CSBR: Ownership Transfer: Incorporation of MBARI and Univ. of Victoria deep-sea animal collections into the Benthic Invertebrate Collection at Scripps Institution of Oceanography

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This award makes possible the transfer of two very valuable collections of deep-sea animals, mainly invertebrates, to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Benthic Invertebrate Collection (SIO-BIC). The specimens were collected over many years from deep-sea hydrothermal vents and methane seeps by two eminent biologists (V. Tunnicliffe and R. Vrijenhoek) and housed by the University of Victoria (Canada) and Monterey Bay Aquarium and Research Institute, respectively. The collections will be catalogued into the SIO-BIC's online database and made available for loan to the scientific community. The enhanced database will contribute to the understanding of deep-sea ecosystems and inform education. Outreach to the general public will include a five-day teacher-training workshop on hydrothermal vents and methane seeps.This project proposes to continue building the Benthic Invertebrate Collection at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO-BIC) as a hub for eastern Pacific reference collections from reducing deep-sea ecosystems. Two large collections accrued from decades of work and multiple field programs will be incorporated into SIO-BIC. This enhances SIO-BIC's goal of supporting research, education and outreach to a broad audience, enhancing biodiversity awareness. Outreach to teachers has the potential to increase the impact of this project by informing K-12 classroom initiatives among other activities. Digitized data will be accessible through SIO-BIC's database, (http://collections.ucsd.edu/bi/search/), the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) and iDigiBio.