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

多米尼加琥珀以保存完好的化石而闻名，其中包括古代动物、植物、真菌甚至细菌，这些化石可以追溯到大约1600万至1800万年前的中新世。到目前为止，在这块非凡的琥珀中已经发现了1000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局(INHS)昆虫学家米尔顿·桑德森的探险，桑德森于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，并将其带回了INHS。第二年，他发表了一篇简短的论文，报道了他的发现，从而启动了对这个古老生态系统的科学研究。因此，桑德森的收藏品在科学和历史上都非常重要，但仍然没有得到研究，仍然没有分类，也没有在收集它的原始5加仑桶中进行处理。多年的不合格储存已经对琥珀造成了损害，琥珀已经经历了严重的氧化，现在变得极其脆弱。该项目将允许最终筛选收藏品中的夹杂物，使用最先进的树脂包埋技术进行保存，进行策展和数字化。这将解锁大量关于古代生物多样性、生态和气候的重要数据，这些数据目前在馆藏中隐藏和无法获取。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。除了作为多米尼加琥珀的第一个大量收藏的历史重要性外，MSDAC还具有巨大的科学意义。它由一大块琥珀(约70公斤)组成，几乎完全没有经过处理；也就是说，它仍然存在于收集它的五加仑桶中，还没有对化石进行筛选。除了它的大小，这些藏品的未经筛选的性质意味着它没有受到收藏家的偏见，也没有被丢弃，这通常发生在商业收藏中，并出售给博物馆或私人收藏家。因此，MSDAC提供了一个独特的机会来研究一个不偏不倚的收集，有望提供一个更完整的图景，早期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，几十年的不合格储存导致了大量的氧化损坏，使收藏品处于极大的风险中。该项目将侧重于MSDAC的稳定、保护、管理和数字化。将使用最先进的真空树脂包埋技术，将样品嵌入高质量的合成树脂中，以稳定氧化的琥珀。对稳定的标本进行修剪和抛光，将有助于确定夹杂物，并便于对列入在线数据库的标本进行显微照相。本科生和研究生将参与这一过程的每一步，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优势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.