Collaborative Research: Digitization PEN: BatPEN!—A Partnership to Facilitate Scientific Inquiry into the Vast Functional Trait Diversity of Phyllostomid Bats

通过多样化的过程，今天存在的有机体比生命历史上任何时候都多。然而，这种生物多样性并不是在空间、时间或生命之树上均匀分布的。了解不同类群的表型性状变异提供了对回答生物学中一些最基本的问题很有价值的信息，例如，是什么决定了形式和功能之间的关系，不同的表型如何促进跨群落的共存，或者表型特征的进化如何影响了当今所展示的生物多样性水平？表型性状的变异形成了许多生态学、进化学和系统学中理解的基础。与公开的TCN合作，BATPEN！该项目将从新热带蝙蝠家族中调集高分辨率的表型功能特征数据。巴特潘的目标！是增加现有功能特征数据的丰富性，创建科学基础设施，并促进对最多样化的科级哺乳动物分支的科学研究。此外，该项目将促进新的STEM培训机会，并使生态学和进化生物学的主要研究途径成为可能。巴特潘！将为整个博物馆标本生成约1000个高分辨率的计算机断层扫描(CT)，以填写214个叶口类物种的代表，目的是大幅补充公开的每属一个物种的分类覆盖范围。这也将以两种方式增加新的公开覆盖范围，第一，通过包括更深的种内覆盖，基于分布在新热带地区的10个不同地点的10个个体，在系统发育上跨越叶甲科较高水平的单系亚枝；第二，通过扫描三个表现出三种不同程度性别二型性的物种的个体发育序列。遵守OPT-TCN的核心数据管理协议将对教育和研究产生立竿见影的影响，包括将开放的表型数据托管在MorPhoSource(morphosource.org)上，并通过iDigBio(idigBio.org)将这些数据无缝地链接回原始标本和其他标本衍生资源。巴特潘！将不仅通过提供数字化数据流，而且通过培训下一代博物馆科学家，促进以博物馆为基础的科学基础设施。巴特潘！将设在一家西班牙裔服务机构，并将确保代表不足的群体直接参与STEM。该项目将从德克萨斯理工大学不同种族的人群中吸引本科生来协助进行与BatPEN！通过干细胞教育和研究整合中心(CESER)。与德克萨斯理工大学博物馆科学和遗产研究生项目合作，博物馆科学专业的学生将接受策展/收藏活动方面的培训，为下一代以收藏为基础的研究人员和教育工作者做出贡献。此外，还将提供一门名为《脊椎动物收藏技巧》的正式课程，该课程将提供实际操作的方法来管理和收集活动。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。

Through the process of diversification, more organisms exist today than at any other time during the history of life. However, this biodiversity is not evenly distributed through space, time, or across the tree of life. Understanding phenotypic trait variability across taxa provides information that is valuable for answering some of the most fundamental questions in biology such as, what determines the relationship between form and function, how do different phenotypes facilitate coexistence across communities, or how has the evolution of phenotypic characteristics influenced the levels of biodiversity exhibited today? Variation in phenotypic traits forms the bedrock of understanding in much of ecology, evolution, and systematics. In partnership with the oVert TCN, the BatPEN! project will mobilize high-resolution phenotypic functional-trait data from the Neotropical bat family Phyllostomidae. The aim of BatPEN! is to increase the abundance of available functional trait data, create scientific infrastructure, and facilitate scientific inquiry into the most diverse family-level clade of mammals. Moreover, the project will fuel novel STEM training opportunities and enable major research avenues in ecology and evolutionary biology. BatPEN! will generate about 1000 high-resolution computerized tomography (CT) scans of entire museum specimens to fill in representation of the 214 phyllostomid species with the aim to substantially compliment the one species per genus taxonomic coverage of oVert. This will also add additional novel coverage to oVert in two ways, first by including deeper intraspecific coverage of 5 taxa that phylogenetically span the higher-level monophyletic subclades of Phyllostomidae based on 10 individuals from each of 10 different sites distributed across the Neotropics, and second, by scanning ontogenetic series from three species exhibiting three different degrees of sexual dimorphism. Immediate educational and research impacts will occur by adherence to core data management protocols of the oVert-TCN, including hosting open phenotypic data on MorphoSource (morphosource.org) and seamlessly linking these data back to original specimens and other specimen-derived resources via iDigBio (idigbio.org). BatPEN! will facilitate museum-based scientific infrastructure through not just making digitized data streams available but by training the next generation of museum scientists. BatPEN! will be based at a Hispanic serving institution and will ensure direct involvement of under-represented groups in STEM. The project will draw undergraduates from Texas Tech’s ethnically diverse population to assist with research related to BatPEN! through the Center for the Integration of Stem Education and Research (CISER). In cooperation with the Museum Science and Heritage Graduate Program at Texas Tech, museum science students will be trained in curational/collections activities to contribute to the next generation of collection-based researchers and educators. In addition, a formal course will be offered entitled “Vertebrate Curational Techniques,” which will provide a hands-on approach to curation and collection activity.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.