Curation of Aquatic Survey Collections at the Academy of Natural Sciences

在Gary Rosenberg博士的指导下，费城自然科学院获得了一笔赠款，用于部分支持该学院的水生调查收藏。这些收集是由帕特里克环境研究中心的工作人员在过去55年里收集的。1948年至2003年间，研究人员对100多个流域和河口进行了研究，主要在美国东部，但也在加拿大、波多黎各和秘鲁。这些调查涵盖了广泛的物种，包括鱼类、硅藻、藻类、海绵、扁虫、环节动物、软体动物、甲壳类动物和昆虫，目的是确定水生生态系统的健康状况。这些藏品中有8万多件无脊椎动物、鱼类和藻类样本尚未被收录，因此无法用于科学研究。该项目将建立一个调查地点的在线数据库，连同在每个地点使用的方法，对收集和调查报告进行盘点，以生成每个地点的动物和花卉清单，在档案材料中重新安置具有研究意义的样本，并将它们编入科学院的标本收集和相关数据库，这些数据库可在互联网上获得。这些收集具有重要的研究价值，为许多水生系统的环境变化研究提供了基线。自1951年以来，南卡罗来纳州和佐治亚州的萨凡纳河几乎每年都进行采样，特拉华河（宾夕法尼亚州、新泽西州、德州）、弗林特河（佐治亚州）、瓜达卢佩河（德克萨斯州）、帕塔克森特河（马里兰州）、波托马克河（马里兰州）、萨宾河（德克萨斯州）、萨斯奎哈纳河（宾夕法尼亚州）和切萨皮克湾都进行了十几次或更多的采样。这些时间序列的样本可以通过分析稳定同位素和合并污染物或检测胃内容物的饮食变化等手段来调查变化的原因。在保存调查的无脊椎动物样本时很少使用福尔马林，因此它们具有很强的DNA研究潜力，对系统分类学和生物地理学的研究具有重要意义。为这个项目聘用的策展助理和勤工俭学学生将接受一系列与收藏相关的技能培训。学院现场REU项目的学生将参与分析水生调查数据的研究项目。费城的高中学生也将通过学院的“自然科学女性”项目来寻找，该项目的目标是传统上服务不足的人群。水生调查收集的数据应该引起科学界以外的广泛用户的兴趣。这些调查具有重要的历史意义，因为它们记录了工业污染的影响。水质对当地社区、州和联邦政府、自然资源管理者和公司都很重要，因此这些长期数据集的可用性将支持进一步监测和改善水生系统健康的努力。该学院最近发起了一个城市广场系列活动，为公众提供一个关于水生物种调查和环境监测的持续教育场所。

A grant has been awarded to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia under the direction of Dr. Gary Rosenberg for partial support of curation of the Academy's aquatic survey collections. These collections were made over the past 55 years by staff of the Patrick Center for Environmental Research. More than 100 watersheds and estuaries were studied between 1948 and 2003, mostly in the eastern US, but also in Canada, Puerto Rico, and Peru. These surveys covered a broad range of species, including fish, diatoms, algae, sponges, flatworms, annelids, mollusks, crustaceans and insects, and aimed to determine the health of aquatic ecosystems. More than 80,000 samples of invertebrates, fish and algae from these collections remain unaccessioned, and are thus not available for scientific research. The project will create an online database of survey sites, along with methods used at each site, inventory the collections and survey reports to generate faunal and floral lists for each site, rehouse samples of research significance in archival materials, and catalog them into the Academy's specimen collections and associated databases, which are available on the Internet. These collections have substantial research value, providing a baseline for studies of environmental change in many aquatic systems. The Savannah River in South Carolina and Georgia has been sampled almost annually since 1951, and the Delaware (PA, NJ, DE), Flint (GA), Guadalupe (TX), Patuxent (MD), Potomac (MD), Sabine (TX), and Susquehanna (PA) rivers and Chesapeake Bay have all been surveyed a dozen or more times. These time series of samples allow investigations of reasons for change, by means such as analysis of stable isotopes and incorporated pollutants or detecting shifts in diet from stomach contents. Formalin was rarely used in preserving the samples of invertebrates from the surveys, so they have strong potential for DNA studies and are important for research in systematics and biogeography. Curatorial assistants and work-study students hired for this project will be trained in a number of collections-related skills. Students from the Academy's site REU program will be enlisted in research projects analyzing the aquatic survey data. Philadelphia high school students will also be sought, through the Academy's Women in Natural Sciences program, which targets traditionally underserved populations. Data from the aquatic survey collections should interest a broad set of users beyond the scientific community. The surveys are historically important as they document the effects of industrial pollution. Water quality is important to local communities, state and federal government, natural resource managers and corporations, so availability of these long term data sets will support further efforts to monitor and improve the health of aquatic systems. The Academy has recently initiated a Town Square series to provide an ongoing venue for public education about aquatic species surveys and environmental monitoring.