Introduction
The James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History has been a repository for Minnesota's mollusks since 1875. Many of the oldest specimens in the collection were submitted by U. S. Grant, one of the staff members of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey, as discovered on their various surveys. The Bell Museum holds vouchers for many surveys including those from the most recent statewide mollusk survey, conducted by Charlotte Dawley in the late 1930's.
To facilitate access to collection records the Curator of Mollusks, the late Dr. Robert Bright, and Fish, Drs. Underhill and Hatch (Univ. of Minnesota), and Daniel Graf (Northeastern University), created a computer database for use within the museum. This Collection Database greatly improved our ability to review collection records, study community assemblages, examine individual species distributions, and identify areas in need of further survey work.
Recently, the National Forest Service provided support for the creation of a new Literature Database which includes freshwater mussel locality records described in published scientific papers.
These two databases will
enable the museum to better manage and describe the museum's holdings. We will
be able to provide rapid responses to requests from natural resource agencies
and the public about Minnesota's mollusk resources.
Bell Museum Collection Database
Records on the 5737 lots of mollusks held in the museum are organized using a version of FileMaker Pro customized by Daniel Graf. This flexible MacIntosh database program allows worksheet layout changes, importation and exportation of data files within FileMaker Pro, and importation of data to other programs. Another convenient feature of this program is its ability to allow the programmer to create pop-up menus for the information windows facilitating rapid data entry (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Collection Database work sheet. Information windows with pop-up windows are highlighted in yellow. (not available)
There are nearly 6000 lots of mollusks in the Bell Museum's scientific collection. Of the 5737 lots of freshwater and terrestrial mollusks in the collection, 5146 are from Minnesota (85.1%), Wisconsin (11.4%), Iowa (2.4%), South Dakota (0.7%), and North Dakota (0.4%) (Table 1). Freshwater bivalves constitute 92% of the collection, including 250 lots collected before 1910. Specimens collected beyond Minnesota and adjacent states include freshwater mussels from 22 states (n=188 lots) and 2 other countries (n=2 lots), and snails from 31 states (n=369 lots) and 11 other countries (n=32 lots). In addition to the freshwater and terrestrial mollusks we have a loosely organized collection of mollusks (approx. 2000 lots) from the Far East, Gulf of Mexico, Europe, Africa, and Indo-Pacific.
Table 1. United States mollusk records at the James Ford Bell Museum.
| Bivalves | Gastropods | Bivalves | Gastropods | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2 | 8 | Montana | 2 | 0 | |
| Alaska | 1 | 0 | Nebraska | 0 | 0 | |
| Arizona | 0 | 0 | Nevada | 0 | 0 | |
| Arkansas | 3 | 6 | New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | |
| California | 1 | 10 | New Jersey | 1 | 2 | |
| Colorado | 0 | 0 | New Mexico | 0 | 0 | |
| Connecticut | 0 | 9 | New York | 8 | 5 | |
| Delaware | 0 | 0 | North Carolina | 2 | 3 | |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 26 | North Dakota | 3 | 17 | |
| Florida | 0 | 4 | Ohio | 9 | 13 | |
| Georgia | 0 | 1 | Oklahoma | 0 | 1 | |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | Oregon | 1 | 5 | |
| Idaho | 18 | 73 | Pennsylvania | 0 | 5 | |
| Illinois | 76 | 48 | Rhode Island | 0 | 2 | |
| Indiana | 8 | 26 | South Dakota | 0 | 34 | |
| Iowa | 51 | 74 | Tennessee | 4 | 6 | |
| Kansas | 0 | 1 | Texas | 9 | 19 | |
| Kentucky | 0 | 1 | Utah | 3 | 18 | |
| Louisiana | 3 | 9 | Vermont | 3 | 1 | |
| Maine | 0 | 4 | Virginia | 2 | 2 | |
| Maryland | 1 | 12 | Washington | 2 | 4 | |
| Massachusetts | 0 | 2 | West Virginia | 0 | 0 | |
| Michigan | 30 | 41 | Wisconsin | 549 | 40 | |
| Minnesota* | 4103 | 275 | Wyoming | 1 | 1 | |
| Mississippi | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Missouri | 0 | 0 | Total | 4895 | 809 |
Bell Museum Literature Database
With support from the National Forest Service, a species locality database is under construction and includes species locality records described in published papers on freshwater mussels in Minnesota. There are presently over 900 records in the database obtained from papers published from 1910 to the present. Locality data from these papers are entered into a work sheet similar to the Collection Database (Figure 2) to facilitate comparisons between them.
Figure 2. Literature Database work sheet. Information windows with pop-up windows are highlighted in yellow. (not available)
The National Forest Service will use the Literature Database for research, for improved understanding of the resources under their jurisdiction, and to assist them in making land use decisions. The National Forest Service will import the Literature Database into their GIS database, and will enable them to overlay mollusk distributions on various land use maps, and faunal and floral maps (Figures 3 and 4).
Figure 3. Distribution of Lampsilis siliquoidea and watershed boundaries. (not available)
Figure 4. Distribution
of Lampsilis siliquoidea and climate. (not available)
Summary
These databases have improved our ability to manage, review, and organize the specimen locality information on Minnesota's mollusks. We are continuing to expand and refine both databases. An additional 28 published papers will be entered into the Literature Database by October, 1996. Approximately 450 valves in storage will be added to the collection in the near future. We are continuing to pursue funding for mollusk surveys of Minnesota drainages, and expect to continue the growth of our collections and information accessibility to the public.
For more information on the mollusk collection at the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History please contact the Curator, Dr. Susan Weller, at welle008@maroon.tc.umn.edu , or at (612) 625-5299, or the Collection Manager, Mark Hove, at Mark.Hove@fw.umn.edu , or at (612) 624-7223.
Locations poster was presented: