Dave SmithPetrology Collections Manager

European KE EMu Users Conference, April 2012

What’s underfoot?KE EMu un-earths a new moth habitat.

The situation

• IPM Committee with cross-museum representation

• Consistent and regular trapping in collection and exhibition areas

• Development of risk management approach using risk zones

The problem

• No centralised database for trapping data

– Inability to query and analyse the data

• Inconsistent departmental reports

– Difficult to compare across the Museum

• Department-centric boundaries

– Individuals know situation within their area

– No strategic overview

The transformation

• NHM adopted new Modules in Dec 2010.

• Dept. IPM Committee reps. trained in April 2011.

• Legacy data from 1997 migrated by Oct 2011.

• All ‘trappers’ trained and using Trap Modules by Jan 2012.

Record structure

• Pest trapping data consists essentially of two components:

– Data which describes the physical location of the trap

– Data which records the species diversity, and number of insects found within the trap at any point in time.

Trap

LocationTrap

Event TrapEvent

TrapEvent

Record structure

The problem

• Increase in number of moths in the gallery spaces!

• Where?

Trap Events - query for moths

Trap Events – list view

Trap Events – reports

Charts – dramatic increase in moths

Charts – focus on areas

KEYBird galleryCentral HallCreepy CrawliesEcologyEarth T&THuman BiologyMammals gallery

Charts - focus further

KEYBird galleryCentral HallCreepy CrawliesEcologyEarth T&THuman BiologyMammals gallery

Charts – focus on specific traps

KEYBird gallery

Creepy Crawlies

Mammals gallery

Spatial analysis

IPM Viewer Report

2008 – 2 years since dichlorvos

2009 – hotspots developing

2009 – hotspots developing

2010 – the beginnings of a problem

2010 – the beginnings of a problem

2011 – increasing severity

Overloaded moth traps

So what did we do?

Where did the data lead us?

Filthy air ducts

Air ducts

Moth damage

What was the action plan?

What was the action plan?

Image courtesy of Warner Bros. & Turner Entertainment Inc.

2012 – the story so far

Environmental conditions

Conclusion

• EMu facilitated speedy reactions to a rapidly growing threat to collections on display.

– Single data repository for pest trapping data.

– Familiarity of the interface.

– Ease of data entry AND query.

– Close association with specimen/collection information.

– Inform senior management based on evidence.

– Reporting – multiple ways to dice ‘n’ slice.

– Visualisation – communication tool

Hot off the press…..

• Multiple sites

• Customise scale to facilitate comparisons

Hot off the press…..

Questions?

Dave SmithNatural History Museum, Londond.a.smith@nhm.ac.uk