Rehousing the Molluscan Collections at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

在G.Rosenberg博士的指导下，费城自然科学院获得了一笔赠款，用于重新安置软体动物收藏，这些软体动物是美国最古老、第二大的软体动物收藏。软体动物是仅次于节肢动物的最多样化的动物门，有超过10万个物种，丰富地存在于陆地、淡水和海洋栖息地。收集的标本记录了世界各地软体动物物种的多样性和分布，并通过在贝壳中加入化学物质直接记录了环境变化。该藏品包括约45万个已编目的拍品，包含约800万个标本，其中来自热带印度洋-太平洋和西大西洋的浅水海洋软体动物以及世界各地的淡水和陆地软体动物最具实力，包括许多现在受到威胁、濒临灭绝或灭绝的物种。该藏品包含了来自400多名研究人员的12,000批模式标本。模式是用于命名物种的标本；它们用作确认物种身份的比较标准。收藏中的标本受到当前储藏柜木质内部散发出的酸性蒸气的威胁。木材和其他形式的纤维素，如棉花、纸板和纸，会放出醋酸和甲酸。这些酸与贝壳表面发生反应，特别是在高湿度的条件下，将碳酸钙基质转化为醋酸钙和甲酸钙的白色晶体。这种破坏性的过程被称为拜恩病。拜恩氏病使贝壳的特征变得模糊和消失，如果不加以控制，可能会完全摧毁标本。醋酸钙和甲酸钙是吸湿性的，这意味着它们从空气中吸收水分，从而加速了疾病的进程。另一个威胁是玻璃病，这种疾病会影响储存大多数较小标本的瓶子。由苏打和钾盐玻璃制成的旧瓶子中的钠和钾氧化物也是吸湿性的。当玻璃吸收空气中的水和二氧化碳时，会形成碳酸钠和碳酸钾，这两种物质都具有极强的吸湿性。持续的反应削弱了玻璃，使玻璃蒙上了一层阴影。碳酸盐溶液会导致骨膜退化，结合壳基质中的蛋白质，任何身体都会在壳内保持干燥。这些干燥的遗骸可能对DNA分析有用，需要保存。为了预防拜恩氏病和玻璃病，这些藏品将被重新安置在现代档案材料中。243个木质内饰橱柜将被替换为钢质橱柜，其中包括铝制抽屉、32万个装有硼硅酸盐瓶子的旧玻璃瓶、带有聚乙烯塞的棉花和软木塞，以及39万个带有无酸类似物的纸板托盘。这项工作的影响将是为未来的研究和教育保存这些藏品。世界各地的科学家都在使用这些藏品。在过去的10年中，共借出445份标本共计4.7万份，有440多篇科学论文承认使用了馆藏资源。在同一时期，几名研究生和博士后接受了与ANSP软体动物馆长合作的部分培训，超过1500人参观了馆藏，其中包括358名专业研究人员，88名正在进行论文研究的研究生，以及1000多名参与幕后参观的普通公众成员。标本也被陈列在博物馆的地板上，并被借给当地学校教学。

A grant has been awarded to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia under the direction of Dr. G. Rosenberg to rehouse the mollusk collection, which are the oldest and second largest in the United States. Mollusks comprise the most diverse animal phylum after the arthropods, with more than 100,000 species, and are abundant in terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats. Specimens in the collection document the diversity and distribution of mollusk species throughout the world and provide direct records of environmental change via chemicals incorporated in their shells. The collection consists of about 450,000 catalogued lots containing about 8 million specimens, with greatest strength in shallow-water marine mollusks from the tropical Indo-Pacific and Western Atlantic and worldwide freshwater and land mollusks, including many species now threatened, endangered or extinct. The collection contains 12,000 lots of type specimens from more than 400 researchers. Types are the specimens used in the naming of species; they serve as standards of comparison for confirming species identities. Specimens in the collection are threatened by acid vapors given off by the wooden interiors of the current storage cabinets. Wood and other forms of cellulose such as cotton, cardboard, and paper give off acetic and formic acid. These acids react with the surfaces of the shells, especially in conditions of high humidity, converting the calcium carbonate matrix to white crystals of calcium acetate and calcium formate. This destructive process is called Byne's disease. Byne's disease obscures and obliterates features of the shells and if left unchecked can completely destroy specimens. Calcium acetate and calcium formate are hygroscopic, meaning that they absorb moisture from air, which accelerates the process of the disease. Another threat is glass disease, a condition that affects the vials in which most of the smaller specimens are stored. Sodium and potassium oxides in older vials made of soda and potash glass are also hygroscopic. As the glass absorbs water and carbon dioxide from air, sodium and potassium carbonates form, both of which are extremely hygroscopic. The continuing reaction weakens and clouds the glass. The carbonate solution can cause deterioration of the periostracum, binding proteins within the shell matrix, and any body remains dried within the shells. Such dried remains are potentially useful for DNA analysis and need to be preserved. To safeguard against Byne's and glass disease, the collection will be rehoused in modern archival materials. The 243 wooden-interior cabinets will be replaced with steel cabinets containing aluminum drawers, 320,000 old glass vials with borosilicate vials, cotton and cork stoppers with polyethylene stoppers, and 390,000 cardboard trays with acid-free equivalents. The impact of this work will be to preserve the collection for future research and education. The collection is used by scientists throughout the world. In the past 10 years, 445 loans totaling 47,000 specimens have been made, and more than 440 scientific articles have acknowledged use of collection resources. In that same period, several graduate students and post-doctoral students have received part of their training working with ANSP's curators of mollusks, and more than 1500 people have visited the collection, including 358 professional researchers, 88 graduate students doing thesis research, and more than 1000 members of the general public who participated in behind-the-scenes tours. Specimens are also exhibited on the floor of the museum and are loaned to local schools for teaching.