Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: Enhancing Access to Taxonomic and Biogeographical Data to Stem the Tide of Extinction of the Highly Imperiled Pacific Island Land Snails

生物多样性在全球范围内正在下降，任何阻止或减缓灭绝的有效行动都需要准确了解物种的身份和分布。自然历史收藏品对于充分了解历史和当代生物多样性模式至关重要，但大多数博物馆标本及其相关数据在没有直接参观博物馆收藏品的情况下仍然无法获取，即使这样，也只有少数人能够访问。将这些数据数字化并使其更广泛地以电子方式提供，将有助于生物多样性保护工作。全球约有25,000种陆生蜗牛，是陆地栖息地的主要组成部分，为维持完整和功能齐全的生态系统提供至关重要的服务。不幸的是，在所有主要动物物种中，陆地蜗牛的灭绝数量是有记录以来最多的，在太平洋岛屿中损失最大。对剩余动物的保护评估和鉴定受到阻碍，因为这些动物中的很大一部分已经100多年没有得到全面研究了。加强对受到威胁的生物多样性的了解应成为国家优先事项，特别是考虑到当前的生物多样性危机。该项目的目标之一是开发一个全面的数据资源(太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛生物多样性资料库；PILSBRY)，以提供查明和评估太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛的分布和养护状况所需的信息。来自美国五个最大的自然历史收藏的研究人员将联手建立一个教育项目，培训和吸引科学界、学生和公民科学家，以帮助他们数字化、动员和增强360万太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛标本记录。该项目将增加专家的能力，以支持热带岛屿生物多样性的研究和保护，并加快物种发现。该项目的参与者，包括伯尼斯·波阿希·毕晓普博物馆、德雷克塞尔自然科学学院、密歇根大学动物博物馆、哈佛自然历史博物馆、佛罗里达自然历史博物馆和菲尔德博物馆，将数字化和移动这些收藏品中保存的360万只太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛标本的数据。这些数据通过主要类型的地理参考和成像得到增强，将通过一个中央在线数据库向公众和科学界提供，并整合到多个公共数据库中，包括由NSF的ADBC计划支持的iDigBio(idigBio.org)。来自STEM代表性不足群体的高中生和本科生将接受数据管理、生物信息学、分类学和博物馆管理方面的培训，并将为正式(如会议演示和出版物)和非正式(如展品、社交媒体和博客)教育活动做出贡献，以提高他们的科学交流技能，并将研究与科学界和公众联系起来。此外，公民科学家将能够通过在线门户从扫描的分类账、实地笔记和其他相关数据中转录数据，从而帮助增强标本记录。最终，可以为保护经理、研究人员、公民科学家和公众开发更多基于网络的工具和智能手机应用程序，以访问太平洋岛国陆地蜗牛标本记录，以进一步研究和保护这一高度濒危的动物群。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。

Biodiversity is declining globally and any effective actions to halt or slow extinctions requires precise knowledge of species identities and distributions. Natural history collections are critical to fully understanding historical and contemporary biodiversity patterns, yet most of the museum specimens and their associated data remain inaccessible without directly visiting the museum collection, and even then, only to a select few. Digitizing these data and making it more broadly available electronically will facilitate biodiversity conservation efforts. Land snails, with approximately 25,000 species globally, are a major component of terrestrial habitats and provide services crucial for maintaining intact and fully functional ecosystems. Unfortunately, land snails have the highest number of documented extinctions of any major animal group, with the greatest losses among Pacific islands. Conservation assessments and identification of the remaining fauna are hampered because a large portion of this fauna has not been comprehensively studied for more than 100 years. Increased understanding of threatened biodiversity should be a national priority, particularly given the current biodiversity crisis. One goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive data resource (the Pacific Island Land Snail Biodiversity Repository; PILSBRY) to provide information needed to identify and assess the distributions and conservation status of Pacific island land snails. Researchers from five of the largest natural history collections in the nation will be joining forces to build an educational program to train and engage the science community, students, and citizen scientists to aid them in the digitization, mobilization, and enhancement of 3.6 million Pacific island land snail specimen records. This project will increase capacity of experts to support tropical island biodiversity research and conservation and accelerate species discovery. Participants of this project, including the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel, Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, and the Field Museum, will digitize and mobilize data for 3.6 million specimens of Pacific island land snails held in these collections. These data, enhanced through georeferencing and imaging of primary types, will be made available to the public and science community via a centralized online database and integrated into multiple public data repositories, including iDigBio (idigbio.org), which is supported by the NSF's ADBC program. High school and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in STEM will receive training in data management, bioinformatics, taxonomy and museum curation and will contribute to formal (e.g. conference presentations and publications) and informal (e.g. exhibits, social media and blogs) educational activities to improve their science communication skills and connect research to the science community and public. Additionally, citizen scientists will be able to assist in enhancing specimen records by transcribing data from scanned ledgers, field notes, and other associated data through online portals. Eventually additional web-based tools and smart phone applications can be developed for conservation managers, researchers, citizen scientists and the public to access Pacific Island land snail specimen records to further research and conservation management of this highly endangered fauna.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.