the projects of the virtual museum
TRANSCRIPT
The Projects of the Virtual Museum
Megan Loftie-Eaton – Animal Demography Unit – University of Cape Town
This slideshow features the various projects within the Virtual Museum of the Animal Demography Unit, Department of
Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town.
The Virtual Museum (VM) provides the platform for citizen scientists to contribute to biodiversity projects. Your photos can
count for biodiversity conservation!
PHOWN – PHotos Of Weaver Nests
PHOWN is a conservation project aimed at determining the distribution of colonies or
nests of all weaver species globally. Counting weaver nests
and taking photos allows monitoring of changes in
weaver breeding effort. Many weavers are common while
some weaver species are threatened; this project provides an easy way of
monitoring them.
PHOWN record 4142 – submitted to PHOWN by Geoff Nichols
Village Weavers
MammalMAP the Mammal Atlas of Africa
The objective of MammalMAP is to generate 21st century
distribution maps of Africa’s mammals. MammalMAP
consists of digital photographic records of mammals along with
accurate geographical coordinates of where the
pictures were taken.
MammalMAP record 7651 – submitted to MammalMAP by Nick Hart
African Wild Dog
LepiMAP the Atlas of African Lepidoptera
LepiMAP is the continuation of SABCA, the Southern African
Butterfly Conservation Assessment. LepiMAP is a
project aimed at determining the distribution and
conservation priorities of butterflies and moths on the
African continent.
LepiMAP record 37452 – submitted to LepiMAP by Bertie Brink
African Pansy
ReptileMAP Reptile mapping project
ReptileMAP is the continuation of the Southern African Reptile
Conservation Assessment (SARCA). It aims to improve our understanding of the diversity and distribution of reptiles in
South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, and thereby make an
improvement in the conservation status of these
animals.
ReptileMAP record 150744 – submitted to ReptileMAP by Luke Verburgt
Rhombic Egg-eater
SpiderMAP Baboon Spider Atlas of Africa
SpiderMAP aims to document the distribution patterns of the Baboon
spiders belonging to the family Theraphosidae.
Photos of other spiders are also accepted but these will only be
identified to family level.All spider records will be submitted
to the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA)
SpiderMAP record 1203 – submitted to SpiderMAP by John Wilkinson
Ceratogyrus darlingi
FrogMAPAmphibian mapping project
FrogMAP is the continuation of the Southern African Frog Atlas Project (SAFAP). It aims to build
on the distribution data collected during seven years of
fieldwork (1996-2003), plus earlier data compiled from museum records, private
collections, the literature and conservation organizations.
FrogMAP record 613 – submitted to FrogMAP by Jason Boyce
Brown-backed Tree Frog
PHOWN – PHotos Of Weaver NestsScorpionMAP Scorpion Atlas of Africa
Images of all African Scorpions are welcomed and all contribute
equally towards a better understanding of the
distribution patterns of these fascinating creatures. The
distribution of most species is poorly known and in most cases it is based on historical records.
We need your photos to help map these distributions!
ScorpionMAP record 316 – submitted to ScorpionMAP by Richard Jessnitz
Parabuthus raudus
BOP – Birds with Odd PlumagesBirds with all sorts of unusual
plumage variations are observed from time to time. BOP aims to provide a place
where the photographs can be curated into one database. This will provide the opportunity to
look for patterns. Do certain species have abnormal plumage
more frequently than others? Do unusual plumage patterns
occur more in some places than in others?
BOP record 61 – submitted to BOP by Chris Krog
African Pied Wagtail
EchinoMAP Atlas of African Echinoderma
Echinoderms (starfish, sea-urchins, brittle-stars and their kin) are conspicuous marine
animals, frequently photographed by divers.
EchinoMAP aims to collate all available images of echinoderms from South Africa, thus building
up a comprehensive identification guide, as well as
mapping the ranges of each species.
EchinoMAP record 738 – submitted to EchinoMAP by George Branch
Marthasterias glacialis
OdonataMAPOdonata Atlas of Southern Africa
OdonataMAP is a Virtual Museum project aiming to:
(1) map the current distribution of the insect
Order Odonata, i.e. Dragonflies and Damselflies, occurring in southern Africa;
and (2) to serve as a repository of all existing distribution data for this group in the geographic
extent of the project
OdonataMAP record 9205 – submitted to OdonataMAP by Wil Leurs
Two-Striped Skimmer
ViTH – Virtual Tree Herbarium
Southern African Atlas of trees. Most trees can be
identified with photographs of their bark, their leaves and their flowers and/or fruit. Try
to take pictures of all of these, from the same tree. The Virtual Museum allows
you to upload a maximum of three images per record.
Star-chestnut
ViTH record 242 – submitted to ViTH by Chloe Reynolds