but also see Appendix 2 for a similar type of project in which only
photos are used to voucher observations). The descriptive details
required for the herbarium specimen label (family, species, locality,
plant and habitat description, and collector and collection identity
number) were entered and mapped by the student first into
NatureAtlas ( www.natureatlas.org, Hardy & Hardy, 2016), after
which labels for affixing to the herbarium specimens were prepared
and printed from NatureAtlas according to the procedure described
in the online user manual for NatureAtlas. The physical herbarium
specimens provided a means by which the course instructor could
verify the accuracy of the students’ taxonomic determinations of
their records.
NatureAtlas is a Web-based biodiversity geographic information
system that allows anyone to contribute or download georeferenced
observations and photos of organisms, generate interactive biotic
inventory atlases, generate distribution maps, generate specimen
labels, and explore biodiversity. One does not need to be part of
any class or project to log on and add or search records in NatureAt-
las; however, the site was launched in 2008 with the needs of
instructors and students in field-oriented natural history courses in
mind. Among the education-oriented design elements employed is
a data-entry interface (Fig. 1) that (1) allows a user to add observa-
tions simply by mouse-clicking on the interactive map at the loca-
tion where an organism was found ( i.e., the added expense of a
portable GPS-enabled device is not required), and (2) provides
structure to the data entry process at a level of sophistication that
would be expected of an undergraduate biology student ( i.e., there
are multiple, hierarchically nested taxonomy and location fields
Table 2. Degree-seeking status of the 155 students who participated in the collection projects over the
course of seven semesters of Plant Systematics (BIOL 325) at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.
Degree Sought and Major Number of Students Percentage
Bachelor of Science (or Arts)—Biology 147 94.8
Bachelor of Science Education—Biology 3 1.9
Bachelor of Arts—Geography 2 1.3
Bachelor of Science (or Arts)—Chemistry 1 0.6
Bachelor of Science Education—Earth Sciences 1 0.6
Bachelor of Arts—Psychology 1 0.6
Figure 1. Users of NatureAtlas are prompted with a new record entry box when clicking on the interactive map with their
mouse or touch pad. The entry box shown here is the result of a click by the user on a spot in the Millersville University Biological
Preserve adjacent to the Conestoga River in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The entry box is populated with 26 data fields, nine of
which must be entered upon submission and the rest of which are available if the instructor wishes to require them (the entry box
is reduced in complexity when using a smartphone). It is not anticipated that a student will have access to all the data required for
all fields at the time of their initial record submission, so a record edit function (not shown) is available that allows a student to
add to or revise a record’s content (e.g., a taxonomic determination or locale element) at a later time.
