The Puget Sound Institute recently collaborated with the Burke Museum at the University of Washington to georeference the museum’s herpetology collection.
The museum’s collection data goes back to the early 20th century, and map coordinates were logged or created to show where specimens were originally collected. Most of the georeferenced specimens were gathered in western Washington, and the information may be used to show changes in reptile and amphibian distributions over time in the Puget Sound watershed. Amphibians in particular are considered indicator species for ecological change.
The location points and metadata are now being added to the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound through integration into NOAA’s Environmental Response Management Application, a free online tool for GIS analysis in the Puget Sound region.