We can use natural history collections to map past distributions, genetic diversity, and symbiotic associations and use these to monitor changes and predict future impacts. For this presentation I plan to address: • Goal is to help facilitate a global digital biodiversity library by digitizing natural history collections • Since entomological collections house the largest biological collections insect collections should be a priority • Monitor and predict invasive species and native community turnover • Losing ecological services with native communities • Shifts in distributions (some are shrinking due to loss of suitable habitat while other are expanding their range due to climate change) • Predicting future distributional changes • Impacts on food security when crop pests spread and human health as vectors invade new areas • Measure past and current genetic diversity • These efforts are deeply ambitious, but highly important • Urgency to facilitate these digitization efforts now and we all need to encourage federal and state agencies to support these efforts!
