Archiving and metadata development of Micromollusc data from B.C.

Data rescue interns: Parker Lund and Alexandra McCallum


For our Data Rescue Internship, we had the opportunity to pick up where 2023 intern Lauren Gill left off processing the data for Bill Merilees’ micromollusc collection.Please check out the post by previous intern Laura Gill to learn more about Bill Merilees and his micromollusc collection.

We worked closely with Sheila Byers and Dr. Christopher Harley, who curate the marine invertebrate collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum located at the University of British Columbia. Undergraduate intern Wendy Frankel tackled the physical notebooks and organized the specimens in the collection, while we split the remainder of the electronic records spanning from the 1960s up through the early 2000s. Since the format differed pretty drastically from the 2010s data Lauren worked on, we came up with an alternative flexible method of data scraping using the R package Officer for transferring each line of a word document into a dataframe. Ultimately we wanted to get the data as cleaned up and organized as possible, so that it is ready for entry into the museum’s database Specify and made publicly available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

One of the highlights of our internship was getting to visit the original micromollusc collectors Bill Merilees and Rick Harbo on Vancouver Island in-person. The week started with a trip to the museum, where invertebrate curator Sheila Byers gave us a tour of the museum and showed us all of the specimens that were donated. Up until this point we had only been working with the dataset remotely, so it was exciting to be able to see the actual specimens. We spent the day carefully sorting through the vials, matching specimens with their sample information. One of the major tasks for this internship is cross-checking our data to make sure it matches the physical collection.

The next day, us three interns piled into a van with Sheila and Chris to catch the first ferry heading out to the island. We made our way down the southern coast, stopping at French Beach Provincial Park located just east of Sooke. Despite being right in the middle of a summer heat wave, the weather at French Beach was chilly and gorgeous as the mist burned off in the morning sun. We carefully clambered over slippery rocks, worn smooth by wave action, discovering massive mussel beds and beautiful giant green sea anemones.

After a brief stop for lunch at Soul’s Toast, we met up with Rick Harbo for a tour of Ladysmith Harbour, one of the original collection sites. This site’s long history with coal export and the oyster industry has resulted in a very unique ecosystem. Within an inlet of shallow water, heated to a comfortable temperature by the sun, a bevy of sea sponges peak out above the surface. There was a surprising amount of diversity in comparison with French Beach! Every rock turned up revealed an array of animals, including shrimp, bright red tunicates, orange-striped anemones, and bristly chitons. Giant logs are also strewn across the shore, completely packed with calcified tubes from shipworms.

Our last stop was dinner with Rick and the Merilees family, where Bill regaled us with adventures from throughout his career, from Africa to Antarctica. They graciously allowed us to pepper them with questions about the details of the micromollusc dataset, like verifying sites where the names have changed over the years, and explaining what it means to “keep half a mollusc”. We also got to visit the famous Backyard Pool site, which turned out to be a small pool located on Bill’s property, behind the main house and up the hill!

Working on this dataset has been a very rewarding experience and museum visitors have already been enjoying displays of the unique specimens in this collection. We look forward to seeing the final portion of data cleaned up and made publicly available!