Safeguarding Our National Biodiversity Heritage: An Infrastructure Upgrade for the Marsupial Collection at the American Museum of Natural History

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The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has the largest and most heavily used collection of marsupials in the world, comprising 17,000 specimens obtained by dozens of privately and publically financed expeditions to Central and South America, Australia, and New Guinea. Thousands of pages of technical publications spanning 100 years of museum scholarship have been based on this material, which includes many endangered and/or extinct species. Although some parts of the collection (notably the type specimens and fluid-preserved material) are in good housing, most of the skins (about 11,000 specimens) remain in substandard cabinetry, discolored by dust and urban soot and at risk from insect pests. Overcrowding has resulted in mechanical damage to some specimens, skins are stored on acidified paper trays with brittle glue joints, and the electronic specimen database has never been proofed for accuracy against drawer contents. This award provides funds to demolish old cabinetry, to renovate collection spaces, to purchase new specimen cases and other archival-quality curatorial materials, and to make other improvements necessary to preserve this important heritage collection for future generations of scientific researchers. The AMNH marsupial collection is widely used by scientists to study biodiversity in many parts of the world currently threatened by habitat destruction. For example, AMNH specimens document the former presence of many endangered or extinct opossums, bandicoots, and kangaroos in places where they no longer exist. These specimens are also sources of DNA for evolutionary studies, they are used to illustrate guide books that help conservationists and ecotourists identify animals that they see in the field, and they provide material for educational public exhibitions that are seen by millions of museum-goers every year. Funds from this grant will be used to further the preservation of this irreplaceable heritage collection for future generations. Information on the AMNH mammalogy collection can be found at http://research.amnh.org/vz/mammalogy/collection-information.