CSBR:Natural History: Critical infrastructure upgrades and expanded digital access to Non-vertebrate Paleontology Collections at the University of Texas at Austin

德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校获得了一个奖项，用于基础设施升级和支持扩大非脊椎动物古生物学收藏的数字访问。这笔资金将缓解位于UT泡菜研究校园内的存储空间的压力。 从主校区转移标本使目前的储存能力达到临界水平，严重阻碍了标本的获取和检索。直接用户访问是至关重要的，以确保材料仍然很容易为正在进行的和未来的研究，教育和公共宣传。该项目将解决其中许多问题。它将促进橱柜升级，标本安全，并扩大对不可替代的化石收藏的数字访问，特别是那些目前没有气候控制的化石收藏。标本包括罕见的历史材料，灭绝或灭绝的物种，从现在无法访问的地方收集，从得克萨斯州的地质测绘化石，论文和论文样本，古植物学收藏，一个独特的全新世海洋，陆地蜗牛和贻贝收集，基因型软体动物收集，和几个孤儿收集。新的档案柜将提供更有效的空间使用，是在额外资金允许的情况下向完全压缩的气候控制空间迈进的重要一步。橱柜的物理结构与气候窗帘相结合，将防止害虫和污染的污染，缓冲温度和湿度的波动，并提高安全性。通过创新的网络和移动的应用程序推动的公共利益和教育将通过各种社会媒体扩大。在项目实施期间，大多数标本将通过冷冻/解冻循环，以杀死昆虫和幼虫，然后再转移到新的橱柜。所有转让活动都将通过一个与数据库（Specify 6）和网络接口相连的地理信息系统进行跟踪;在项目期间，通过利用整抽屉图像，收藏品将保持数字化访问，如果以前没有部署有效的地理信息系统和图像，作为正在进行的盘存进程的一部分，这是不可能实现的。该项目继续实施一项机构战略，以保护储存库中的重要藏品，并为合作研究提供高分辨率的2-D和现在的3-D数字替代品。所有标本都将在完整的抽屉中成像，单个标本将与其历史标签一起捕获作为附加资源。对储存库地图、数据库和图像之间的网络连接的改进将使远程访问潜在的教学标本和研究资源成为可能。虚拟标本和相关数据将可供查询和下载，保留灵活性，以探索这些场外收藏在各种背景下，包括分类学，地质学和全球古地理学。将为数据的空间和时间分析提供经板块构造运动校正的局部坐标。该项目产生的所有数据将与iDigBio（https：//www.idigbio.org/）和全球生物多样性信息设施（GBIF）共享，确保研究人员和公众能够获得。

An award is made to the University of Texas (UT) at Austin for infrastructure upgrades and support for expanded digital access to the Non-vertebrate Paleontology Collections. The funding will alleviate pressure for storage space within this collection located on the Pickle Research Campus of UT. Transfer of specimens from the main campus has stressed the capacity of current storage to critical levels that significantly hinder access and specimen retrieval. Direct user access is vital to ensure that materials remain easily available for on-going and future research, education, and public outreach. This project will address many of these issues. It will facilitate cabinet upgrades, specimen security, and expanded digital access to irreplaceable fossil collections, especially those currently housed without climate control. Specimens include rare historic material, extirpated or extinct species, collections from now inaccessible localities, fossils from the geologic mapping of Texas, thesis and dissertation samples, paleobotanical collections, a unique Holocene marine, land snail and mussel collection, a genotypic mollusc collection, and several orphaned collections. New archival cabinets will provide more efficient space usage, and are a vital step in the progression to fully compacted climate-controlled space when additional funding permits. The physical structure of the cabinets combined with climate curtaining will prevent contamination by pests and pollution, buffer swings in temperature and humidity, and improve security. Public interest and education, furthered through innovative web and mobile applications, will be expanded through a variety of social media. During the project implementation, most specimens will be passed through a freeze/thaw cycle to kill insects and larvae prior to their transfer to new cabinets. All transfer activity will be tracked via a linked geographic information system (GIS) to a database (Specify6) and web interface; collections will remain digitally accessible during the project by leveraging whole-drawer imagery, which could not be achieved without the previous deployments of an effective GIS and imaging as part of the ongoing inventory process. The project continues an institutional strategy to conserve important collections in the repository and to make high resolution 2-D, and now 3-D, digital surrogates available for collaborative research. All specimens will be imaged in full-drawer context, and individual specimens captured with their historic labels as an added resource. Refinement of the web connectivity between repository map, database, and images will enable remote access for potential teaching specimens and research resources. Virtual specimens and related data will be available for query and download, retaining flexibility to explore these off-site collections in a variety of contexts, including taxonomy, geology, and global paleogeography. Locality coordinates, corrected for plate tectonic movement, will be provided for both spatial and temporal analysis of data. All data resulting from this project will be shared with iDigBio (https://www.idigbio.org/) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), ensuring accessibility to researchers and the public.