Using GBIF to Demonstrate Colonial Legacies on Biodiversity Data

Biologists recognize the Caribbean archipelago as a biodiversity hotspot
and employ it for their research as a “natural laboratory”, but do not
always appreciate that these ecosystems are in fact palimpsests shaped by
multiple human cultures over millennia. We discuss two case studies of the
Caribbean’s fragmented natural history collections, the effects of
differing legislation and governance by the region’s multiple nation
states. We use digital natural history specimen data from GBIF to
demonstrate how colonial history has influenced specimen collection
patterns in Trinidad & Tobago, The Bahamas, and the Greater
Antilles.