CSBR:Curation, Digitization, and Georeferencing of the Ichthyology and Herpetology Collections at Southeastern Louisiana University

自然历史收藏往往代表着生物多样性研究的核心。几十年来，大型州级或国家级收藏品为分类学或系统发育研究提供了标本，但小型的地区性大学收藏品也有能力为生物多样性的发现做出巨大贡献。不幸的是，小的地区性收集往往缺乏所需的资源，或者一般科学界无法获取，因为这些收集没有与在线数据库结合。东南路易斯安那大学这个项目的总体目标是改善现有博物馆标本和组织样本的管理，数字化和地理参考标本数据，并将这些数据与在线储存库相结合，从而使普通科学界能够获得这些数据。此外，该项目将通过使用自然历史收藏来重振人们对自然世界的兴趣，突出路易斯安那州和其他地方独特的生物多样性。东南部的人员将开发一个名为“骨鞘”的游鱼、爬行动物和两栖动物项目。这一推广计划将被用来激发路易斯安那州东南部K-12年级学生对生物生物学的兴趣，其中包括路易斯安那州一些最贫困的教区(县)。此外，还将向东南大学的实地考察站海龟湾提供永久贷款，该考察站每年接待3000多名游客参加公共宣传和教师培训研讨会。最后，将为东南大学的本科生开设自然历史博物馆课程，为他们提供博物馆策划和标本准备方面的培训。路易斯安那大学东南部拥有鱼类学和爬行动物学收藏品，最初是在20世纪50年代的S时期为教学和研究而开发的。收藏品中的大部分是鱼类，大部分标本来自路易斯安那州东南部的庞恰特雷恩湖盆地，最近从墨西哥和中美洲各地采集。此外，它还拥有不断增长的爬行动物收藏，其中一部分是最近从孤儿的杜兰大学爬行动物收藏中获得的。该项目的目标如下：(1)通过乙醇变化和更换盖子和罐子来管理鱼类学收集，以确保收集的长期可行性和持久性；(2)整合杜兰爬行动物收集，包括异丙基到乙醇的变化，重新标记和重新震荡，并将这些标本纳入东南部收集；(3)通过对数据库进行数字化和地理参考，增加外部社区对鱼类学和爬行动物收集的可及性；(4)将东南收集的数据与公开可用的数据储存库，包括iDigBio.org整合。这些任务的完成将使东南大学的收集数据可供科学界使用，并促进收集数据的更多外部使用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Natural history collections often represent the centerpiece of biodiversity studies. For decades, large state or national collections have provided specimens for taxonomic or phylogenetic studies, but small, regional university collections also have the ability to make strong contributions to biodiversity discovery. Unfortunately, small regional collections often lack the needed resources or are inaccessible to the general scientific community because these collections are not integrated with online databases. The overall goal of this project at Southeastern Louisiana University is to improve curation of existing museum specimens and tissue samples, digitize and georeference specimen data, and integrate these data with online repositories, thereby making the data available to the general scientific community. In addition, this project will revitalize interest in the natural world by using natural history collections to highlight the unique organismal diversity here in Louisiana and beyond. Southeastern personnel will develop a travelling fish, reptile, and amphibian program termed "The Bone Sheaux". This outreach program will be used to stimulate interest in organismal biology to K-12 students in southeastern Louisiana, which includes some of the most impoverished parishes (counties) in Louisiana. In addition, a permanent loan will be made available to Southeastern's field station, Turtle Cove, which hosts more than 3,000 visitors annually for public outreach and teacher training workshops. Finally, a natural history museum course will be developed for Southeastern's undergraduate students and provide them training in museum curation and specimen preparation.Southeastern Louisiana University possesses ichthyology and herpetology collections that initially were developed for teaching and research in the 1950's. The bulk of the collection is comprised of fishes, with the majority of the specimens from the Lake Pontchartrain Basin in southeast Louisiana, and more recently from throughout Mexico and Central America. In addition, it also possesses an ever-growing herpetology collection, a portion of which was recently obtained from the orphaned Tulane University herpetology collection. The objectives of this project are as follows: (1) to curate the ichthyology collection through ethanol changes, and lid and jar replacement to ensure the long-term viability and persistence of the collection; (2) to integrate the Tulane herpetology collection including isopropyl to ethanol changes, re-labeling and re-jarring, and integration of these specimens into the Southeastern collection; (3) to increase accessibility of the ichthyology and herpetology collections to the external community by digitizing and georeferencing the databases; and (4) to integrate Southeastern's collection data with publicly available data repositories, including iDigBio.org. Completion of these tasks will make Southeastern's collection data available to the scientific community and facilitate greater external usage of the collections.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.