Natural history museum data on Canadian Arctic marine benthos

Abstract

Natural history museum’s collection data remain an underutilized resource that can help answer important questions, such as those related to the understanding of the spatial patterns of Arctic marine diversity. The present study compiles historical museum records from the Canadian Museum of Nature (6,002 records) and from the US National Museum of Natural History – Smithsonian Institution (240 records) on marine benthic taxa collected in the Canadian Arctic. This information is used to explore museum collection history and to examine the geographic distribution of collection records within five regions of the Canadian Arctic. The present museum datasets together cover a total of 774 taxa collected over 100 years with most of the specimens being collected between the 1920s and 1980s in the Hudson Bay Complex and Eastern Arctic regions. To better represent the overall Canadian Arctic diversity of marine benthos in museum collections, future specimen acquisition efforts could be directed towards certain taxonomic groups (e.g., polychaetes) and regions (e.g., Arctic Basin). Museum records significantly complement published reviews on benthic diversity and are critical for generating a comprehensive and accurate baseline status on benthic species distribution and diversity across the Canadian Arctic regions. We therefore stress the urgency for natural history museums holding Arctic marine benthic data to make their collection data accessible and informative.