The intersection between identification resources and ecological monitoring

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) uses standardized sampling protocols at 81 field sites across the United States to generate baseline ecological data that will be collected for the next 30 years. At the 47 terrestrial NEON sites ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are collected using pitfall traps due to their high species diversity, widespread distribution, and proclivity to respond to both natural and anthropogenic environmental alteration. While developing online, multi-entry, pictorial keys for identifying NEON carabids we have run into some challenges with such a large and ever-changing dataset. In the last year, one NEON site recorded 8 new carabid taxa that had not been collected since monitoring began in 2016; this included a species not described until 2021. In the summer of 2022, there was a mass emergence in Phoenix Arizona of a carabid that is relatively rare in collections; Discoderus obsidianus Casey, 1914. When we reviewed the beetles from the Arizona NEON site, we located additional specimens. These additional records provide a real-time use case for ecological monitoring, but it also raises questions. How do we currently detect new records like this? How do the ID resources adapt to accommodate new findings? While a challenging thing to answer, what this does demonstrate is the continuing need for taxonomic experts to recognize these new findings. Being flexible and realizing there is a gap between what is known from a region and what is actually there is crucial to maintaining the integrity of data sets like this.