CSBR: Natural History: Curation and Digitization of Significant, Newly Acquired Fish, Amphibian, and Reptile Collections at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences

自然历史标本收集在科学中发挥着重要作用，从促进新物种的发现到了解人类活动如何影响全球生物多样性。这些标本与研究人员、资源管理人员、教育工作者和公众感兴趣的数据相关联，例如每个标本的发现时间和地点。大多数标本是不可替代的，因为它们代表了过去某个时间和地点的种群或物种。 北卡罗来纳州自然科学博物馆（NCSM）最近获得了三个重要的鱼类，两栖动物和爬行动物的自然历史收藏，可以追溯到19世纪初。NCSM将吸收这些收藏品，以确保它们的长期保存，并将策展，编目，验证物种鉴定，并对标本进行分类，以提高其研究价值和可访问性。通过一个定制的网络应用程序，公众（公民科学家）将参与将数据输入NCSM的收藏数据库，这有助于提高公众对自然历史收藏品的价值和重要性的认识和欣赏。这个为期三年的项目将把从查尔斯顿博物馆、阿巴拉契亚州立大学和S.W.罗斯深海探险队（北卡罗来纳州-威尔明顿大学）新获得的收藏品纳入北卡罗来纳州自然科学博物馆（NCSM）。由于这三个收藏品的策展地位不稳定，缺乏可访问的相关数据，迫切需要确保它们的未来并充分利用它们。超过57，000件拍品将被策展和数字化，使其成为研究准备和网络访问。 公民科学家将被招募使用一个网络应用程序与验证机制，提供转录与真实的时间反馈。 这加快了将标本数据纳入NCSM收藏数据库并使收藏品在全球范围内可访问的目标。 该项目产生的所有数据将与iDigBio（https：//www.idigbio.org/）共享，以确保研究人员和教育工作者能够获得。 有关NCSM鱼类、两栖动物和爬行动物数据库的更多信息，请访问http://collections.naturalsciences.org。

Natural history specimen collections play an essential role in science, from facilitating the discovery of new species to understanding how human activities impact global biodiversity. The specimens in these collections are associated with data of interest to researchers, resource managers, educators, and the general public, such as when and where each specimen was found. Most specimens are irreplaceable because they represent a population or species at a time and place in the past. The North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences (NCSM) recently acquired three significant natural history collections of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles that date back to the early 1800's. The NCSM will assimilate these collections to ensure their long-term preservation, and will curate, catalog, verify species identifications, and digitize the specimens to improve their research value and accessibility. Through a custom-built web app, members of the public (citizen scientists) will participate in entering data into the collection database at NCSM, which helps develop public awareness and appreciation for the value and importance of natural history collections. The three-year project will incorporate the newly acquired collections from the Charleston Museum, Appalachian State University, and the S.W. Ross deep-sea expeditions (University of North Carolina - Wilmington) into the holdings of the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences (NCSM). Due to the precarious curatorial status and lack of accessible associated data for these three collections, there is an urgent need to secure their future and provide for their full utility. Over 57,000 lots will be curated and digitized, making them research ready and web accessible. Citizen scientists will be recruited to use a web application with validation mechanisms that provide the transcriber with real time feedback. This accelerates the goal of incorporating specimen data into the NCSM collection databases and making the collections globally accessible. All data resulting from this project will be shared with iDigBio (https://www.idigbio.org/), ensuring accessibility to researchers and educators. Additional information about the NCSM Fishes, and Amphibian and Reptiles databases is available at http://collections.naturalsciences.org.