CSBR: Natural History: Expanding capacity and collections in invertebrate biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History

了解自然世界和我们在其中的位置取决于关于地球上生命的准确信息。这些知识大多来自几个世纪以来积累的科学收藏。这些大型藏品在一定程度上又是许多小型藏品的混合体，它们是由研究机构和博物学家制作和捐赠的，而这些研究机构和博物学家已经没有能力照管它们或将它们提供给用户。该项目的目标是为佛罗里达博物馆收到的三个重要藏品提供长期护理和可达性。大约67,000个标本批次（每个“批次”包含一个或多个标本）代表300,000多个不同海洋生物的标本将被归档重新安置，并通过在线，借阅和向游客提供。佛罗里达博物馆无脊椎动物收藏（FLMNH-IZ）将扩大新的架子和橱柜，以适应最近的增长。一群本科生将协助开展这项工作，他们还将在项目组织的短期课程中学习海洋生物、生物多样性和博物馆科学。该项目将为FLMNH-IZ的大幅增加提供新的货架和橱柜空间。由于一项积极的实地计划，以及对有价值的废弃藏品的抢救和管理，藏品的规模在15年内翻了一番。FLMNH-IZ是软体动物和热带海洋无脊椎动物研究的重要研究节点。它提供了世界上第三大的非昆虫无脊椎动物标本数据集，并被研究界广泛使用。馆藏平均每年有35-40名访客，75-80名借阅，每年出版40-50本出版物。该项目还将允许管理三个高质量的废弃收藏品。哈里·李的收藏可能是美国最重要的私人贝壳收藏，包括12000个已确定物种的标本。马图罗和麦金尼苔藓虫收藏是国内最大的鲜为人知但高度多样化的“苔藓动物”之一。NOAA-NCRMP收集的是酒精固定的、潮湿的珊瑚礁无脊椎动物，其中有几千种动物是在过去十年里从热带太平洋的26个岛屿上采集的，包括几个偏远的、无人居住的、几乎不为人知的岛屿。它为太平洋生物多样性的系统和分子遗传学研究提供了丰富的材料。这些藏品将通过iDigBio （idigbio.org）等资源以及已经数字化的60多万份标本记录，以实物形式和在线形式提供。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Understanding the natural world and our place in it depends on accurate information about life on Earth. Much of this knowledge comes from the scientific collections accumulated over centuries. These large collections in turn are partly an amalgam of many smaller ones, made and donated by research institutions and naturalists that no longer have the capacity to care for them or make them available to users. The goal of this project is to provide for the long-term care and accessibility of three important collections received by the Florida Museum. About 67,000 specimen lots (each "lot" contains one or more specimens) representing more than 300,000 specimens of diverse marine organisms will be archivally rehoused, and made available online, through loans, and to visitors. The Florida Museum invertebrate collection (FLMNH-IZ) will be expanded with new shelving and cabinetry to accommodate recent growth. A cadre of undergraduate students will help to carry out this work, as they also learn about marine life, biodiversity, and museum science in short courses organized as part of the project.The project will provide new shelf and cabinet space for the greatly increased at FLMNH-IZ. The collection has doubled in size in 15 years as a result of an active field program, and rescue and curation of valuable relinquished collections. The FLMNH-IZ is a major research node for studies on mollusks and tropical marine invertebrates. It serves the third largest collection of specimen-data on non-insect invertebrates in the world and is used broadly by the research community. The collection averages 35-40 visitors, 75-80 loans, and is the basis of 40-50 publications a year. The project will also allow the curation of three high-quality relinquished collections. The Harry Lee collection is perhaps the most important private shell collection in the US and includes specimens of 12,000 identified species. The Maturo and McKinney Bryozoa collections are among the largest in the country of the poorly known but highly diverse "moss animals". The NOAA-NCRMP collection is an alcohol-fixed, wet collection of reef invertebrates holding several thousand species taken from 26 islands across the tropical Pacific over the past decade, including from several remote, uninhabited, and virtually unknown islands. It offers a wealth of material for systematic and molecular genetic studies of Pacific biodiversity. These collections will be available physically and online, through resources such as iDigBio (idigbio.org) together with the more than 600,000 specimen records already digitized.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.