ZooMu2: Further Linking and Leveraging Living Collections in Zoos with Traditional Natural History Collections
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General Information
When: April, 2022
Where: Zoom
Organizers: Sinlan Poo (Research Scientist, Memphis Zoo); Steven Whitfield (Conservation and Research Specialist, Zoo Miami); Gregory Watkins-Colwell (Sr. Collections Manager, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History); Alex Shepack (Post-Doc, Notre Dame University); Jillian Goodwin (iDigBio Conference Manager)
Event page: https://www.memphiszoo.org/research-workshop
This is an invited workshop but workshop recordings and presentations will be posted following the event for reference.
Overview
Zoos and aquariums hold a wealth of biological resources in their live collections that is unique to these institutions and cannot be simulated with traditional natural history collections in museums. As modern zoos transition from exhibits to conservation organizations, zoos are starting to focus on ways to enhance their contribution to the advancement of biological sciences. In recent years, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has placed increasing emphasis on the need for zoos to invest in scientific advancement through basic and applied research.
Given the similarities between zoos and museums as collection-based zoological institutions, there is an opportunity for the two types of institutions to work together more closely, both so that zoos can learn from the experience of this transition from museums, and so that museums can increase their collections by receiving biological samples from zoos (e.g. blood samples, genetic samples, digital images, and whole specimens). Despite the obvious value of zoo collections, they remain an untapped resource for the larger scientific community. Through a three-day workshop, researchers from zoos, museums, and academic institutions will gather to discuss concrete steps that zoos can take to make collection information available to researchers and standard collaborations between zoos and museums, so that biological samples and information can be shared with the larger scientific community.
Kumospace
We will use a website platform called Kumospace for coffee breaks and the meet & greet. Kumospace is similar to Zoom, but more casual and fun (there’s a rooftop pool).
Pre-workshop Meet & Greet
We are planning a brief Meet & Greet the Thursday (4/22) before the workshop using Kumospace. This is completely optional and at your convenience. We wanted to provide a chance for everyone to introduce themselves and chat a bit prior to the workshop. This will also give participants a chance to get familiar with this software before the workshop begins.
Date: Thursday, 4/22
Time: 4pm to 5pm EDT (GMT-4)
Location: a link to our kumospace room will be provided the week of 4/22. In the meantime please check out kumospace.com and take a look around to become a little familiar with it.