Breakout Discussion 21-22 February, 2005 Washington, D.C. Organized by the National Biological Information Infrastructure, Smithsonian Institution, and Discover Life Overview Questions Organizers

Formica integroides © Brian Fisher, 2004

Overview Since August, 2004, multiple institutions and individuals have joined together to build illustrated checklists, guides, and maps to ants. Using Web-based tools provided by Discover Life, they have assembled over 7,000 high-quality images, built a first draft of an IDnature guide to over 700 North American ant species, and started work on ants from Central America, India, Indonesis, Ivory Coast, Kenya, the Philippines, and Uganda. This project is largely a volunteer endeavor. It started as a Christmas present to Ed Wilson and gained steam after the Smithsonian gave it $3,000 in seed money to move the Encyclopedia of Life initiative forward. Based on what we have learned from this experience, what should we do next? Possibilities include testing and refining the North American guide extending the project to include world ants helping our friends to encourage their friends to do the same for wildflowers, weeds, pollinators, pests, vectors, diseases, invasives, whatever they want. For further details and links to the checklists, images, guides, and maps please see http://www.discoverlife.org/nh/tx/Insecta/Hymenoptera/Formicidae Questions and Answers Question: How do we monitor all species, world-wide, in real-time? Answer: By working together. Question: How do we work together? Answer: ... Our goal is to outline a strategy and start building the bridges necessary to answer the following: What? -- taxonomy, identification, species encyclopedia pages Where? -- scale from global to fine-grain, map resolution When? -- real-time driven by biology Who? -- leadership, participants, motivation, rewards Formal Education -- Schools, universities, ... Outreach -- Aquaria, herbaria, museums, zoos, Biodiversity Days, volunteer organizations, ... Researchers -- Individual projects through international programs to monitor and understand life on Ear th Resource Managers -- Agriculture, forests, parks, public health, ... How? -- study design, research protocols, training, coordination, technology, quality control Why? -- basic science, resource management, improving education

Name	Institution	E-mail	Phone	Expertise	Referred by	Confirmed
Leeanne Alonso	Conservation International	l.alonso@conservation.org	202-912-1282
Gary Alpert	Harvard University	gary_alpert@harvard.edu	617-495-1983			Yes
Kevin Clarke	California Academy of Sciences	kclarke@calacademy.org				Yes
Stefan Cover	Harvard University	scover@oeb.harvard.edu	617-496-5614			Yes
Mark Deyrup	Archbold Biological Station	MDeyrup@archbold-station.org				Yes
Brian Fisher	California Academy of Sciences	bfisher@calacademy.org	415-321-8314			Yes
David General	Ateneo de Naga University	bzb43@yahoo.com		Ants; Philippines		Yes
Mike Kaspari	University of Oklahoma	mkaspari@ou.edu	405-325-3371			Yes
Dan Kjar	Georgetown University	dsk@georgetown.edu	202-687-2424			Yes
Frances Li	National Science Foundation	fli@nsf.gov	703-292-8710
Denise Lim	Polistes Corporation	dl@discoverlife.org	706-542-6676			Yes
Joe MacGown	Mississippi State University	jmacgown@entomology.msstate.edu	662-325-9551			Yes
John Pickering	University of Georgia	pick@discoverlife.org	706-542-1115			Yes
Lucy Rogo	BioNET International	l.rogo@bionet-intl.org	571-239-8798
Ven Samarita	National Museum Manila			Ants; Philippines		Yes
Ted Schultz	Smithsonian Institution	schultz@onyx.si.edu	202-357-1311			Yes
James Trager	Missouri Botanical Garden	James.Trager@mobot.org	636-451-3512 ext 6002			Yes
Dale Ward	Ants of Arizona	ants@tightloop.com				Yes
Phil Ward	University of California, Davis	psward@ucdavis.edu	530-752-0486			Yes
Jim Wetterer	Florida Atlantic University	wetterer@fau.edu	561-799-8648			Yes
Alex Wild	University of California, Davis	alexwild@myrmecos.net	530-752-9977			Yes