Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: Digitizing Fossils to Enable New Syntheses in Biogeography - Creating a PALEONICHES-TCN

博物馆的化石收藏，以及与之相关的地方数据，提供了数百万条代表物种在时间和地理分布的记录。然而，为了发挥其最大的科学潜力，这些收集的数据需要在线提供，并以一种便于定量生物地理分析的格式提供。我们将把几个重要的古生物馆藏中化石标本的年代和精确位置信息输入电子数据库。在这一过程中，收集标本的计算机程序将得到改进，使古生物标本与现代标本数据相结合，从而有利于研究生物体随时间的分布。我们的努力将把来自美国几家博物馆的900个物种的近45万个标本数字化，并将重点放在生命史上的三个不同时期：奥陶纪、宾夕法尼亚纪和新近纪。我们将创建在线数字地图集，说明和描述这些化石，并提供地图，显示在哪里可以找到它们。我们还将创建一个“应用程序”，以便这些地图集可以在现场的手持设备上使用。博物馆的藏品和化石为研究物种迁移、灭绝或长时间进化的原因提供了大量有用的数据。它们对于考虑全球变化已经并将继续影响这个星球上的生命具有重要意义。我们的研究将把这些数据放到网上，供科学家使用，促进许多科学分析。在线和便携式设备的数字地图集将有助于在课堂上和实地教育业余古生物学家和K-12学生有关化石的知识。我们还将为学生和学者提供培训。该奖项是国家生物馆藏数字化资源的一部分，通过推进生物馆藏数字化计划，该奖项产生的所有数据将通过国家资源（iDigBio.org）提供。

Museum collections of fossils, along with their associated locality data, provide millions of records representing data on the temporal and geographic distribution of species in deep time. However, to reach their greatest scientific potential, these collections data need to be available on-line and in a format that facilitates quantitative biogeographic analyses. We will enter information about the age and precise location of fossil specimens from parts of several key paleontological collections into electronic databases. During this process improvements to computer programs for collections will be enhanced to allow paleontological specimens to be integrated with modern specimen data, thereby benefiting research on distribution of organisms over time. Our efforts will digitize nearly 450,000 specimens belonging to 900 species from several museums throughout the U.S. and will focus on three different time periods in the history of life: the Ordovician, Pennsylvanian, and Neogene. We will create on line digital atlases illustrating and describing these fossils and providing maps showing where they can be found. We will also create an 'app' so these atlases can be used on handheld devices out in the field.The museum collections and fossils provide large amounts of data useful for studying what causes species to migrate, go extinct, or evolve over long time periods. They are of great relevance for considering how global change has and will continue to affect life on this planet. Our study will make these data available on line and accessible to scientists, facilitating many scientific analyses. The on-line and portable device digital atlases will be useful for educating amateur paleontologists and K-12 students about fossils both in classrooms and in the field. We will also provide training to students and scholars. 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 (iDigBio.org).