Support to Enhance the Accessibility of the Herpetological Collections of the FMNH

菲尔德自然历史博物馆的爬行动物收藏包括234,000种世界两栖和爬行动物的编目代表，包括1,226种。该藏品是美国第五大爬行动物藏品，博物馆管理部门最近大幅增加了分配给这些藏品的建筑部分。负责收集的馆长哈罗德·沃里斯博士正在计划为这个扩建项目增加存储设备，包括用于冰冻组织收集的超冷冷冻机。将为来访的科学家建造和配备新的研究区域，并将实地笔记、冰冻组织和组织切片收藏的数据添加到收藏数据库中。对这一重要的爬行动物收藏提出的改进建议将增加其对研究界的价值和影响。数据库的改进将使标本更多地可供研究和借阅，供来访的爬行动物专家使用的新实验室空间将得到大量使用。像这样的自然历史收藏是研究地球生物多样性的主要资源，它们的持续改进对未来几代研究人员至关重要。

The herpetological collection of the Field Museum of Natural History contains 234,000 catalogued representatives of the world's amphibians and reptiles, including 1,226 types. The collection is the fifth largest herpetology collection in the U.S., and the Museum administration has recently added significantly to that portion of the building assigned to the collection. Dr. Harold Voris, Curator in charge of the collection, is planning additional storage equipment for this expansion project, including an ultra-cold freezer for the frozen tissue collection. New research areas will be constructed and equipped for visiting scientists, and data from the field note, frozen tissue, and histological slide collections will be added to the collection database. The proposed improvements to this important herpetology collection will increase its value to and impact on the research community. Improvements to the database will make specimens more available for study and loan, and the new lab space for visiting herpetologists will be heavily used. Natural history collections such as this are the primary resource for studying biological diversity on earth, and their continued improvement is essential for future generations of researchers.