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A Global Discussion about Martha, Extinction and Conservation

Thanks to everyone who tuned in for our #Martha100 TwitterChat with @NMNH (National Museum of Natural History) and @SILibraries (Smithsonian Libraries) yesterday! The chat was a commemoration of the death of the last passenger pigeon, Martha (died Sept. 1, 1914), and a discussion on extinction, conservation, and the importance of historic literature to these fields.

We had some fantastic questions and discussions, as well as great contributions from @fieldmuseum, @SmithsonianArch (Smithsonian Archives), @birdernewjersey (aka Rick Wright, a regular guest blogger for BHL), and @SiobhanLeachman (volunteer with the SI Transcription Center).

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Over 350 people participated in the conversation, which produced over 770 tweets seen by over 1.8 million people! BHL saw a 66% increase in the reach of our tweets and a 240% increase in engagement with users on Twitter during the event as compared with our average daily reach and engagements. This translates to a 92% increase in clicks on links, a 117% increase in retweets, a 103% increase in favorites, and a 650% increase in replies. We also saw an increase in our audience, with a 422% increase in Twitter followers compared to our average daily increase.

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For a quick snapshot of the conversation, take a look at some of our favorite questions and answers from the TwitterChat:

Q1: @SILibraries: Who was Martha and what is a passenger pigeon?
Answers:
@NMNH: The Passenger Pigeon is an extinct North American pigeon + Martha, the last individual alive, died 9/1/1914
@SILibraries: Passenger Pigeons lived only in North America. @eol has range maps http://ow.ly/B23u5
@BioDivLibrary: Learn more about how the passenger pigeon went extinct http://ow.ly/B25az
@SmithsonianArch: Martha was named after George Washington’s wife!
@SILibraries: Some flocks were thought to contain over 2 billion birds, taking days to pass by.
@SILibraries: How did passenger pigeon get its name? From French passenger, which means to pass by.
@Fezook: Was depletion of numbers below that necessary for migration a main cause of passenger pigeon extinction?
@NMNH: essentially yes; numbers declined because of hunting + habitat loss. They were highly social, probably couldn’t survive in low numbers.
@BioDivLibrary: Passenger Pigeon may have survived commercial slaughter if nesting grounds not destroyed too http://ow.ly/B24Pa

Q2: @SILibraries: How fast are we losing species?
Answers:
@BioDivLibrary: Recent estimates say by as much as 1000x the natural rate http://ow.ly/B21uY
@SILibraries: This article from @SmithsonianMag says 75% of species extinct in next century http://ow.ly/B21Im
@BioDivLibrary: Among terrestrial vertebrates: 322 species extinct since 1500. 25% average decline http://ow.ly/B21ZA
@ROMbiodiversity: and they’ve just announced it might be worse http://ow.ly/B227Z

Q3: @SiobhanLeachman: Was wondering if it was the advent of railroads that helped allow extinction?
Answers:
@BioDivLibrary: Absolutely! Railroads allowed millions to be shipped each year http://ow.ly/B20pt
@BioDivLibrary: Cheap meat, large supply & easy distribution via railroads fueled PP annihilation
@SiobhanLeachman: Assumed it took hunters to PP as well
@birdernewjersey: Yes hotels sprang up at railroad terminus when pigeons were around to be shot
@BioDivLibrary: Telegraph was another tech allowing hunters to know quickly where PP were roosting

Q4: @SILibraries: What is so important about Taxonomic Literature?
Answers:
@BioDivLibrary: Lit provides record of species and helps scientists identify new species
@BioDivLibrary: Helps track changes in ecosystems & distributions to identify species & habitats to protect
@HsapiensMarissa: Taxonomic lit bridges gaps in understanding of biodiversity concepts so issues can be targeted holistically
@BioDivLibrary: United Nations requires countries to identify/monitor species w/in borders-BHL provides inventories/info
@BioDivLibrary: It also documents extinct species and their life, morphology, and phylogeny
@SILibraries: How does BHL helps scientists in remote countries?
@BioDivLibrary: BHL provides #openaccess to info on species anywhere/everywhere, even if no access to libraries http://ow.ly/B22xt 
@birdernewjersey: Not just in remote countries: I’d hate to go to the library every time I needed to look something up #badolddays

If you missed the chat, or want to see some of the discussions again, you can see the conversations via Storify. Thanks to everyone who participated! It was a great educational and collaborative event!

Learn more about the passenger pigeon and North American bird extinction, and see Martha, the last passenger pigeon, in the joint SIL/BHL exhibit Once There Were Billions at NMNH. Check out images of the Passenger Pigeon and other extinct birds and view Martha’s autopsy in BHL.

Be sure to follow BHL on Twitter for more great biodiversity and literature content and information!

September 3, 2014by ulib-libraryjobs
BHL News, Blog Reel

Twitterchat on Martha, Extinction, & Historic Literature

Please join the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), the Smithsonian Libraries, and the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) for a twitterchat on September 2nd, 2014. The chat will take place between 2-3 pm (EST) and feature Helen James, Curator of Birds and our recent Once There Were Billions exhibit in NMNH, and Martin Kalfatovic, BHL Program Director.

This September marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the very last passenger pigeon, Martha. In honor of the event, our chat will focus on Martha and the passenger pigeon, extinction and the importance of saving historic taxonomic literature through projects such as BHL. Folks will also have an opportunity to ask questions about Once There Were Billions, species survival or anything else on your minds about birds or biodiversity.

You can send questions using #Martha100 to @BioDivLibrary, @SILibraries, or @NMNH. Helen will be taking over the @NMNH account and Martin will man @BioDivLibrary to answer your questions. Everyone is invited to participate and follow the discussion by using #Martha100. If you’re not on Twitter, feel free to leave your question in a comment below or drop us a line by email at [email protected].

August 25, 2014by ulib-libraryjobs
BHL News, Blog Reel, Campaigns

Breathing Life Into a Museum Exhibit About Extinction

You are living in the midst of earth’s sixth great extinction event. You’ve been living in it since you were born. So have your parents, your grandparents, your great-great-great-great-grandparents, and all of your ancestors for about 10,000 years. It dates back to the extinction of the mammoths and has been increasingly accelerating as human actions and climate change reshape the balance of our planet.  Within the next century, 75% of the conservatively estimated 8.75 million species on earth may be extinct.

When many of us think of extinctions, we think of the countless species disappearing in the Amazon rainforest, the ocean’s coral reefs, or the forests of South-east Asia. But the truth is that extinctions happen in every corner of the globe. Some are noticeably notorious, others occur without us even knowing that the species existed in the first place. One of the most infamous North American extinctions is the demise of the Passenger Pigeon.

By the time Europeans first came to the New World, approximately 40% of all land birds in North America were a member of the species Ectopistes migratorius, or the Passenger Pigeon. Their population numbered in the billions, and their abundance spurred intense human hunting in the mid-1800s. Less than a century later, the Passenger Pigeon was extinct.

The fate of the Passenger Pigeon, and three other extinct North American bird species (Great Auk, Carolina Parakeet, and Heath Hen), are the focus of the new joint BHL/Smithsonian Libraries‘ exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History: Once There Were Billions.

The exhibit represents the culmination of three years of work for its curators, Gilbert Borrego (former BHL Library Technician for Smithsonian Libraries) and Dr. Helen James (Curator in Charge, Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History). The histories of these lost species are told through compelling narratives, taxidermied specimens (including Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon), books from the Smithsonian Libraries’ collection (many of which are available digitally in BHL), and images from BHL.

Most people are unaware of how involved and sometimes challenging building an exhibit can be. Several years, countless meetings, copious research, and dozens of individuals are required to bring an exhibit from conception to public launch. Sometimes the most difficult part can be simply honing in on the exact story you want to tell.

“The most challenging part of the exhibit was narrowing down our source material,” said Borrego. “The topic [of the exhibit] was originally much more general, focusing on extinct species. We knew Martha the Passenger Pigeon was to be included, but we looked at many other types of animals and plants before settling on the plight of birds from North America.”

Borrego first presented the proposal for “Once There Were Billions” in 2011, and since then he, James, and an army of scientists, librarians, and museum support staff defined the scope, drafted a script, selected specimens and images, and fashioned layouts for the physical and supplementary digital exhibits.
Once all the foundational work was complete, it was time to bring the exhibit to life. Plaques fresh off the press, freshly-cleaned bird specimens, and carefully conserved books were artistically arranged within two mammoth exhibit cases in the Evans Gallery on the Ground Floor of the National Museum of Natural History.

And voila! This specialized hub for extinction education opened to the public this past Monday, June 24, 2014, and will remain open until October, 2015.

If you’re visiting D.C., be sure to check out the exhibit. And if you’re an art fan, take some time to see the massive bronze sculptures of the birds crafted by artist Todd McGrain as part of “The Lost Bird Project” and situated around the Smithsonian grounds.
If you’re not in the area, you can still enjoy “Once There Were Billions” via the online exhibit, by browsing digital versions of select exhibit books in BHL, or by downloading free, spectacular illustrations of the featured species.
Educating each and every person about the plight of biodiversity on our planet, and the repercussions of doing nothing, is a critical part of ensuring that today’s species do not become just another extinction statistic. Exhibits like “Once There Were Billions” are just one way we can achieve this global awareness. But while you might not be in a position to build a museum exhibit, there are other ways you can help change the fate of doomed species. Supporting initiatives like BHL, which enable the research of scientists trying to document and conserve species around the world, helps prevent species decline.

Everyone can make a difference. What will you do to help curb the tide of the Sixth Great Extinction Event?

June 27, 2014by michelle.underhill

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The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working together to digitize the natural history literature held in their collections and make it freely available for open access as part of a global “biodiversity community.”

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