VIDA Update

The Vermont Invertebrate Database Alliance (VIDA) is up and running! We have a new website full of information about the project. You can learn about VIDA, become an alliance member, get preliminary state faunal checklists, and access data on the Global Biodiversity Information Network. We expect to be adding a lot of information to both the website and blog over the coming months, so check back often!

We are looking forward to meeting all the alliance members and others interested in VIDA at our first meeting in November (date and location TBA soon). If you are a curator, biologist, private collector, or just interested, please come and learn more about VIDA. Our main goal will be to introduce VIDA’s technical aspects by examining software options, georeference methods, data standards, how to share your data with VIDA, and how to access VIDA data. Also on the agenda will be identifying priority collections and endangered collections, tips for curation of small collections, and brainstorming ways to use volunteers to help get collections in order and, most importantly for VIDA, digital. There will be presentations from the National Biodiversity Information Infrastructure (NBII) and others.

Finally, we are pleased to announce the formation of the VIDA advisory board, which will provide guidance and expertise to VIDA as it evolves. The advisory board is comprised of some very talented and experienced scientists, including:

Dr. Ross Bell, University of Vermont Professor Emeritus and VES
Mark Ferguson, Vermont Fish and Wildlife – Nongame and Natural Heritage
Dr. Steve Trombulak, Middlebury College and VES
Dr. Kurt Pickett, University of Vermont Assistant Professor and Curator of Invertebrates
Dr. Brian Farrell, Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology
Trish Hanson, Vermont Dept. of Forest, Parks and Recreation – Forest Biology Lab and VES
Steve Fiske, Vermont Dept. of Environmental Conservation – Biomonitoring and Aquatic Studies Section