Collaborative Research CBSR: Natural History: The Preservation, Digitization, and Data Basing of the Tardigrade Collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology

缓步动物，或水熊，是生活在海洋和陆地上的水生或其他潮湿地方的微观动物。目前大约有1150种被描述的物种，每年都有新的物种被发现。它们有香肠状的身体，有8条腿，末端是长长的爪子。水熊是独一无二的，因为当它们的栖息地变干时，它们会进入一种被称为隐生的“悬浮生命”状态。在这个阶段，它们可以忍受极端的冷、热、真空和压力条件。水熊可能会在这种情况下保持许多年，直到水分恢复，让它们继续生活。很长一段时间以来，很少有科学家研究缓步动物，因为人们认为它们对人类没有什么重要的经济或健康价值。然而，他们延缓生命的能力现在正在被研究，作为延长移植器官“保质期”的一种方法。人们还发现，在这种悬浮状态下，水熊可能携带植物致病细菌被风吹散，因此它们可能对某些作物疾病的传播负有责任。该生物学的医学和工业应用以及疾病问题使得了解水熊物种的全球分布和开发最新的分类框架以促进这项工作至关重要。水熊的研究必须从博物馆的收藏开始。北美最大的昆虫收藏在博哈特昆虫学博物馆。这35000张幻灯片收藏中的大部分是在1960-70年代获得的，是根据当时的最佳实践准备的。不幸的是，当时的最佳实践意味着使用非存档挂载介质，这种介质会随着时间的推移而退化。结果，这些标本正在迅速恶化。此外，标本的分类自20世纪70年代以来一直没有更新，也没有建立数据库。为了解决这些问题，该项目寻求稳定、修复和恢复标本，将它们安装在档案质量介质中，对每个标本进行成像，并在线上传图像和相关元数据，并将所有数据与iDigBio集成。该项目还将对弗雷斯诺城市学院和加州大学戴维斯分校的本科生进行大规模馆藏准备、修复、文档编制和数据输入等方面的培训。最初，将根据在另一组节肢动物、拟寄生蜂的类似项目中吸取的经验教训，在使用非类型材料的重复标本完善这一过程之后，重新安装类型和凭证标本。在此初始阶段之后，将处理所有其他非类型标本。该项目产生的所有数据将在博哈特博物馆网站（http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/）上在线发布，并与IDigBio （https://www.idigbio.org/）共享，以确保研究人员和教育工作者可以访问。有关博哈特博物馆及其外展活动的更多信息，请访问http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/。

Tardigrades, or water bears, are microscopic animals that live in the ocean and on land in aquatic or otherwise wet places. Currently there are about 1,150 described species, with new ones being discovered annually. They have sausage-shaped bodies, with 8 legs ending in long claws. Water bears are unique because they can enter a state of 'suspended life' called cryptobiosis as their habitat dries out. In this stage, they can tolerate extreme conditions of cold, heat, vacuum, and pressure. Water bears may remain in this condition for many years until moisture returns allowing them to continue on with their lives. For a long time few scientists studied tardigrades because they were thought to have little economic or health value that were important to humans. However, their ability to suspend life is now being studied as a way to extend the 'shelf life' of organs harvested for transplant. It has also been discovered that in this suspended state water bears may be dispersed by wind carrying plant disease-causing bacteria, and that as a result they may be responsible for the spread of some crop diseases. The medical and industrial applications of this biology plus the disease issues make it critical to understand the global distribution of water bear species and to develop an up-to-date taxonomic framework to facilitate this work. Water bear research necessarily starts with museum collections. The largest North American collection is housed in the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Most of this 35,000 slide collection was acquired in the 1960-70s, and was prepared according to the best practices of the time. Unfortunately, best practices of the time meant using non-archival mounting media, which degrades over time. As a result the specimens are rapidly deteriorating. In addition, the taxonomy of the specimens has not been updated since the 1970's and they have not been databased. To address these issues, this project seeks to stabilize, repair and restore the specimens mounting them in archival quality media, image each specimen and upload the images and associated metadata on-line and integrate all data with iDigBio. The project will also train undergraduates at Fresno City College and UC Davis in the processes of preparation, repair, documentation, and data entry of large-scale collections. Initially, type and voucher specimens will be remounted - after the process has been perfected with duplicate specimens of non-type material - following lessons learned during a similar project on another group of arthropods, parasitoid wasps. Following this initial phase all other non-type specimens will be addressed. All data resulting from this project will be posted on line at the Bohart Museum website, http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ and shared with IDigBio, https://www.idigbio.org/, ensuring accessibility to researchers and educators. Additional information about the Bohart Museum and its outreach activities is available at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/.