CSBR: Natural History: Improvement of the Mississippi Entomological Museum for organization of collection and digitization of specimen data

CSBR：自然历史：改进密西西比昆虫博物馆，以组织标本数据的收集和数字化

• 批准号: 1756467
• 负责人: JoVonn Hill
• 金额: $ 29.21万
• 依托单位: Mississippi State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1756467&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CSBR; Natural; History; Improvement; Mississippi

The Mississippi Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University holds more than 1.6 million research specimens from all 50 states of the U.S. and 48 other countries. This research resource is especially important in documenting the insect diversity of the southern Coastal Plain, including many imperiled habitats. The collection also holds specimens of disease vectors as well as agricultural and forestry pests that have been documented in Mississippi for the past 120 years, and these specimens are important for evaluating their past, current, and future distributions. The museum's identification center provides early detection of invasive species that threaten the biosecurity of food, fiber, and forests in 13 states. The acquisition of specimens from these activities has resulted in unique holdings among biological collections in the U.S., and these include major collections of ants and grasshoppers. More than 100 species new to science have been described based on specimens held in the collection with many more still to be described. During the past five years, the museum has hosted 112 visiting researchers from 42 institutions in 25 states and five other countries. Concurrently, the museum has an active education and outreach program with curricula designed for elementary students and table events involving displays and informative hand-outs provided at public events. The annual growth of collection holdings during the past five years has approached 30% because of fieldwork, donations, trap samples from other states, and acquisition of other institutional collections. At present the museum is over full capacity, with cabinets holding specimens limiting access in hallways and offices, and no space is available for future additions of specimens.This project has three objectives. The first is to expand storage space for research specimens by acquisition of a compactor system that will include moveable carriages on rails that hold cabinets. This compactor system will provide an estimated 30% increase in capacity. The second objective is to resolve the current hazards of storage of flammable preservatives in a multi-use building that includes classrooms for students. Almost 400,000 curated specimens and a large number of bulk samples are currently stored in ethanol and held in various rooms and hallways (some adjacent to classrooms) of the Clay Lyle Entomology Building. This concentration of specimens in alcohol has presented a safety hazard because the volatility of the preservative. The acquisition of a walk-in refrigerated unit, located outside the building, would alleviate the current hazards of storing specimens in ethanol in the building. The third objective will be the digitization of specimen label data for ants and grasshoppers. Both ants and grasshoppers have ecological and economic significance to the public, especially for invasive species of ants. The museum has the third largest collections of both groups of insects in eastern U.S., but specimen data are currently unavailable to others. The digitization effort will make these data available to researchers and the public through data sharing with iDigBio (iDigBio.org) and other global resources such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF.org).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.

密西西比州立大学的密西西比昆虫博物馆收藏了来自美国50个州和其他48个国家的160多万份研究标本。这一研究资源在记录南部沿海平原昆虫多样性方面尤其重要，包括许多濒危栖息地。该收藏还保存了密西西比州过去120年来记录的病媒以及农业和林业害虫的标本，这些标本对于评估它们过去、现在和未来的分布非常重要。该博物馆的鉴定中心提供对威胁13个州的食品、纤维和森林的生物安全的入侵物种的早期检测。从这些活动中获得标本，在美国的生物收藏中产生了独特的收藏，其中包括蚂蚁和蚱蜢的主要收藏。根据收藏的标本，已经描述了100多个科学上的新物种，还有更多的物种仍有待描述。在过去的五年里，该博物馆接待了来自25个州和其他5个国家的42个机构的112名访问研究人员。同时，博物馆有一个积极的教育和推广计划，为小学生设计课程，并在公共活动中提供展示和信息分发的餐桌活动。在过去的五年中，由于田野调查、捐赠、来自其他州的陷阱样本以及对其他机构收藏品的收购，藏品保有量的年增长率接近30%。目前，博物馆已经超负荷运转，摆放标本的柜子限制了走廊和办公室的出入，而且没有地方可供将来增加标本。第一个是通过购买一个压路机系统来扩大研究标本的存储空间，该系统将包括可移动的车厢，轨道上可以容纳橱柜。这一压路机系统将使产能增加约30%。第二个目标是解决目前在包括学生教室的多用途建筑中储存易燃防腐剂的危险。目前，近40万份经过精选的标本和大量散装标本储存在乙醇中，存放在克莱·莱尔昆虫学大楼的各个房间和走廊(有些靠近教室)。由于防腐剂的挥发性，这种样品在酒精中的浓度构成了安全隐患。购买一个位于大楼外的步入式冷藏单元，将减轻目前在大楼内以乙醇储存标本的危险。第三个目标将是蚂蚁和蝗虫标本标签数据的数字化。蚂蚁和蝗虫对公众都具有生态和经济意义，特别是对入侵物种蚂蚁来说。该博物馆拥有美国东部这两类昆虫的第三大收藏品，但其他人目前无法获得标本数据。数字化工作将通过与iDigBio(iDigBio.org)和全球生物多样性信息设施(GBIF.org)等其他全球资源共享数据，使研究人员和公众能够获得这些数据。这一奖项反映了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。

项目成果

An Annotated List of the Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Mississippi

密西西比蚂蚁（膜翅目：蚁科）注释列表

• DOI: 10.3157/061.147.0108
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Transactions of the American Entomological Society
• 影响因子: 0.6
• 作者: MacGown, Joe A.;Hill, Jovonn G.;Brown, Richard L.;Lewis, James G.
• 通讯作者: Lewis, James G.

An Updated List of Ants of Alabama (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with New State Records

阿拉巴马州蚂蚁（膜翅目：蚁科）更新列表及新州记录

• DOI: 10.3157/061.147.0409
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Transactions of the American Entomological Society
• 影响因子: 0.6
• 作者: Macgown, Joe A.;Booher, Doug;Richter, Heath;Wetterer, James K.;Hill, Jovonn G.
• 通讯作者: Hill, Jovonn G.

The case of the missing Hesperotettix: and how it led to the rescue of an important Orthopteran collection.

赫斯珀罗提克斯失踪案：以及它如何导致重要的直翅类收藏品的救援。

• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Metaleptea
• 作者: Hill, JoVonn