Rehousing Bishop Museum's Marine Shell Collections in Acid-Free Conditions

蚂蚁是大多数陆地生态系统中数量最多、生态上占主导地位的动物群体之一，无论是在物种数量还是个体数量上。此外，蚂蚁在无脊椎动物群中相对分类学上是众所周知的。蚂蚁在系统和生态上的重要性使其在生物多样性指示类群中具有很高的地位。在落叶层中，每公顷可能有多达150种蚂蚁;这个数字足以计算标准的生物多样性措施。ALL（落叶蚂蚁）研讨会，由NSF生物调查&清单和国际项目与国际社会昆虫研究联盟（IUSSI），世界保护联盟物种生存委员会合作资助（SSC-IUCN）和其他来源，将在来自世界各地的19名专家之间建立合作（9个来自美国），将1）优化和标准化定量收集技术，2）优先考虑涉及编目和描述落叶蚁的任务，（3）为未来制定一个全面的研究议程;（4）建立一个全球落叶样本网络，以便在互联网上建立一个比较数据库;（5）编写一本手册，评估蚂蚁，特别是落叶蚂蚁的生物多样性。 讲习班将在巴西举行，随后将为当地学生举办一个单独供资的培训班，在培训班上将立即传达专家组在讲习班期间制定的议定书。讲习班产生的议定书、手册和数据库将通过互联网提供。

Ants are among the most abundant and ecologically dominant animal groups in the majority of terrestrial ecosystems, in terms both of numbers of species and of individuals. In addition, ants are relatively taxonomically well known among invertebrate groups. This sytematic and ecological importance confers upon ants a high status among biodiversity indicator taxa. In leaf litter, there may be as many as 150 species of ants per hectare; this number is sufficient to allow for calculation of standard biodiversity measures. The ALL (Ants of the Leaf Litter) workshop, funded by this award from the Biotic Surveys & Inventories and International Programs of the NSF in cooperation with the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI), the Species Suvival Commission of the World Conservation Union (SSC-IUCN) and other sources, will build a collaboration among 19 experts from all parts of the world (9 from the US) that will 1) optimize and standardize quantitative collecting techniques, 2) prioritize the tasks involved in cataloging and describing leaf litter ants, 3) formalize a comprehensive research agenda for the future, 4) set up a global network of leaf-litter samples in order to build a comparative database on the Internet, and 5) produce a handbook to assess the biological diversity of ants, especially leaf-litter ants. The workshop will be held in Brazil, and will be followed by a separately funded training course for local students, in which the protocols developed by the group of experts during the workshop will be immediately communicated. The protocols, handbook, and database that emerge from the workshop will be made available via the Internet.