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

该项目将建立InvertNet，这是一个在线虚拟博物馆，由中西部22个机构的5 000万昆虫和相关节肢动物标本组成，重点研究土地使用变化对五大湖和密西西比河上游流域生物群的影响。 这些藏品记录了160年来的环境变化，是一种宝贵和不可替代的资源，但目前科学家和公众基本上无法获得。 以前大多数采集和传播无脊椎动物采集数据的努力都只集中在标签数据上。 InvertNet将使用先进的数字化和网络技术来捕获和显示标本和标签的2D和3D图像，并将其纳入可搜索的数据库。这些新技术将大大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数据标签，InvertNet将提供对以前仅限于研究人员的收藏品的普遍访问。 它将包括到流行的BugGuide.net昆虫识别网站和研究人员、教育工作者和公众使用的其他生物多样性数据门户网站的链接。 这将促进和支持生物研究和教育的许多方面，包括物种发现和识别、害虫管理、生态学和植物地理学。 InvertNet将作为一个模式，适用于其他种类的生物收集，使用有效的计算机辅助程序，以提高收集数据的速度和准确性。该奖项是作为国家资源的一部分，通过推进生物收藏品数字化计划，从这个奖项产生的所有数据将通过国家资源。

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.