CSBR: Ownership Transfer: Miocene Colombian Vertebrates and Conservation of the Duke Lemur Center Fossil Collections

化石证明了地球上曾经存在过生命形式。通过研究它们在世界各地的属性和分布，我们了解了地球不断进化的本质，以及生物对气候变化和栖息地干扰的反应。了解化石记录可以指导现在和未来的保护工作，并有助于制定促进健康生态系统的政策，这是人类生存的关键因素。由于这些原因，化石和其他自然历史收藏品的安全储存和管理是至关重要的，以确保科学家、教育工作者、学生和公众能够开放地使用这些资源。这里提出的工作包括将大量南美化石打包并转移到杜克狐猴中心灵长类化石分部（DFP），以确保其长期保存。该收藏包括重要的灵长类化石，将与所有地点和收集数据一起进行盘点、编目和数字存档。该项目将通过“虚拟博物馆”框架向研究人员和公众提供完整和开放的整个收藏。这项工作的许多方面将涉及当地北卡罗来纳高中学生以及杜克大学本科生和研究生的参与。该项目将保护DFP中的灵长类化石和相关的动物群元素，包括埃及晚始新世-早渐新世（38至29 Ma）、埃及早中新世（19.5 Ma）和马达加斯加最新的更新世-全新世（500至15,000 BP）的脊椎动物。该项目还将把哥伦比亚La Venta的重要和互补的中新世中藏品转移到DFP。哥伦比亚的藏品正面临着流离失所和被摧毁的迫在眉睫的危险。DFP的灵长类化石收藏对于检验关于现代群体在时间和空间上如何以及何时出现的假设至关重要。DFP的收集促进了与气候和生境变化有关的物种多样性和灭绝的研究。过去的事件可以为现在的保护工作提供启示，因为现存的非人类灵长类动物越来越濒临灭绝。开放获取DFP标本的3D效果图和模型将促进以灵长类动物进化为重点的假设驱动的研究。所有更新的标本和地理位置参考信息将作为更新和重新设计的DFP网站（http://www.fossils.duke.edu/）的一部分提供给在线搜索，并将与iDigBio （https://www.idigbio.org/）共享，确保研究人员和教育工作者可以访问。欲了解更多信息，请参阅http://lemur.duke.edu/discover/division-of-fossil-primates/和http://morphosource.org/。

Fossils document the existence of previous life forms on Earth. By studying their attributes and distribution across the world and through time, we gain understanding of the ever-evolving nature of the Earth and the responses of organisms to climate change and habitat disturbance. Understanding the fossil record can guide present and future conservation efforts and help develop policies that promote healthy ecosystems, a crucial factor for human survival. For these reasons it is critical that fossils and other natural history collections be safely stored and managed to assure open access to these resources for scientists, educators, students, and the general public. The work proposed here consists of packing and moving a large collection of South American fossils to the Duke Lemur Center Division of Fossil Primates (DFP) to ensure its long-term preservation. This collection includes important primate fossils that will be inventoried, cataloged, and digitally archived, along with all locality and collection data. The project will provide full and open access of the entire collection to researchers and the public through a "virtual museum" framework. Many aspects of this work will involve the participation of local North Carolina high school students as well as Duke University undergraduate and graduate students.This project will secure the fossil primates and associated faunal elements housed in the DFP, a collection of vertebrates from the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene of Egypt (38 to 29 Ma), the early Miocene of Egypt (19.5 Ma), and the latest Pleistocene-Holocene from Madagascar (500 to 15,000 BP). The project will also transfer an important and complementary Middle Miocene collection from La Venta, Colombia to the DFP. The Colombian collection is under imminent risk of displacement and destruction. The fossil primate collections at DFP are critical for testing hypotheses concerning how and when modern groups appeared in time and space. DFP collections enhance study of species diversity and extinction in relation to climate and habitat change. Past events can inform present conservation efforts as living non-human primates become more critically endangered. Open access to 3D renderings and models of DFP specimens will catalyze hypothesis-driven research focused on primate evolution. All updated specimen and georeferenced locality information will be made available for online searches as part of an updated and redesigned DFP website (http://www.fossils.duke.edu/) and will be shared with iDigBio (https://www.idigbio.org/), ensuring accessibility to researchers and educators. For additional information see http://lemur.duke.edu/discover/division-of-fossil-primates/ and http://morphosource.org/.