Facilities and Database Improvements for the Museum of WIldlife and Fish Biology, U. C. Davis

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to the University of California - Davis under the direction of Dr. Douglas Kelt and Andrew Engilis, Jr. for partial support of upgrading facilities and completing curation of the avian and mammalian collections of the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, University of California, Davis (MWFB). The University will apply these funds to the replacement of old and inadequate museum cases that currently house the mammal collection and some birds. The new cases will also allow for expansion of the collection. A drawer storage system using trays will allow more efficient compartmentalization of collections while minimizing damage and improving access and organization; curation, improved storage, and consolidation of all osteological materials will be completed; labeling systems for skins, skeletal, and liquid-preserved specimens will be revised; all collections will be inventoried and entered into a developing computer database, which will be made available through an online (World Wide Web) search engine accessible from the MWFB web page. Importantly, these funds will allow MWFB to complete the integration of its own collections with those obtained from orphaned or donated collections. The MWFB serves as a critical resource for 30 undergraduate and graduate courses on the UCD campus, and routinely loans materials for educational needs by regional universities and grade schools. Specimens also are used by several agencies for training, providing a unique resource in California as most research collections do not allow specimens to be used for instructional needs. We will improve access to outside requests by researchers that involved studies of systematics, species distribution, avian diseases, morphology, genetics, and related disciplines. Specimens housed in MWFB uniquely document the biological diversity of California and Southwestern United States. We expect collections growth in Neotemperate and Neotropical countries and the Hawaiian Islands. The MWFB has become an important and increasingly valued resource in California, and use of these collections has been expanding and now routinely includes requests from around North America. The museum was originally established to support the teaching needs of the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology and has now grown to be the third largest university-managed collection in California. In addition to internal growth, the museum has absorbed three orphaned collections (the U.C. Davis Zoology collection, the U. C. Irvine vertebrate collection, and the Mills College collection) and other collections (e.g., substantial materials from the Point Reyes Bird Observatory and from American River Community College (Sacramento, CA)). Improving internet access to materials in the MWFB will facilitate loans and coordination of agency training events. We will improve on site use of the facilities through reorganization of the collection room, and provide coordinated access by K-12 groups that cooperatively tour the Bohart Museum of Entomology and the MWFB.