Physical renovation and electronic expansion of the A.J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection at Michigan State University.

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The insect and arthropod collections of the A.J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection (ARC) at Michigan State University (MSU) contains ~1.1 million pinned and labeled specimens and also, specimens in 114,000 vials and on 47,000 slides. Approximately a third of the specimens are from Michigan with many historically important specimens dating to the 1870's. There are extensive national and international holdings, including significant specimens of the butterflies and moths, wasps and beetles. The ARC provides data directly to visiting scientists, in form of specimen loans, and responds to data requests. ARC also supports many outreach and extension events on and off campus with insect displays, and staff knowledgeable in insect natural history. Hence, this collection is used by national and international research scientist, supports agricultural, forestry, ornamental plant industries within the state, and helps to educate the general public from children to adults. Curation to current standards and growth are limited by a lack of space and inadequate, out-of-date storage facilities. Sub-standard storage also threatens the conservation of this important resource. The goals of this proposal are: 1. Protect the entire pinned insect collection with at least one level of preservation via the installation of new cabinets and drawers. 2. Transfer and curate the beetle and wasp specimens (~650,000) into new soft-bottom trays. 3. Verify the validity all species names (~35,000). 4. Construct a data base of the species holdings and publicize it via several web-base portals. These efforts will preserve the entire collection, increase organization, database and electronically serve the species holdings to local, national, and international scientists and laypersons. Ultimately, the ARC will realize an increase of use and recognition. This project will help support a Ph.D. student in insect systematics and fund four undergraduate students to help with the modernization of the collection and curation of specimens. Increased student activity in the collection will help draw attention to career possibilities in insect sciences and could potentially increase enrollment in the Entomology Department. Progress of these renovations can be viewed at http://www.arc.ent.msu.edu/.