About Submitting Data

The data in ONHI's databases are collated from a number of sources. These include museum and herbarium specimens, published literature accounts, field surveys conducted by ONHI and affiliated biologists, and data submissions from various stakeholders.

If you have observation data you would like to share with ONHI for inclusion in one of our databases, please use our online submission form or contact our data manager. In general, we would like to know the Who, What, Where, and When of your observation: Who made the observation, What was seen, and Where and When was the observation. We also appreciate any other data you can provide, such as locality coordinates, habitat, number of individuals seen, behaviors, etc. Upon submission, one of ONHI biologists will review the submission and determine whether it is appropriate for one the Oklahoma Biodiversity Information System (OBIS). In particular, we seek information related to tracked plant and animal species (i.e. those species of conservation concern). Please search our list of Species of Concern (our "tracking list") to determine if your observation is appropriate for submission. Alternatively, please contact one of our biologists.

Using the Online Submission Form

We have created a simple, easy to use form for online data submission.

• Enter the scientific name of the observed taxon (species). This information is available on our Species of Concern page. For other species, we generally follow the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) for scientific names.
• Enter the common name(s) for the taxon (species).
• Enter the name of the observer(s) of the taxon (species).
• Please provide an email or phone number, in case we need to contact you.
• Select the date of the observation.
• Please include relevant observational data, such as the number of individuals, phenological state, and habitat information.
• Provide locational information for the observation, such as section, township, and range, longitude and latitude, or UTM coordinates.
  • You may also autopopulate the longitude and latitude fields using our interactive map (zoom to the area of interest and click the map to autopopulate for that location.
• You may include attachments with your submission. Currently, we can only accept one file. If you have more than one, please zip them into a single file.
• If you wish to have a copy of your submission sent to your email, please check the copy box.
• Click the submit button.