On 9/10/2013 11:44 AM, David Kirsh wrote:
> My own particular solution to this issue is to simplify: Nowadays, I leave out the date and only use the month and year. Therefore, "2/13" means February 2013, e.g. I don't see how the exact day of the month makes much difference to collecting data...unless there is some large catastrophe for that locality which could be notated in long-hand with the date.
* just having come back from recording the first road-killed Cepaea
nemoralis I've seen for a while (start & finish times, date,
temperature, cloud cover, wind, and wetness of the pavement), I suggest
that something as easy to add as the day of collection can be really
important for an analysis that involves correlating a collection with
weather conditions, or analysis of growth or habitat. And remember that
malacological historians may line up your specimens to document your
movements if you've collected something problematic, and this would be
very hard if you've only recorded the month.
A lot of what we record about specimens is recorded in anticipation of
future analyses that will ask questions we haven't thought of at all, so
if recording something is easy, record it for the sake of those making
unanticipated use of your material. It's easiest to think of this in
terms of geographic precision - you may only be interested in
documenting a county record of a species, but if you record the location
to within a few metres, then someone can use your record for ecological
studies, or to go back decades later and collect descendents of your sample.
>
> David Kirsh
> Durham, NC
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Charles Sturm <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sep 10, 2013 7:18 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Amateurs in the field: How may they help?
>>
>> This is a source of confusion. To most from the US 3/2/2013 would be March
>> the second 2013. In most of the rest of the world this would be the third
>> day of the second month (Feb) 2013.
>>
>> Either writing the month out or using Roman Numerals for the month works.
>> If the date is the 13th or above you can be sure of what the collector
>> meant, if the date is from 1-12 there will be uncertainty unless you use
>> one of these conventions which were described by other posters.
>>
>>
>>> "- Also write out date (U.S. month comes first)"
>>> I guess you mean: write out the month (11 December 2013). Alternatively,
>>> write the month in Roman numerals (11.XII.2013). It's language-neutral.
>>> In any case, write clearly.
>>> Marien
>>>
>>> Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 02:21:35 +0000
>>> From: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Amateurs in the field: How may they help?
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi, Mike.
>>>
>>> Looking forward to hearing your talk at the club. I read my emails
>>> backwards today to get down to your post. The only things I might
>>> consider that are missing
>>> are:
>>> -
>>> Dont abbreviate locality information (e.g. CO could mean care of,
>>> county, company, etc.)
>>> -
>>> Also write out date (U.S. month comes first)
>>> -
>>> Fixation- you must relax the specimen first before live preserving it or
>>> it will retreat into its shell or close tightly (i.e. clam up). There
>>> are various fixatives but epsom salts is the easiest to acquire.
>>> Freezing slowly also works. Check out the book in question
>>> -
>>> Legality- Make yourself aware of current collecting laws in the area you
>>> are visiting. Also transport and customs. This type of information is
>>> often
>>> very difficult to acquire easily. I frequently just ship my specimens
>>> home with expedited shipping in bags within bags (aquarium store bags
>>> that tie NOT zip lock). Leave ¾ of the bag empty (i.e. with oxygen) for
>>> the trip. There are also bags called breather
>>> bags which allow air passage but not water passage. If you use these
>>> fill all the way with water.
>>> -
>>> Spread your lots and transport each by more than one method. If any get
>>> damaged, lost, or taken by customs, you still have some left.
>>> -
>>> Make locality information as specific as possible. Ideally, someone
>>> reading your label should be able to visit the exact spot where you
>>> collected.
>>> -
>>> More field notebook information: identifier (if not you), preservation
>>> type, collecting method(s), scientific name (if you know it), other
>>> collectors
>>> besides yourself,
>>>
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Jay Cordeiro
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Charlie
>> .................................................
>> Charlie Sturm
>>
>> Treasurer
>> American Malacological Society
>>
>> Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
>> Carnegie Museum of Natural History
>> Pittsburgh, PA, USA
>>
>> Associate Professor - Family Medicine
>> Fellow-American Academy of Family Practice
>> Fellow-Academy of Wilderness Medicine
>>
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>
> Slavery is the legal fiction that a
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> Personhood is the legal fiction that
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Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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