Research Infrastructure: Continued Support of the Duke Lemur Center for the Study of Primate Biology and History

该奖项将部分支持杜克狐猴中心(DLC)的运作，该中心是世界上最濒危和生物多样性最大的灵长类动物-马达加斯加狐猴-的独特活体动物收藏。狐猴是马达加斯加生物多样性热点地区的专有物种，由于它们处于极度濒危状态，不是一种可再生资源。作为一个促进跨学科研究、学术和保护的活实验室，DLC是世界上唯一一个随时可以使用狐猴及其相关生物样本、数十年的医疗记录、生活史数据和活体类群的化石近亲进行比较研究的地方。群体的多样性使科学的范围得以扩展和交流，涵盖了从进化过程、行为生态学、生殖生物学、生命史、新陈代谢生理学、感觉系统、认知、解剖学、生物力学和保护科学等学科。此外，DLC是不同学术水平的学生的特殊培训场所。在其57年的历史中，从K-12到研究生水平的数千名学生参与了DLC的工作，并受到他们的经验的启发。兽医部通过勤工俭学机会和兽医学生培训来支持教育活动，包括为马达加斯加兽医提供实习机会。最重要的是，DLC致力于通过迁地圈养管理和广泛的基于社区的马达加斯加计划来开展保护活动。数十万来自公众的参观者通过接触DLC的工作人员、学生和收藏品，接触到了生物多样性发现和保护的概念，以及生物研究的力量。该奖项的首要目标是通过五个短期目标从战略上提升DLC的生活收藏的价值。这些目标提供了重要的机会来：(1)继续维持和发展一个健康的群体用于研究，(2)制定数据驱动的群体管理最佳做法，(3)继续为研究社区服务，并产生更多的合作，(4)建立一个更多样化的用户社区，以及(5)增加活体种群收集数据的数字可用性。群体支持是实现推进生物研究、教育和保护关键项目的这些目标的核心。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。

This award will partially support operations of the Duke Lemur Center (DLC), a unique living stock collection of the world's most endangered and biologically diverse primates - the lemurs of Madagascar. Lemurs are exclusive to the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar, and due to their critically-endangered status, are not a renewable resource. Serving as a living laboratory for advancing interdisciplinary research, scholarship, and conservation, the DLC is the only place in the world where lemurs are readily available for comparative study together with associated biological samples, decades of medical records, life history data, and fossil relatives of living taxa. The diversity of the colony enables an expansive scope of science to be conducted and communicated, covering disciplines ranging from evolutionary processes, behavioral ecology, reproductive biology, life history, metabolic physiology, sensory systems, cognition, anatomy, biomechanics, and conservation science. In addition, the DLC is an exceptional training ground for students across academic levels. Over its 57-year history, thousands of students ranging from K-12 through postgraduate levels have been engaged in and inspired by their experiences at the DLC. The veterinary department supports educational activities via work-study opportunities and veterinary student training, including an internship for Malagasy veterinarians. Critically, the DLC is committed to conservation activities via both ex situ captive management and extensive community-based Madagascar programs. Hundreds of thousands of visitors from the general public have been exposed to the concepts of biodiversity discovery and conservation, as well as the power of biological research via their exposure to the DLC's staff, students, and collections. The overarching aim of this award is to strategically enhance the value of the DLC’s living collection through five short-term goals. These goals provide significant opportunities to: (1) continue to maintain and grow a healthy colony for research use, (2) develop data-driven colony management best practices, (3) continue to serve the research community and generate additional collaborations, (4) build a more diverse user community, and (5) increase the digital availability of data from the living stocks collection. Colony support is central to meeting these goals for advancing key programs in biological research, education, and conservation.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.