
Wtrbdy/Dr	Waterbody/Drainage	For aquatic and marine sites	MUDDY HOLLOW DRAINAGE
*UTM	UTM Coordinates	Zone/Easting/Northing format	05/291000E/4264000N
*Lat Lng N/W	Latitude and Longitude		3830_15/118_22_30
Elevation	Elevation	Use meters for terrestrial sites	5 METERS
Depth	Depth	Use meters for aquatic/marine sites
Habitat	Habitat	Gen habitat or community type	SALACORNIA SALT FLAT
Slope	Slope	Enter either degrees, percentages, or slope ratio
Aspect	Aspect	Standard compass direction
Soil Type	Soil Type
For/Per/Sub	Formation/Period/Substrate
Assoc Spec	Associated Species	If applicable
Type Specm	Type Specimen	Voucher or other type: allotype, halotype, paratype	VOUCHER
Thrt/Endang	Threatened/Endangered	Enter C, E, PE, PT, or T. See table below for category definitions	C
T/E Date	Threatened/Endangered Date	Dd/mm/year	05/20/2000
Rare	Rare	Enter rare if taxa is on any other lists denoting rarity in the area regional, state, county or park.	RARE
Exotic/Ntve	Exotic/Native	Enter one or the other term	NATIVE
Age	Age of the specimen		FLOWERING
Sex	Sex of the specimen		FEMALE

Threatened /Endangered Status Codes for Catalog Record

C

Taxa for which NPS has on file sufficient information on biological vulnerability and threat(s) to support proposals to list them as endangered or threatened species

E

Endangered

PE

Proposed Endangered

PT

Proposed Threatened

T

Threatened

C	Taxa for which NPS has on file sufficient information on biological vulnerability and threat(s) to support proposals to list them as endangered or threatened species
E	Endangered
PE	Proposed Endangered
PT	Proposed Threatened
T	Threatened