RAPID: Securing the LUMCON natural history collection, a vital Gulf Coast resource

墨西哥湾支持着各种各样的栖息地，从湿地到珊瑚礁，保持着高度的生物多样性，估计有超过15,000种；其中有20%是未知的。在这个地区，飓风和石油泄漏等人类影响频繁，可能影响并经常中断包括渔业在内的宝贵生态系统服务，因此缺乏生物多样性知识是非常重要的。自1980年成立以来，路易斯安那大学海洋联盟（LUMCON）已经建立了一个海洋生物多样性的收藏，超过15,000个标本，代表500多个物种。这一宝贵的研究和教育资源对于评估墨西哥湾沿岸损失、飓风和石油泄漏等影响具有价值。它代表了大量的海洋和沿海收藏品，特别是路易斯安那州海岸的无脊椎动物。墨西哥湾沿岸的路易斯安那州部分是独一无二的。它受到密西西比河流出，广泛的湿地系统，死亡地带以及由于石油和天然气精炼厂和井的高度集中而造成的人类影响的影响。它也是一个受包括飓风在内的强风暴影响的地区。由于飓风“艾达”期间的建筑损坏，LUMCON的藏品处于危险之中。该提案旨在确保LUMCON的自然历史收藏品用于未来的研究和教育。具体来说，该项目将确保策展人员协助温室工作，将LUMCON的自然历史藏品重新安置和保护到一个新的地点，评估当前藏品的状况，开发和实施一个编目系统，以促进和通知增加藏品的战略。此外，该项目还将建立一个基于藏品研究的带薪少数族裔暑期实习项目。学生将接受以收藏为基础的研究和博物馆收藏方法的培训。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。

The Gulf of Mexico supports a wide array of habitats, from wetlands to reefs that maintain high levels of biodiversity, estimated at over 15,000 species; with up to 20% unknown to science. The lack of biodiversity knowledge is significant in the context of this region with frequent hurricanes and human influences, like oil spills, that can impact and often interrupt valuable ecosystem services, including fisheries. Since its founding in 1980, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) has built a marine biodiversity collection over well over 15,000 specimens representing over 500 species. This valuable research and education resource is of value for assessing impacts to the Gulf of Mexico including coastal loss, hurricanes, and oil spills. It represents a substantial set of marine and coastal collections, especially for invertebrates, for the Louisiana coast. The Louisiana portion of the Gulf coast is unique. It is affected by the Mississippi River outflow, extensive wetland systems, the Dead Zone, and human influences due to the higher concentrations of oil and gas refineries and wells. It is also a region affected by severe storms, including hurricanes. And due to building damage during Hurricane Ida, the collections at LUMCON are at risk. This proposal seeks to secure LUMCON’s natural history collections for future research and education. Specifically, the project will secure curatorial staff to aid in conservatory efforts, relocate and secure LUMCON’s natural history collections in a new location, and assess the condition of the current collection and develop and implement a cataloging system to facilitate and inform the strategy for growing the collection. In addition, the project will create a paid minority summer internship program based on collections research. The student will train on collections-based research and learn museum collections methods.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.