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

安置费城自然科学院的软体动物收藏品

• 批准号: 0237511
• 负责人: Gary Rosenberg
• 金额: $ 46.53万
• 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: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-05-01 至 2006-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0237511&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Rehousing; Molluscan; Collections; Academy; Natural

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.

在 G. Rosenberg 博士的指导下，费城自然科学院获得了一笔拨款，用于重新安置美国最古老、第二大的软体动物收藏品。软体动物是继节肢动物之后最多样化的动物门，有超过 100,000 种，在陆地、淡水和海洋生境中含量丰富。馆藏中的标本记录了世界各地软体动物物种的多样性和分布，并通过贝壳中的化学物质提供了环境变化的直接记录。该馆藏包括约 450,000 个已编目批次，包含约 800 万个标本，其中最强的是来自热带印度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，包括许多现已受到威胁、濒临灭绝或灭绝的物种。该藏品包含来自 400 多名研究人员的 12,000 批模式标本。类型是用于物种命名的标本；它们充当确认物种身份的比较标准。藏品中的标本受到当前储藏柜木质内部散发出的酸蒸气的威胁。木材和其他形式的纤维素（例如棉花、纸板和纸张）会释放出乙酸和甲酸。这些酸与贝壳表面发生反应，特别是在高湿度条件下，将碳酸钙基质转化为醋酸钙和甲酸钙的白色晶体。这种破坏性过程称为拜恩病。拜恩氏病会掩盖和消除贝壳的特征，如果不加以控制，可能会完全破坏标本。醋酸钙和甲酸钙具有吸湿性，这意味着它们会吸收空气中的水分，从而加速疾病的进程。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小瓶。由苏打和钾玻璃制成的旧小瓶中的钠和钾氧化物也具有吸湿性。当玻璃从空气中吸收水和二氧化碳时，会形成碳酸钠和碳酸钾，这两种物质都具有极强的吸湿性。持续的反应会削弱玻璃并使其变得浑浊。碳酸盐溶液会导致骨膜恶化，壳基质内的蛋白质结合，并且任何身体在壳内都会保持干燥。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 个木质内饰柜将更换为钢制柜子，其中包含铝制抽屉、320,000 个装有硼硅酸盐小瓶的旧玻璃瓶、带有聚乙烯塞子的棉塞和软木塞，以及 390,000 个装有无酸等效物的纸板托盘。这项工作的影响将是保存这些藏品以供未来的研究和教育之用。该集合被世界各地的科学家使用。过去10年，共借出445份标本，共计47,000份标本，440多篇科学文章承认馆藏资源的使用。同期，多名研究生和博士后接受了与 ANSP 软体动物馆长一起工作的部分培训，超过 1500 人参观了该藏品，其中包括 358 名专业研究人员、88 名进行论文研究的研究生以及 1000 多名参加幕后参观的公众。博物馆的地板上还展出了标本，并借给当地学校进行教学。