Collaborative Research: Digitization TCN: InvertNet--An Integrative Platform for Research on Environmental Change, Species Discovery and Identification

该项目将创建InvertNet，这是一个在线虚拟博物馆，由22个中西部机构收藏的5000万只昆虫和相关节肢动物标本组成，重点是土地利用变化对五大湖和密西西比河上游流域生物群的影响这一研究主题。这些藏品记录了160年来的环境变化，是一种无价和不可替代的资源，但目前科学家和普通公众基本上无法获取。以前捕获和传播无脊椎动物采集数据的大多数努力只集中在标签数据上。InvertNet将使用先进的数字化和联网技术来捕获和显示标本和标签的2D和3D图像，并将它们合并到可搜索的数据库中。这些新技术应该会大幅降低昆虫标本数字化的成本。通过允许用户查找和查看特定物种标本的详细图像及其相关的数据标签，InvertNet将提供对以前仅限于研究人员的收藏的普遍访问。它将包括到广受欢迎的BugGuide.net昆虫识别网站以及研究人员、教育工作者和普通公众使用的其他生物多样性数据门户的链接。这将促进和支持生物学研究和教育的许多方面，包括物种发现和鉴定、虫害管理、生态学和生物地理学。InvertNet将作为一个模型，适用于其他类型的生物采集，使用高效的计算机辅助程序来提高采集数据的速度和准确性。该奖项是通过推进生物收藏数字化计划作为生物收藏数字化国家资源的一部分，该奖项产生的所有数据将通过国家资源获得。

This project will create InvertNet, an on-line virtual museum comprising 50 million insect and related arthropod specimens housed at 22 Midwestern institutions, focusing on the research theme of effects of land use changes on the biota of the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi River drainage basins. These collections document 160 years of environmental change and are an invaluable and irreplaceable resource but, at present, are largely inaccessible to scientists and the general public. Most previous efforts to capture and disseminate invertebrate collection data have focused on label data alone. InvertNet will use advanced digitization and networking technologies to capture and display 2D and 3D images of specimens and labels, and incorporate them into a searchable database. These new techniques should reduce the cost of digitizing insect specimens substantially.By allowing users to find and view detailed images of specimens of particular species and their associated data labels, InvertNet will provide universal access to collections previously restricted to researchers. It will include links to the popular BugGuide.net insect identification website and to other biodiversity data portals used by researchers, educators, and the general public. This will facilitate and support many aspects of biological research and education, including species discovery and identification, pest management, ecology and biogeography. InvertNet will serve as a model, applicable to other kinds of biological collections, for the use of efficient, computer-assisted procedures to increase the speed and accuracy of collection data capture. This award is made as part of the National Resource for Digitization of Biological Collections through the Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program and all data resulting from this award will be available through the national resource.