Relocation and Infrastructure Upgrade for the Donald Ryder Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammals

这一奖项将加强长期的安全和保护无价的加州大学洛杉矶分校唐纳德R。迪基鸟类和哺乳动物收藏。 具体而言，资金将用于购买和安装一个节省空间的压实机系统和几个新的标本箱在一个翻新，由大学提供的更大的空间。目前，标本被储存在一个小的，没有空调的地下空间里，这些标本已经有65年以上的历史了。节省空间将减少近50%的收藏所需的空间，从而允许扩大收藏，更多的工作空间，并有足够的空间提供博物馆科学技能课程，这是几十年来的第一次。NSF的资金将支持研究生和本科生协助搬迁和博物馆管理。唐纳德河迪基鸟类和哺乳动物收藏馆，包含大约64,000个标本，是加州大学最大的收藏馆之一。其地理优势包括北美西部和中美洲，许多标本在1950年之前收集。 因此，收集提供了一个重要的记录，动物分布，遗传多样性和形态之前，第二次世界大战后的人口膨胀和栖息地退化。加强和保护这些收藏品的知识价值的一个重要因素是，它们在当前气候变化的情况下作为生物多样性和物种分布基线数据档案的作用。 此外，该系列还用于让学生接触自然变化的有形证据，动物形态与功能的关系以及进化关系。每年有超过1600名本科生通过他们的课程与收藏的某些方面接触，其中一些人继续完成独立研究或协助收藏管理。此外，许多加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究生和教师，以及访问科学家，研究材料的集合，为他们的研究。

This award will enhance the long-term safety and preservation of the priceless UCLA Donald R. Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammal collection. Specifically, funds will be used to purchase and install a space-saving compactor system and several new specimen cases in a renovated, larger space provided by the university. At present, specimens are stored in deteriorating 65+-year-old cases in a small, non-air-conditioned underground space. The space-saver will reduce space needed to house the collection by nearly fifty percent, thus permitting expansion of the collection, more workspace, and sufficient room to offer classes in museum science skills for the first time in decades. NSF funds will support both graduate students and undergraduate students to assist with the move and museum curation. The Donald R. Dickey Bird and Mammal Collection, containing approximately 64,000 specimens, is one of the largest maintained by a California university. Its geographic strengths include western North America and Middle America, with many specimens collected prior to 1950. Thus, the collection provides a critical record of animal distributions, genetic diversity, and morphology prior to post-World War II population expansion and habitat degradation. An important element of the intellectual merit of enhancing and preserving these collections relates to their role as an archive of baseline data on biodiversity and species distributions in the face of current climate change. In addition, the collection is used to expose students to tangible evidence of variation in nature, the relationship of animal form to function, and evolutionary relationships. Over 1600 undergraduates have contact through their coursework with some aspect of the collection each year, and some of these go on to complete independent studies or assist in collection management. Moreover, many UCLA graduate students and faculty, as well as visiting scientists, study material in the collections for their research.