Santa Barbara County Marine Sponges: Curation and Digitization

In the past few years, the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration obtained a series of sea sponge samples, including several new species, collected in Santa Barbara County by Dr. Thomas Turner (EEMB Faculty member). These sponges were curated and digitized. The specimens were incorporated into the Cheadle Center's Invertebrate Zoology Collection and their data was published on Ecdysis and made publicly available through Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Several new specimens were donated recently and will go through the same process. There are now over 140 sponges in the Cheadle Center's Collection. A publication for the Biodiversity Data Journal and an article for the Cheadle Center's Newsletter, which will make information about these sponges more accessible, are in progress.