Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: Enhancing Access to Taxonomic and Biogeographical Data to Stem the Tide of Extinction of the Highly Imperiled Pacific Island Land Snails

生物多样性正在全球范围内下降，任何阻止或减缓物种灭绝的有效行动都需要对物种特征和分布有精确的了解。自然历史收藏对于充分了解历史和当代生物多样性模式至关重要，然而，如果不直接参观博物馆收藏，大多数博物馆标本及其相关数据仍然无法访问，即使这样，也只有少数人可以访问。将这些数据数字化并使其更广泛地以电子方式提供将促进生物多样性保护工作。陆地蜗牛在全球约有2.5万种，是陆地栖息地的重要组成部分，为维持完整和功能齐全的生态系统提供了至关重要的服务。不幸的是，陆地蜗牛是所有主要动物群体中灭绝数量最多的，在太平洋岛屿上损失最大。由于100多年来大部分动物没有得到全面的研究，因此对剩余动物群的保护评估和鉴定受到阻碍。增加对受到威胁的生物多样性的了解应该是国家的优先事项，特别是考虑到目前的生物多样性危机。该项目的目标之一是开发一个综合数据资源（太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛生物多样性资源库；PILSBRY），以提供识别和评估太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛分布和保护状况所需的信息。来自全国最大的五个自然历史收藏的研究人员将联合起来建立一个教育计划，以培训和参与科学界，学生和公民科学家，帮助他们数字化，动员和增强360万太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛标本记录。该项目将提高专家支持热带岛屿生物多样性研究和保护以及加速物种发现的能力。该项目的参与者，包括伯尼斯·波阿希·毕肖普博物馆、德雷塞尔自然科学院、密歇根大学动物博物馆、哈佛大学自然历史博物馆、佛罗里达自然历史博物馆和菲尔德博物馆，将对这些收藏的360万太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛标本进行数字化和调动数据。通过地理参考和主要类型的成像，这些数据将通过一个集中的在线数据库提供给公众和科学界，并集成到多个公共数据库中，包括由美国国家科学基金会ADBC项目支持的iDigBio （idigbio.org）。来自STEM中代表性不足群体的高中生和本科生将接受数据管理、生物信息学、分类学和博物馆策展方面的培训，并将参与正式（如会议演讲和出版物）和非正式（如展览、社交媒体和博客）的教育活动，以提高他们的科学传播技能，并将研究与科学界和公众联系起来。此外，公民科学家将能够通过在线门户网站转录来自扫描分类账、实地记录和其他相关数据的数据，从而协助加强标本记录。最终，可以开发更多基于网络的工具和智能手机应用程序，供保护管理人员、研究人员、公民科学家和公众访问太平洋岛屿陆地蜗牛标本记录，以进一步研究和保护管理这种高度濒危的动物。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。

Biodiversity is declining globally and any effective actions to halt or slow extinctions requires precise knowledge of species identities and distributions. Natural history collections are critical to fully understanding historical and contemporary biodiversity patterns, yet most of the museum specimens and their associated data remain inaccessible without directly visiting the museum collection, and even then, only to a select few. Digitizing these data and making it more broadly available electronically will facilitate biodiversity conservation efforts. Land snails, with approximately 25,000 species globally, are a major component of terrestrial habitats and provide services crucial for maintaining intact and fully functional ecosystems. Unfortunately, land snails have the highest number of documented extinctions of any major animal group, with the greatest losses among Pacific islands. Conservation assessments and identification of the remaining fauna are hampered because a large portion of this fauna has not been comprehensively studied for more than 100 years. Increased understanding of threatened biodiversity should be a national priority, particularly given the current biodiversity crisis. One goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive data resource (the Pacific Island Land Snail Biodiversity Repository; PILSBRY) to provide information needed to identify and assess the distributions and conservation status of Pacific island land snails. Researchers from five of the largest natural history collections in the nation will be joining forces to build an educational program to train and engage the science community, students, and citizen scientists to aid them in the digitization, mobilization, and enhancement of 3.6 million Pacific island land snail specimen records. This project will increase capacity of experts to support tropical island biodiversity research and conservation and accelerate species discovery. Participants of this project, including the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel, Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, and the Field Museum, will digitize and mobilize data for 3.6 million specimens of Pacific island land snails held in these collections. These data, enhanced through georeferencing and imaging of primary types, will be made available to the public and science community via a centralized online database and integrated into multiple public data repositories, including iDigBio (idigbio.org), which is supported by the NSF's ADBC program. High school and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in STEM will receive training in data management, bioinformatics, taxonomy and museum curation and will contribute to formal (e.g. conference presentations and publications) and informal (e.g. exhibits, social media and blogs) educational activities to improve their science communication skills and connect research to the science community and public. Additionally, citizen scientists will be able to assist in enhancing specimen records by transcribing data from scanned ledgers, field notes, and other associated data through online portals. Eventually additional web-based tools and smart phone applications can be developed for conservation managers, researchers, citizen scientists and the public to access Pacific Island land snail specimen records to further research and conservation management of this highly endangered fauna.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.