Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: 31 May 2021

Teaching Ichthyology Online with a Virtual Specimen Collection

,
,
,
, and
Page Range: 407 – 423
DOI: 10.1643/t2020031
Save
Download PDF

For generations, organismal biologists have learned their craft in hands-on laboratories that teach anatomy, evolution, natural history, systematics, and functional morphology through specimen collection, observation, comparison, and manipulation. Though these activities teach the comparative method that lies at the heart of our discipline, students without access to specimen collections have been excluded from this foundational experience. To fill that gap, we developed a virtual collection of photographs and 3D specimen models and designed entirely online versions of courses in ichthyology and systematics of fishes. The virtualization allows students to illustrate and compare specimens in online labs, identify species from different habitats using dichotomous keys, contextualize the relationships of species, recognize synapomorphies using a phylogeny, take online specimen-based practical exams, and help each other recognize adaptations and diagnostic features on threaded discussion boards. The classes built around the collection educate and provide university credit to students lacking access to similar courses, and their infrastructure allowed face-to-face instruction to shift online rapidly after 2020's novel coronavirus shut down our brick-and-mortar campus. While we may never be able to replicate the aroma of oil-laden alcohol online, specimen virtualization opens access to experiential learning to an underserved and widespread audience; allows new generations of students to develop crucial skills in observation, comparison, and inference; and affords substantial instructional resiliency when unexpected challenges arise.

Copyright: © 2021 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.

Tiered application architecture diagram outlining the design of the virtual specimen collection. The collection's middleware processes user queries to retrieve relevant data and images from cloud storage, and then constructs a dynamic webpage displaying those data or allowing the user to modify the desired section of the database. (Credit: M. Kindred).

Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.

The species page for Ptychocheilus oregonensis from the virtual specimen collection, including links to lateral views of alcohol-preserved specimens, a closeup of the gill rakers, and cleared and stained material. Clicking on any image pulls up a full-size version and some accompanying metadata, such as the species identification and the specimen's catalog number. Scrolling down reveals more textual information. (Credit: B. Sidlauskas).

Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.

The photography room at the Oregon State Ichthyology Collection, including photo tanks, LED arrays, camera, and tripod. (Credit: B. Sidlauskas).

Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.

Paired lateral and ventral views of a Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker specimen (Eumicrotremus orbis, OS6725). (Credit: K. Knight).

Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.

Three-dimensional surface-scanning workflow. (Credit. N. Harper).

Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.

Examples of worksheet pages completed by students in the online version of FW316, Systematics of Fishes. Drawings © 2020 K. Webber (upper panel) and © 2020 T. Chapman (lower panel), used with permission of their creators.

Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.

Two-dimensional images from the virtual specimen collection. Species and specimens pictured: Cymatogaster aggregata (OS5910), Dendrochirus sp. (OS teaching collection), Lepomis macrochirus (OS18438), Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (OS16943), Parophrys vetulus (OS898), Hydrolagus colliei (OS1942), Percopsis transmontana (OS17965), Catostomus bondi (OS16985), and Lepisosteus oculatus (OS teaching collection). (Credit: M. Burns, K. Knight, and M. Vazquez).

Fig. 8.
Fig. 8.

Still images of 3D models for Leptagonus frenatus (OS17247) and Chaetodon fremblii (OS5698). See the supplementary videos for examples of these and other models being manipulated in three dimensions (see Data Accessibility). (Credit: L. Carr, N. Harper, and M. Leppin).

Fig. 9.
Fig. 9.

Image capture from a lightboard presentation in the online version of FW315, Ichthyology. (Credit: B. Sidlauskas).

Fig. 10.
Fig. 10.

Annotated skull model of Artedius lateralis (OS6720) from CT scan data collected at the Karel F. Liem Imaging Facility at Friday Harbor, Washington. See the supplementary videos to view this model in motion (see Data Accessibility). (Credit: T. Buser and A. Summers).

Contributor Notes

1 Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97331; Email: (BLS) brian.sidlauskas@oregonstate.edu; and (TJB) thaddaeus.buser@oregonstate.edu. Send reprint requests to BLS.
2 Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, Ithaca, New York 14853; Email: burnsmic01@gmail.com.
3 Oregon State University, Ecampus, Valley Library, Corvallis, Oregon 97331; Email: (NH) nick.harper@oregonstate.edu.
4 Oregon State University, Extension Service, Ballard Extension Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97331; Email: mark.kindred@oregonstate.edu.

From “The Expanding Role of Natural History Collections,” an ASIH-sponsored symposium at the 2019 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in Snowbird, Utah.

Associate Editor: S. K. Huber.

Received: 26 Feb 2020
Accepted: 30 Dec 2020
  • Download PDF