CSBR: Natural History: Expanding capacity and collections in invertebrate biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History

了解自然世界和我们在其中的位置依赖于关于地球上生命的准确信息。这些知识大部分来自几个世纪以来积累的科学收藏品。反过来，这些大型藏品在一定程度上是许多较小藏品的混合体，由研究机构和博物学家制作并捐赠，他们不再有能力照顾它们或向用户提供它们。该项目的目标是为佛罗里达博物馆收到的三件重要藏品提供长期护理和使用。约67,000个样本(每个“样本”包含一个或多个样本)代表超过300,000个不同的海洋生物样本将被存档安置，并通过借阅的方式在网上向游客提供。佛罗里达博物馆的无脊椎动物收藏(FLMNH-IZ)将扩大，增加新的货架和橱柜，以适应最近的增长。作为该项目的一部分，一批本科生干部将帮助开展这项工作，他们还将通过短期课程学习海洋生物、生物多样性和博物馆科学。该项目将为大幅增加的外国语博物馆提供新的货架和橱柜空间。由于积极的实地计划，以及抢救和管理有价值的放弃的藏品，藏品的规模在15年内翻了一番。该中心是研究软体动物和热带海洋无脊椎动物的主要研究节点。它提供了世界上第三大非昆虫无脊椎动物标本数据收集，并被研究界广泛使用。这些藏书平均有35-40名访问者，75-80名借阅者，是每年40-50份出版物的基础。该项目还将允许对三件高质量的赠送藏品进行管理。哈里·李收藏的贝壳可能是美国最重要的私人贝壳收藏，包括12000个已确认物种的标本。Maturo和McKinney苔藓动物是该国最大的苔藓动物收藏之一，这些苔藓动物鲜为人知，但种类繁多。NOAA-NCRMP收藏集是一个酒精固定的湿润珊瑚礁无脊椎动物收藏集，保存着过去十年来自热带太平洋26个岛屿的数千种物种，包括几个偏远的、无人居住的和几乎未知的岛屿。它为太平洋生物多样性的系统和分子遗传学研究提供了丰富的材料。这些收藏品将通过iDigBio(idigBio.org)等资源以及已经数字化的60多万份标本记录进行实物和在线获取。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。

Understanding the natural world and our place in it depends on accurate information about life on Earth. Much of this knowledge comes from the scientific collections accumulated over centuries. These large collections in turn are partly an amalgam of many smaller ones, made and donated by research institutions and naturalists that no longer have the capacity to care for them or make them available to users. The goal of this project is to provide for the long-term care and accessibility of three important collections received by the Florida Museum. About 67,000 specimen lots (each "lot" contains one or more specimens) representing more than 300,000 specimens of diverse marine organisms will be archivally rehoused, and made available online, through loans, and to visitors. The Florida Museum invertebrate collection (FLMNH-IZ) will be expanded with new shelving and cabinetry to accommodate recent growth. A cadre of undergraduate students will help to carry out this work, as they also learn about marine life, biodiversity, and museum science in short courses organized as part of the project.The project will provide new shelf and cabinet space for the greatly increased at FLMNH-IZ. The collection has doubled in size in 15 years as a result of an active field program, and rescue and curation of valuable relinquished collections. The FLMNH-IZ is a major research node for studies on mollusks and tropical marine invertebrates. It serves the third largest collection of specimen-data on non-insect invertebrates in the world and is used broadly by the research community. The collection averages 35-40 visitors, 75-80 loans, and is the basis of 40-50 publications a year. The project will also allow the curation of three high-quality relinquished collections. The Harry Lee collection is perhaps the most important private shell collection in the US and includes specimens of 12,000 identified species. The Maturo and McKinney Bryozoa collections are among the largest in the country of the poorly known but highly diverse "moss animals". The NOAA-NCRMP collection is an alcohol-fixed, wet collection of reef invertebrates holding several thousand species taken from 26 islands across the tropical Pacific over the past decade, including from several remote, uninhabited, and virtually unknown islands. It offers a wealth of material for systematic and molecular genetic studies of Pacific biodiversity. These collections will be available physically and online, through resources such as iDigBio (idigbio.org) together with the more than 600,000 specimen records already digitized.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.