Improvements to the Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyological Collection

抽象的。佛罗里达自然历史博物馆的詹姆斯·阿尔伯特博士和乔治·伯吉斯先生获得了一笔赠款，以改善鱼类收藏。由于人类活动，我们经历了大规模灭绝的浪潮，世界各地的物种正在减少。在生物多样性危机加速的同时，人们正在努力为后代保护我们的遗传遗产.佛罗里达自然历史博物馆的鱼类收藏是一个重要的国家资源，主要优势是大西洋西部和东部大陆架和深水海洋鱼类，大西洋西部珊瑚礁鱼类，以及来自美国东南部，中美洲和北方南美洲和西印度群岛的淡水鱼类。UF收集继续增长，并被全国和世界各地的研究人员使用。佛罗里达博物馆的鱼类学收藏目前包含约216，000个已鉴定的批次（罐子），承载近220万个标本，属于约6，600个物种。其中约15万件拍品被电子编目。在未编目的材料中，估计有73,000批标本被鉴定为从孤儿收藏中获得的物种。这些未编目的拍品包括一些佛罗里达博物馆最有价值的材料。目前，大量的这些标本没有电子编目，极大地限制了他们的使用和访问。电子数据库中这些重要资源的缺乏极大地降低了它们的实用性，并意味着研究机会的重大损失。该项目将以电子方式对孤儿地段进行编目，并在新提供的设施中将孤儿地段物理地整合到现有的佛罗里达博物馆收藏中。具体目标是：1：在新分配的空间中安装移动的高密度搁架单元。2.电子编目46，500识别批次。3：将这些材料物理整合到新购买的和现有的陈列架上的现有编目集合中。所有批次都将收到新标签，根据需要加满或收到新酒精，收到新的密封件或重新装瓶（如适用），并在压缩货架单元上与同类产品一起搁置。为了在整个编目过程中促进持续的安全和访问，所有材料将按系统发生顺序保存在设有通道的空调设施中。为了加快新收藏的整合，我们将尽量减少新的分类鉴定。代表高度冗余分类群或最终损坏的标本将被记录并丢弃。孤儿材料的电子编目将大大增加进出佛罗里达博物馆收藏的信息流。编目和整合孤儿鱼类收藏品将为访问学者、学生和佛罗里达博物馆和互联网数据库的用户提供这些重要数据。实现项目目标将促进收藏品的长期增长，促进对编目材料的研究，并大大提高佛罗里达博物馆及其信息资源的长期管理和公众宣传能力。这些结果将加强佛罗里达大学作为教育和培训新一代水生生物多样性科学家的中心的作用。

Abstract. A grant has been awarded to Dr. James Albert and Mr. GeorgeBurgess at Florida Museum of Natural History to improve the IchthyologicalCollection. Species are in decline around the world as we pass through awave of mass extinctions due to human activities. While the biodiversitycrisis accelerates efforts are being made to preserve our genetic heritagefor future generations. The Florida Museum of Natural Historyichthyological collection is a significant national resource, withprincipal strengths in western and eastern Atlantic shelf and deepwatermarine fishes, western Atlantic reef fishes, and freshwater fishes from theSoutheastern United States, Central and northern South America, and theWest Indies. The UF collection continues to grow and is used by researchersthroughout the nation and the world. The Florida Museum ichthyologicalcollection presently contains about 216,000 identified lots (jars) bearingclose to 2.2 million specimens ascribed to approximately 6,600 species. Ofthese about 150,000 lots are electronically catalogued. Among theuncatalogued materials are an estimated 73,000 lots of specimens identifiedto species acquired from orphaned collections. These uncatalogued lotsinclude some of the Florida Museum's most valuable materials. At present alarge number of these specimens are not electronically catalogued, greatlyrestricting their use and access. The lack of availability to thesesubstantial resources on electronic databases dramatically reduces theirutility and represents a significant loss of research opportunities.This project will electronically catalogue and physically integrateorphaned lots into the existing Florida Museum collection in newly providedfacilities. The specific goals are to: 1: Install mobile, high densityshelving units in the newly allocated space. 2. Electronically catalog46,500 identified lots. 3: Physically integrate these materials into theexisting catalogued collection on newly purchased and existing compactorshelving units. All lots will receive new labels, be topped off or receivenew alcohol as needed, receive new closures or be rebottled if appropriate,and be shelved with conspecifics on compacted shelving units. To facilitatecontinued safety and access throughout the cataloguing process allmaterials will be maintained in phylogenetic order by family inair-conditioned facilities provided with access aisles. To expediteincorporation of new collections we will minimize new taxonomicidentifications. Specimens representing highly redundant taxa or thoseterminally damaged will be recorded and discarded.Electronic cataloguing of the orphaned materials will substantiallyincrease the flow of information into and out of the Florida Museumcollection as a whole. Cataloguing and integrating orphaned ichthyologicalcollections will provide visiting scholars, students and users of theFlorida Museum and Internet databases access to these important data.Achieving the project objectives will facilitate long-term growth of thecollection, promote research into the catalogued materials, and greatlyincrease the long-term management and public outreach capabilities of theFlorida Museum and its information resources. These results will enhancethe role of the University of Florida as a center for the education andtraining of a new generation of scientists in aquatic biodiversity.