The 3D Pollen Project Knowledge Exchange Fellowship

花粉对自然界和研究花粉的科学都至关重要。花粉粒极其坚韧的外壳是生物化学的奇迹;它们多样而美丽的图案是基础物理学的产物。化石花粉见证了数百万年的植物进化、气候变化和生态系统动态。现代花粉可以分离物种，解决犯罪问题，而且可能很快就会对植物进行基因工程改造，改进疫苗和管理药物。花粉的流动以及其中携带的遗传物质是陆地上所有生态系统的基础：它既是一种具有不可估量价值的、对全球至关重要的生态系统服务，也是一种令人讨厌的、主要的人类过敏原。然而，让非专业人士参与花粉相关研究可能具有挑战性--尤其是因为花粉是微观的。这意味着与花粉的任何相互作用都必须是视觉上的，无论是通过2D图像还是专业显微镜，都不能完全传达颗粒的3D形状，美丽或图案。3D花粉项目让人们以全新的方式与花粉互动，制作出精确的、比真人更大的模型，让观众将这些微观奇迹握在手中--拉近了花粉世界和研究花粉多种功能的多个研究领域的距离。3D花粉项目已经制作了35个物种的扫描图和模型，这是世界上最大的开放获取的3D花粉数据集。其文件已被学术和非学术用户下载数千次，其产出广泛用于世界各地的公众参与、教学和研究活动。然而，这35个物种只代表了地球花粉多样性的一小部分。一个更大的，更有代表性的收集将是革命性的沟通和公众了解花粉研究与更广泛的受众。在3D花粉项目的早期成功的基础上，这个奖学金将创造一个无与伦比的，全球相关的资源花粉相关的公众参与，其次是对教学和研究的好处。结合长期建立的自然历史收藏和先进的显微镜，有针对性的方法将建立一个具有代表性的，开放获取的2D花粉扫描和3D模型文件的集合，至少比目前存在的任何一个数量级都大。除了促进和支持世界各地研究人员的公众参与外，该研究金的产出将直接用于教育，赋权，并促进英国和巴西社区参与两个关键的花粉相关研究课题--古生态学和授粉。该奖学金将与RHS Garden Harlow卡尔合作，教育学童（包括来自哈洛卡尔认为“难以到达”的社区）和其他游客关于授粉作为一种生态系统服务和野花对昆虫授粉者的重要性的信息。除了花园最近安装的养蜂场和草地区域，一个数字和物理的“3D花粉轨迹”将教育游客关于“亲授粉者”的花园管理-并使他们能够做出积极的改变。同样在英国，该奖学金将促进自然英格兰的亨伯黑德泥炭地国家自然保护区的研究人员和土地管理人员之间的知识交流。公民科学研讨会将使用3D花粉教学资源来帮助培训志愿者掌握关键的古生态学技能，扩大和扩大自然英格兰的参与基础，最终使志愿者“准古生态学家”能够独立开展古环境研究。最后，在巴西南部，该奖学金将使用花粉模型开始研究人员和土著社区之间的共同对话，将传统生态知识和科学研究结合在一起，形成一种“参与式古生态学”，以更好地了解地貌的过去、现在和未来的人类-环境动态。

Pollen is vital to the natural world, and to the sciences which research it. Pollen grains' immensely tough shells are marvels of biochemistry; their varied and beautiful patterns arise through fundamental physics. Fossil pollen bears witness to many millions of years of plant evolution, climate change and ecosystem dynamics. Modern pollen separates species and solves crimes, and may soon genetically engineer plants, improve vaccines and administer drugs. The flow of pollen, and the genetic material carried within, underpins all ecosystems on land: it is both an immeasurably valuable, globally critical ecosystem service and a nuisance, a major human allergen.Engaging non-specialists with pollen-related research can be challenging, though - not least because pollen is microscopic. This means any interactions with pollen must be visual, either through 2D images or specialist microscopy, neither of which fully convey the grains' 3D shapes, beauty or patterning. The 3D Pollen Project allows people to interact with pollen in entirely new ways, producing accurate, larger-than-life models that allow audiences to hold these microscopic marvels in their hands - bringing close the world of pollen and the multiple research fields which investigate its many functions.To date, the 3D Pollen Project has produced scans and models of 35 species - the largest open access collection of 3D pollen data in the world. Its files have been downloaded several thousand times by academic and non-academic users, with outputs used extensively for public engagement, teaching and research activities around the world. However, those 35 species represent only a tiny, biased fraction of the planet's pollen diversity: a larger, more representative collection would be revolutionary for the communication and public understanding of pollen research with wider audiences.Building on the 3D Pollen Project's early successes, this fellowship will create an unparalleled, globally relevant resource for pollen-related public engagement, with secondary benefits for teaching and research. Combining long-established natural history collections and advanced microscopy, a targeted approach will build a diversely representative, open-access collection of 2D pollen scans and 3D model files that is at least an order of magnitude larger than any that currently exists. As well as facilitating and supporting public engagement by researchers around the world, this fellowship's outputs will be directly used to educate, empower, and enhance participation in two key pollen-related research topics - palaeoecology and pollination - among communities in the UK and Brazil.This fellowship will work with RHS Garden Harlow Carr to educate schoolchildren (including from communities Harlow Carr has identified as 'hard to reach') and other visitors about pollination as an ecosystem service and wildflowers' importance to insect pollinators. Incorporating the Garden's recently installed apiary and meadow area, a digital and physical '3D pollen trail' will educate visitors about 'pro-pollinator' garden management - and empower them to make positive changes.Also in the UK, the fellowship will facilitate knowledge exchange between researchers and land managers at Natural England's Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve. Citizen science workshops will use 3D pollen teaching resources to help train volunteers in key palaeoecological skills, growing and broadening Natural England's participation base, and eventually empowering volunteer 'para-palaeoecologists' to undertake elements of palaeo-environmental research independently.Finally, in southern Brazil, this fellowship will use pollen models to begin shared conversations between researchers and Indigenous communities, bringing together traditional ecological knowledge and scientific research in a 'participatory palaeoecology' to better understand the landscape's past, present and future human-environment dynamics.