Computerization of Mollusk Collections at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

费城自然科学院软体动物收藏的计算机化

• 批准号: 9728996
• 负责人: Gary Rosenberg
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-08-01 至 2002-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9728996&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Computerization; Mollusk; Collections; Academy; Natural

This project will support completion of computerization of the recent mollusk collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP). This is the oldest mollusk collections in the country, and the and the second largest catalogued one in the world. It currently has about 440,000 catalogued lots containing about 12 million specimens, including about 40,000 lots preserved in alcohol that provide excellent material for anatomical and DNA studies. ANSP has specimens from virtually all parts of the world; it is unrivaled for shallow-water marine mollusks from the tropical Indo-Pacific. Other strengths are shallow-water Western Atlantic mollusks, and worldwide freshwater and land molluasks. Many of the land and freshwater mollusks represent species now threatened, endangered or extinct. Perhaps the most important part of the collection is the12,000 lots of type specimens from more than 400 researchers. These are the specimens used in the naming of species; they serve as standards of comparison for confirming the species identities. ANSP through the research activities of staff and purchase and trade over more than 150 years has assembled one of the world's largest collections of molluscan type specimens. The collection is used by scientists throughout the world. In the past five years, almost 300 loans totaling more than 28,000 specimens have been made, and more than 200 scientific article have acknowledged use of collection resources. Mollusks are excellent indicators for studying the health of ecosystems. They comprise the most diverse animal phylum after the arthropods, with more than 100,000 species, and are abundant in terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats. Although less diverse than arthropods, mollusks have three advantages over them for environmental studies. 1) Mollusk shells have accretionary growth, and incorporate isotopes and chemicals from the environment into their shells thereby providing a direct record of environmenta l change. Arthropods shed the exoskeleton, losing this record of change 2) Adult mollusks are generally poor at dispersing, so their shells reflect local environmental conditions. 3) Mollusk shells persist after the death of the animal, showing what species previously occurred at a site, unlike arthropod exoskeletons which rapidly decay. High diversity, accretionary growth, low dispersal, and persistence of shells combine to make mollusks premier organisms for monitoring environmental health. Mollusk shells themselves provide the materials for chemical and isotopic analyses that can determine causes of faunal change. Computerization of the collections will help in determining changes in the historical distribution patterns of mollusk species. Little such information is currently available, but is needed not only by scientists conducting basic systematic and ecological research on mollusks, but to provide baseline data for monitoring the health of ecosystems.

该项目将支持完成费城自然科学院（ANSP）最近的软体动物收集的计算机化。 这是该国最古老的软体动物收藏，也是世界上第二大的编目之一。 它目前有大约44万个编目批次，包含大约1200万个标本，其中包括大约4万个保存在酒精中的批次，为解剖学和DNA研究提供了极好的材料。 ANSP几乎拥有来自世界各地的标本;它是热带印度洋-太平洋浅水海洋软体动物中无与伦比的。 其他优势是浅水西大西洋软体动物，以及世界各地的淡水和陆地软体动物。许多陆地和淡水软体动物代表了现在受到威胁，濒临灭绝或灭绝的物种。 也许最重要的部分是收集的12,000多个模式标本来自400多名研究人员。 这些是用于物种命名的标本;它们作为确认物种身份的比较标准。 ANSP通过工作人员的研究活动和购买和贸易超过150年来已经收集了世界上最大的软体动物模式标本之一。 该系列被世界各地的科学家使用。 在过去的五年里，已经进行了近300次贷款，共计28，000多件标本，200多篇科学文章承认使用了馆藏资源。 软体动物是研究生态系统健康状况的极好指标。 它们是继节肢动物之后最多样化的动物门，有100 000多个物种，在陆地、淡水和海洋生境中都很丰富。 尽管软体动物的种类不如节肢动物多，但在环境研究方面，软体动物有三个优势。1)软体动物的壳具有增生生长，并将来自环境的同位素和化学物质结合到它们的壳中，从而提供环境变化的直接记录。 节肢动物的外骨骼脱落，失去了这种变化的记录2）成年软体动物通常不善于分散，所以它们的外壳反映了当地的环境条件。3)软体动物的壳在动物死亡后仍然存在，显示了以前在一个地点出现过的物种，不像节肢动物的外骨骼会迅速腐烂。 高多样性，增长增长，低扩散，和持久性的外壳结合联合收割机，使软体动物的首要生物监测环境健康。 软体动物壳本身提供了化学和同位素分析的材料，可以确定动物群变化的原因。 将这些收藏品计算机化将有助于确定软体动物物种历史分布模式的变化。 目前几乎没有这类资料，但科学家不仅需要对软体动物进行基本的系统和生态研究，而且需要提供监测生态系统健康的基线数据。