CSBR: Natural History: Conservation and Curation of the Milton Sanderson Dominican Amber Collection at the Illinois Natural History Survey

多米尼加琥珀以其保存完好的化石而闻名 - 古代动物、植物、真菌，甚至细菌，其历史可以追溯到大约 16-1800 万年前的中新世。迄今为止，在这块非凡的琥珀中已发现了 1,000 多种物种。对多米尼加琥珀的科学研究始于美国国家科学基金会资助的伊利诺伊州自然历史调查 (INHS) 昆虫学家米尔顿·桑德森 (Milton Sanderson) 的一次探险活动，他于 1959 年访问该岛研究甲虫。在了解到丰富的琥珀矿藏后，他在当地导游的帮助下开始寻找它们，并收集了大量样本并带回了 INHS。第二年，他发表了一篇简短的论文，报告了他的发现，从而启动了对这个古老生态系统的科学研究。因此，桑德森的收藏在科学和历史上都非常重要，但仍未在最初收集的五加仑桶中进行研究、分类和处理。多年不合标准的储存对琥珀造成了损害，琥珀已经发生了严重的氧化，现在非常脆弱。该项目将最终对藏品进行内含物筛选、使用最先进的树脂嵌入技术进行保存、策划和数字化。这将解锁大量有关古代生物多样性、生态和气候的重要数据，这些数据目前隐藏在馆藏中且无法访问。 除了首次向科学界和公众提供这些数据外，它还将为开始科学职业生涯的研究生和本科生提供宝贵的经验。伊利诺伊大学的伊利诺伊州自然历史调查 (INHS) 是米尔顿·桑德森多米尼加琥珀收藏 (MSDAC) 的所在地。 MSDAC 除了作为第一个大量多米尼加琥珀收藏的历史重要性之外，在科学上也具有巨大的意义。 它包含大量（约 70 公斤）的散装琥珀样品，几乎完全未加工；也就是说，它仍然存在于收集它的五加仑桶中，并且尚未进行化石筛选。 除了规模之外，该藏品未经筛选的性质意味着它不会受到收藏家的偏见，也不会丢弃任何内含物，而商业制作并出售给博物馆或私人收藏家的藏品通常会发生这种情况。 因此，MSDAC 提供了一个独特的机会来研究公正的收藏，从而有望更全面地了解早中新世多米尼加琥珀森林的古生物多样性和古生态。不幸的是，数十年的不合格储存导致了严重的氧化损坏，使藏品面临重大风险。该项目将重点关注 MSDAC 的稳定、保护、管理和数字化。将使用最先进的真空树脂嵌入技术，将标本嵌入高质量的合成树脂中，以稳定氧化的琥珀。稳定样品的修整和抛光将能够识别夹杂物，并有助于对样品进行显微摄影以纳入在线数据库。本科生和研究生将参与该过程的每一步，从而帮助培养下一代科学家。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Dominican amber is famous for the beautifully preserved fossils it contains - ancient animals, plants, fungi, and even bacteria, dating back to the Miocene epoch approximately 16-18 million years ago. To date, over 1,000 species have been discovered in this remarkable amber. Scientific study of Dominican amber began with an NSF-funded expedition by Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) entomologist Milton Sanderson, who visited the island in 1959 to study beetles. Having learned of rich amber deposits he set out to find them with the help of local guides and collected a large sample that he brought back to the INHS. The following year he published a short paper reporting his discovery, thereby kickstarting scientific study of this ancient ecosystem. Sanderson's collection is therefore, tremendously important both scientifically and historically, yet remains unstudied, still unsorted and unprocessed in the original five-gallon buckets in which it was collected. Years of substandard storage has taken its toll on the amber, which has undergone significant oxidation and is now incredibly fragile. This project will allow the collection to finally be screened for inclusions, conserved using state-of-the-art resin embedding techniques, curated, and digitized. This will unlock a wealth of important data concerning ancient biodiversity, ecology, and climate that is currently hidden and inaccessible within the collection. In addition to making this data available to the scientific community and the public for the first time, it will also provide valuable experience to graduate and undergraduate students beginning their careers in science.The Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) at the University of Illinois is home to the Milton Sanderson Dominican Amber Collection (MSDAC). In addition to its historical importance as the first substantial collection of Dominican amber, the MSDAC is hugely significant scientifically. It comprises a large (ca. 70 kg) bulk sample of amber that remains almost entirely unprocessed; i.e., it still resides in the five-gallon buckets in which it was collected and has yet to be screened for fossils. Aside from its size, the unscreened nature of the collection means that it has not been subject to collector bias and no inclusions have been discarded, as typically happens in collections made commercially and sold to museums or private collectors. As a result, the MSDAC presents a unique opportunity to study an unbiased collection that promises to deliver a more complete picture of the paleobiodiversity and paleoecology of the Early Miocene Dominican amber forest. Unfortunately, decades of substandard storage have resulted in substantial oxidation damage putting the collection at significant risk. This project will focus on the stabilization, conservation, curation and digitization of the MSDAC. A state-of-the-art vacuum resin embedding technique, in which specimens are embedded in a high-quality synthetic resin, will be used to stabilize the oxidized amber. Trimming and polishing of stabilized specimens will allow identification of inclusions and facilitate photomicrography of specimens for inclusion in an online database. Undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in every step of the process, thereby helping to train the next generation of scientists.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.