Expansion of Storage Facility, AMNH Fish Collection

美国自然历史博物馆的鱼类收藏是北美最大的鱼类收藏之一，包括20多万个标本批，100多万个个体标本和1200多个模式标本。馆长Gareth Nelson博士建议通过纳入来自墨西哥湾和美国海岸外大西洋的海洋幼鱼来扩大收藏范围。纳尔逊博士还计划完成酒精采集液从异丙醇到乙醇的转换，以确保更好地保存组织和着色图案。自然历史博物馆的系统藏品是生物学家分析进化结果的主要数据来源。生态学家、生物地理学家和进化系统论者完全依赖这些生物多样性储存库作为研究的基本材料。这些收藏品的适当管理和稳步增长对于生物多样性和进化的长期研究至关重要。

The Fish Collection of the American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest in North America, comprising more than 200,000 specimen lots, more than a million individual specimens, and more than 1200 type specimens. Dr. Gareth Nelson, Curator of the collection, proposes an expansion of the collection through incorporation of marine larval fishes from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean off the U.S. coast. Dr. Nelson also plans to complete the conversion of the spirit collection fluids from isopropanol to ethanol, assuring better preservation of tissue and coloration patterns. Systematic collections in natural history museums are the primary data resources with which biologists analyze the results of evolution. Ecologists, biogeographers, and evolutionary systematists are completely dependent on these repositories of biological diversity for the basic materials for study. Proper curation and steady growth of these collections are essential for the long-term study of biodiversity and evolution.