RAPID: CSBR: Support to Restore the Scientific Collections Damaged in the Bahamas during Hurricane Dorian

2019年9月1日至2日，北大西洋有史以来最强大的风暴“多里安”飓风将巴哈马第三大社区阿巴科的马什港夷为平地。该项目为恢复曾经存在于马什港巴哈马国家博物馆的独特脊椎动物化石收藏提供了关键支持。多里安摧毁了收藏这些藏品的建筑，这些藏品是由佛罗里达大学佛罗里达自然历史博物馆馆长南希·奥尔伯里和科学家们花了15年时间收集的。风和水的破坏影响了大约40%的标本和大约60%的标本标签。大部分材料来自多里安期间被破坏的沿海地区；我们对这些史前遗址的所有了解都取决于受损的藏品。该项目将修复、整理和建立数据库，从而恢复全球研究界的可访问性。正在进行的多学科研究利用这些藏品修订了加勒比岛屿自然和文化历史的概念，包括确定长期动物变化（灭绝、引进）的时间，并将现存和灭绝的物种（青蛙、乌龟、鳄鱼、蜥蜴、蛇、鸟类、蝙蝠、啮齿动物）置于严格的环境和文化背景中。佛罗里达大学的本科生和研究生将参加所有与收藏有关的活动，这些收藏现在完全被安置在佛罗里达大学。飓风来袭时，大约50%的藏品已经存放在佛罗里达大学。已编目的标本可在佛罗里达大学脊椎动物古生物数据库中全面检索。该项目将从物理和数字两方面修复2019年9月在马什港巴哈马国家博物馆（NMB）遭受多里安飓风严重破坏的独特脊椎动物化石收藏。这些藏品（来自巴哈马14个不同岛屿上的9个文化和31个非文化史前遗址）是由佛罗里达大学佛罗里达自然历史博物馆馆长南希·奥尔伯里和科学家们编纂的。在这些藏品被修复之前，不可能进行任何研究或推广。大部分材料来自多里安期间被破坏的沿海地区；我们对这些史前遗址的任何了解都取决于这些受损的藏品。该项目将修复、整理和数据库损坏的标本和标签，从而使其再次提供给研究界。基于这些收集的多学科研究以遗传（包括aDNA）、形态学、地层学和放射性碳分析为特色，确定了长期动物群变化（灭绝、引入）的时间，并将现存和灭绝的脊椎动物物种置于严格的系统发育、环境和文化背景中。在佛罗里达大学，不同的项目人员将清理、修复和建立标本数据库，生成新的标签，将它们整理在新的橱柜中，并进行网络推广。将NMB Excel数据库转换为UF脊椎动物古生物数据库（https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/vertepaleo-search）中的指定软件。这些文化标本记录也将被输入到佛罗里达大学这类藏品的策展和收藏管理数据库Re:Discovery中。通过指定项目，回收的标本数据将在idigbio.org上共享和公开。这一奖励反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行了评估，认为值得支持。

On 1-2 September 2019, the most powerful storm ever to strike land in the North Atlantic, Hurricane Dorian, leveled Marsh Harbour, Abaco, which had been the third largest community in The Bahamas. This project provides critical support to restore the unique vertebrate fossil collection that had existed in the National Museum of The Bahamas in Marsh Harbour. Dorian destroyed the building housing this collection, which had been assembled over 15 years by Curator Nancy Albury and scientists from the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida (UF). Damage from wind and water affects about 40% of the specimens and about 60% of the specimen labels. Much of the material is from coastal localities destroyed during Dorian; all that we ever will know about these prehistoric sites depends on the damaged collections. The project will repair, curate, and database the collection, thereby restoring accessibility to the global research community. Ongoing multi-disciplinary research using this collection has revised concepts of natural and cultural history of Caribbean islands, including establishing the timing of long-term faunal change (extinctions, introductions), and placing both living and extinct species (frogs, tortoises, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, birds, bats, rodents) in rigorous environmental and cultural contexts. A diverse group of UF undergraduate and graduate students will participate in all activities involving the collection, now housed entirely at UF. When the hurricane struck, about 50% of the collection already resided at UF. Catalogued specimens will be fully searchable in the UF Vertebrate Paleontology database.This project will rehabilitate, both physically and digitally, the unique vertebrate fossil collection that was badly damaged by Hurricane Dorian at the National Museum of The Bahamas (NMB) in Marsh Harbour in September 2019. This collection (from 9 cultural and 31 non-cultural prehistoric sites on 14 different Bahamian islands) had been compiled by Curator Nancy Albury and scientists from the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida (UF). No research or outreach will be possible until the collection is rehabilitated. Much of the material is from coastal localities destroyed during Dorian; anything that we ever will know about these prehistoric sites depends on the damaged collections. The project will repair, curate, and database the damaged specimens and labels, thus making it available once again to the research community. Multi-disciplinary research based on this collection has featured genetic (including aDNA), morphological, stratigraphic, and radiocarbon analyses that have established the timing of long-term faunal change (extinctions, introductions), and placed both living and extinct species of vertebrates in rigorous phylogenetic, environmental, and cultural contexts. At UF, diverse project staff will clean, repair, and database the specimens, generate new labels, curate them in new cabinetry, and do web-based outreach. The NMB Excel database will be converted to Specify software in the UF Vertebrate Paleontology database (https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/vertepaleo-search). The cultural specimen records also will be entered in Re:Discovery, the curation and collection management database for such collections at UF. Through Specify, the specimen data from the salvaged collections will be shared and made publicly available through iDigBio.org.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.