Preparation of Research Collections to Deposit in Museums

该项目将组织、保存和存档来自阿拉斯加和加利福尼亚的棘鱼化石和现存标本的重要收藏。刺鱼长期以来一直是进化生物学中的一个重要模型系统，以其复杂的交配行为和种群间形态和生活史的多样性而闻名。自1975年以来收集的这些数据代表了刺鱼广泛的表型多样性，因此这些数据来源对于当前和未来对刺鱼的比较或实验研究以及一般的进化和行为过程至关重要。特别有价值的是化石样本，因为它们是更好地理解进化动力学时间的核心，包括特征关系的趋势及其在形成刺鱼多样性中的作用。这个项目将使国内和国际的研究人员可以访问这些收藏。它将在基础科学和应用科学（例如鱼类和野生动物部）方面提供重要的培训和研究机会。化石标本将存放在加州大学古生物博物馆；现存的标本将被存放在加州科学院的鱼类学收藏中。样本和相关记录将被编入索引并与实地记录相联系，相关数据库将被分配博物馆标本编号。管理和存放这些标本将使它们可供一般科学界使用。这些研究资料的保存将确保这一宝贵资源的持续利用，样品记录的准备将涉及高通量扫描、标签的精确编辑、微地层数据和地图坐标数据的整理。样本记录将与现有的湖泊数据库以及阿拉斯加渔猎局的阿拉斯加样本记录相关联。

This project will organize, preserve, and archive an important collection of fossil and extant specimens of stickleback fish from Alaska and California. Sticklebacks have long been a critical model system in evolutionary biology, and are known for their complex mating behavior and diversity among populations in terms of morphology and life-history. This collection, which was assembled since 1975, represents extensive phenotypic diversity in stickleback fish, and therefore this data-source is crucial for current and future comparative or experimental research on sticklebacks in particular, and evolutionary and behavioral processes in general. Of particular value are the fossil samples, as they are central to gain a better understanding of the timing of evolutionary dynamics, including trends in trait relationships and their role in shaping stickleback diversity. This project will make this collection accessible to researchers nationally, and internationally. It will provide important training and research opportunities in basic and applied sciences (e.g., Department of Fish and Wildlife).The fossil specimens will be deposited in the University of California Museum of Paleontology; the extant specimens will be deposited in the Ichthyology Collection of the California Academy of Sciences. The samples and associated records will be indexed and linked to field notes and associated databases will be assigned museum specimen numbers. Curating and depositing these specimens will make them available to the general science community. The preservation of this research collection will ensure the continued use of this valuable resource, and preparation of sample records will involve high-throughput scanning, accuracy-editing of labels, curation of microstratigraphic data as well as map coordinate data. Sample records will be linked to an existing limnological database, as well as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game records for the Alaskan samples.