RAPID: Preparing the USM/GCRL Museum Invertebrate Holdings Data For Physical and Electronic Access by the Scientific Community in the Aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

南密西西比大学墨西哥湾沿岸研究实验室（GCRL）博物馆收藏了大量来自墨西哥湾北部的保存完好的海洋无脊椎动物。这些标本主要来自墨西哥湾地区，这些地区目前受到深水地平线石油泄漏的影响或威胁。这些收集代表了与泄漏后将进行的环境影响研究相关的参考材料。博物馆里的许多标本都是历史收藏品（同一地点在一段时间内的重复收藏），这将有助于评估石油泄漏的影响。该项目的目标是准备GCRL博物馆收藏的来自墨西哥湾北部关键地区的无脊椎动物，供科学界使用。这将需要对来自藏品批次的数据进行编目，验证身份，将数据输入博物馆数据库，并使该数据库可在GCRL博物馆网站上搜索。此外，最近从受影响的海岸线栖息地采集的撞击前样本将被处理并纳入GCRL博物馆的收藏。这项工作将需要一年的时间完成，由四名高级科学家，两名研究生和两名兼职本科生进行。完成后，GCRL博物馆与该项目有关的无脊椎动物馆藏的所有数据将由科学界以电子方式访问，所有标本将可供感兴趣的用户团体借阅。存档的无脊椎动物标本和收藏，以及与它们获取有关的生态数据，是科学家研究石油对墨西哥湾北部海岸线栖息地影响所需要的宝贵资源。科学家、资源管理者和其他相关方将能够搜索我们的资源，并了解哪些无脊椎动物出现在已经暴露于石油的关键区域。有了关于一个地区历史特征的物种和群落的基本知识，科学家们可以评估一个关键的海岸线栖息地何时或是否已经恢复。参与此计划的学生将学习博物馆策展技巧，并接受分类学训练，以正确识别海洋无脊椎动物。此外，将鼓励学生参加与生物多样性研究有关的项目，重点是这一环境灾难可能对受影响的海岸线栖息地的动物完整性产生的急性和慢性影响。

The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) Museum houses a large collection of preserved marine invertebrates from the northern Gulf of Mexico. This collection is dominated by specimens collected from regions of the Gulf that are presently impacted or threatened by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These collections represent reference material relevant to environmental impact studies that will be conducted in the aftermath of the spill. Many of the specimen lots in the museum represent historical collections (repeated collections made from the same location over a period of time) that will be useful for assessing oil spill impact. The goal of this project is to prepare the GCRL Museum invertebrate holdings from key areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico for access by the scientific community. This will entail cataloging data from collection lots, verifying identifications, entering the data into the museum database, and making that database searchable on the GCRL Museum web site. In addition, recent pre-impact samples from affected shoreline habitats will be processed and incorporated into the GCRL Museum collection. This work will take one year to complete, and be conducted by four senior scientists, two graduate students and two part time undergraduate workers. Upon completion, all data from the GCRL Museum invertebrate holdings pertaining to this project will be electronically accessible by the scientific community and all specimen lots will be available for loan to interested user groups.Archived invertebrate specimens and collections along with the ecological data pertaining to their acquisition are valuable resources that scientists need in order to study effects of oil on shoreline habitats of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Scientists, resource managers, and other interested parties will be able to search our holdings and learn which invertebrates occur in key areas that have since been exposed to oil. Equipped with baseline knowledge about species and communities that historically characterize an area, scientists can assess when or if a key shoreline habitat has recovered. Students participating in this project will learn museum curatorial techniques and be trained in taxonomy for proper identification of marine invertebrates. Further, the student participants will be encouraged to pursue projects relating to the study of biodiversity with emphasis on the acute and chronic effects that this environmental catastrophe may have had on the faunal integrity of affected shoreline habitats.