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

该奖项将加强加州大学洛杉矶分校无价的唐纳德·R·迪基鸟类和哺乳动物收藏的长期安全性和保存性。具体地说，资金将用于购买和安装一个节省空间的压路机系统和几个新的样本箱，由大学提供一个翻新的、更大的空间。目前，标本被储存在一个没有空调的小地下空间里，存放在日益恶化的65年前的箱子里。这种节省空间的装置将把存放藏品所需的空间减少近50%，从而允许扩大藏品，增加工作空间，并有足够的空间开设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帮助搬家和博物馆管理。唐纳德·R·迪奇鸟和哺乳动物收藏，包含了大约64,000个标本，是加州大学保存的最大的标本之一。它的地理优势包括北美西部和中美洲，许多标本是在1950年之前收集的。因此，该收藏提供了二战后种群扩张和栖息地退化之前的动物分布、遗传多样性和形态的关键记录。加强和保存这些收藏品的学术价值的一个重要因素涉及到它们在面对当前气候变化时作为关于生物多样性和物种分布的基线数据的档案所起的作用。此外，这些藏品还用来让学生接触到自然界的变化、动物形态与功能的关系以及进化关系的有形证据。每年有超过1600名本科生通过他们的课程与藏品的某些方面进行接触，其中一些人继续完成独立研究或协助藏品管理。此外，许多加州大学洛杉矶分校的研究生和教职员工以及来访的科学家都会为他们的研究收集资料。

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.