It is now more urgent than ever to understand how life on Earth is responding to Climate Change. Joni Mitchell sang "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got t ill it's gone". It doesn't have to be that way - we won't give up!
Data is our only way to measure change. So much usable but inaccessible information exists in diaries, journals, field notes, and unpublished research datasets.
Fragile Inheritance is is now making it all accessible online, through gathering, archiving, digitizing, and databasing natural history records - as well as continuing our own longterm field studies & data entry. This data, both historical and current, will be made available to students and colleagues, helping them to discover what's most vulnerable in our changing environment. It will also inform the public, and guide decision-makers.
Since 1985 Fred Schueler has been keeping a database that combines catalog and observational information on Canadian natural history. The Fragile Inheritance Database has been structured to handle any kind of observation, including various kinds of text, measurements, and images — a general natural history database which can handle any kind of observation or specimen information. Our goal is to make this kind of database widely available, but first we must launch the prototype online.
We presently have more than 152,732 records in the database, and David Hooey of Blue Anchora is our developer. He has migrated the Fragile Inheritance Database to Digital Ocean and is currently working with Fred to design and code the user interface.
This is where our supporters come in!
We are seeking funds to support the launch of the Fragile Inheritance online database, and our Fundrazr campaign to raise $10,000 will run until 20 April 2023.
SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE. We must get the data "out there" and there's much yet to be done before this uniquely flexible and database is accessible online to contributors and users alike — to prove that we don't need to face Climate Change blind to its effects on our fragile natural inheritance "...till it's gone."
OUR PLEDGE TO OUR SUPPORTERS is to keep them informed about progress in getting the Fragile Inheritance Database reformatted and online. Each one will receive our newsletter, "Fragile Inheritance Database News," providing updates on development, stats on how our data are being used, and summaries about what the Database is telling us about species and their ecology. We look forward to hearing from each of you, and feel free to share with others!
Perks
Set of 5 hastinote cards
Celebrate the field work that feeds into the Fragile Inheritance Database! Neohelix albolabris is one of the largest native land snails in North America. We plan to visit Ragged Chute, on the Mississippi River in eastern Ontario this spring, to see if it can still be found there. Painted in oils on birch panel for a biologist friend.
Set of 5 hastinote cards
Celebrate the field work that feeds into the Fragile Inheritance Database! The Chorus Frog, Pseudacris triseriata is especially vulnerable to changes in climate and habitat. For half a century we've surveyed its calling throughout eastern Ontario.
Set of 5 hastinote cards
Celebrate the field work that feeds into the Fragile Inheritance Database! Biologist Fred Schueler with his dog Marigold cross the South Castor River. Painted onsite by Aleta Karstad on 8 November 2011 during a survey of fresh water mussels in eastern Ontario.
Engage your friends and family with this simple memory game in the age-old tradition of "Concentration". Find the match to each delicately painted bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or insect, as you learn their names and what makes each species special.
Giclée fine art print of Aleta Karstad's painting "Cardinal Flower in the Shade" on acid-free "Somerset Velvet" paper, 5.5 x 11.5 in. with 1 in. white border, signed, titled, and individually numbered, suitable for matting and framing.
Aleta painted this portrait of an American Bittern from Limerick Forest, 2.5 km SW McReynolds, Grenville Co., Ont., on 30 Sept 1986. Handsome and highly detailed this early work of Aleta Karstad, comes as a giclée print on gallery wrap canvas, 30 x 20 inches, framed and ready to hang on your wall.
Fragile Inheritance artist Aleta Karstad, winner of the Robert Bateman Award in 2018, Aleta and with her biologist husband Fred Schueler were joint award winners of the Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize in 2020. Her commissioned works are much in demand. She is willing to reward your donation to Fragile Inheritance, by painting especially for you, a subject of your choice - plant, animal, landscape - anything you like.
Highlights
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Set of 5 hastinote cards
Celebrate the field work that feeds into the Fragile Inheritance Database! Neohelix albolabris is one of the largest native land snails in North America. We plan to visit Ragged Chute, on the Mississippi River in eastern Ontario this spring, to see if it can still be found there. Painted in oils on birch panel for a biologist friend.
Set of 5 hastinote cards
Celebrate the field work that feeds into the Fragile Inheritance Database! The Chorus Frog, Pseudacris triseriata is especially vulnerable to changes in climate and habitat. For half a century we've surveyed its calling throughout eastern Ontario.
Set of 5 hastinote cards
Celebrate the field work that feeds into the Fragile Inheritance Database! Biologist Fred Schueler with his dog Marigold cross the South Castor River. Painted onsite by Aleta Karstad on 8 November 2011 during a survey of fresh water mussels in eastern Ontario.
Engage your friends and family with this simple memory game in the age-old tradition of "Concentration". Find the match to each delicately painted bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or insect, as you learn their names and what makes each species special.
Giclée fine art print of Aleta Karstad's painting "Cardinal Flower in the Shade" on acid-free "Somerset Velvet" paper, 5.5 x 11.5 in. with 1 in. white border, signed, titled, and individually numbered, suitable for matting and framing.
Aleta painted this portrait of an American Bittern from Limerick Forest, 2.5 km SW McReynolds, Grenville Co., Ont., on 30 Sept 1986. Handsome and highly detailed this early work of Aleta Karstad, comes as a giclée print on gallery wrap canvas, 30 x 20 inches, framed and ready to hang on your wall.
Fragile Inheritance artist Aleta Karstad, winner of the Robert Bateman Award in 2018, Aleta and with her biologist husband Fred Schueler were joint award winners of the Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize in 2020. Her commissioned works are much in demand. She is willing to reward your donation to Fragile Inheritance, by painting especially for you, a subject of your choice - plant, animal, landscape - anything you like.
