Improvements to the Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyological Collection

摘要。佛罗里达自然历史博物馆的James Albert博士和GeorgeBurgess先生获得了一笔赠款，用于改善鱼类学收藏。由于人类活动，我们经历了一波大规模灭绝的浪潮，世界各地的物种正在减少。在生物多样性危机加剧的同时，人们正在努力为子孙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学收藏是一项重要的国家资源，其主要优势是西部和东部大西洋大陆架和深水海洋鱼类，西部大西洋珊瑚礁鱼类，以及来自美国东南部，南美洲中部和北部以及西印度群岛的淡水鱼。佛罗里达大学的藏书不断增加，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个已识别的容器（罐），其中包含近220万个标本，归属于大约6600个物种。其中约有15万件是电子编目的。在未分类的材料中，估计有73,000件标本被鉴定为来自孤儿收藏的物种。这些未编目的藏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，极大地限制了它们的使用和获取。电子数据库中这些大量资源的缺乏大大降低了它们的效用，并代表了研究机会的重大损失。该项目将在新提供的设施中对现有的佛罗里达博物馆藏品进行电子编目和物理整合。具体目标是：1：在新分配的空间中安装可移动的高密度货架单元。2. 电子编目46,500件已识别的拍品。3：物理整合这些材料到现有的目录收集新购买的和现有的压缩机货架单元。所有批次都将获得新的标签，根据需要加满或接收新的酒精，如果合适的话，接受新的瓶盖或重新装瓶，并在压缩的货架单元上放置特殊物品。在整个编目过程中，为了保证持续的安全和存取，所有材料将在配备有通道的空调设施中按系统发育顺序保存。为了加快新馆藏的收录，我们将尽量减少新的分类鉴定。代表高度冗余分类群或末端受损的标本将被记录并丢弃。对这些被遗弃的材料进行电子编目将大大增加整个佛罗里达博物馆藏品的信息流。对孤立的鱼类学收藏进行编目和整合将为佛罗里达博物馆的访问学者、学生和用户以及互联网数据库提供访问这些重要数据的途径。实现该项目的目标将促进藏品的长期增长，促进对已编目材料的研究，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共宣传能力。这些结果将加强佛罗里达大学作为新一代水生生物多样性科学家的教育和培训中心的作用。

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.