CSBR: Ownership Transfer: Miocene Colombian Vertebrates and Conservation of the Duke Lemur Center Fossil Collections

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

Fossils document the existence of previous life forms on Earth. By studying their attributes and distribution across the world and through time, we gain understanding of the ever-evolving nature of the Earth and the responses of organisms to climate change and habitat disturbance. Understanding the fossil record can guide present and future conservation efforts and help develop policies that promote healthy ecosystems, a crucial factor for human survival. For these reasons it is critical that fossils and other natural history collections be safely stored and managed to assure open access to these resources for scientists, educators, students, and the general public. The work proposed here consists of packing and moving a large collection of South American fossils to the Duke Lemur Center Division of Fossil Primates (DFP) to ensure its long-term preservation. This collection includes important primate fossils that will be inventoried, cataloged, and digitally archived, along with all locality and collection data. The project will provide full and open access of the entire collection to researchers and the public through a "virtual museum" framework. Many aspects of this work will involve the participation of local North Carolina high school students as well as Duke University undergraduate and graduate students. This project will secure the fossil primates and associated faunal elements housed in the DFP, a collection of vertebrates from the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene of Egypt (38 to 29 Ma), the early Miocene of Egypt (19.5 Ma), and the latest Pleistocene-Holocene from Madagascar (500 to 15,000 BP). The project will also transfer an important and complementary Middle Miocene collection from La Venta, Colombia to the DFP. The Colombian collection is under imminent risk of displacement and destruction. The fossil primate collections at DFP are critical for testing hypotheses concerning how and when modern groups appeared in time and space. DFP collections enhance study of species diversity and extinction in relation to climate and habitat change. Past events can inform present conservation efforts as living non-human primates become more critically endangered. Open access to 3D renderings and models of DFP specimens will catalyze hypothesis-driven research focused on primate evolution. All updated specimen and georeferenced locality information will be made available for online searches as part of an updated and redesigned DFP website (http://www.fossils.duke.edu/) and will be shared with iDigBio (https://www.idigbio.org/), ensuring accessibility to researchers and educators. For additional information see http://lemur.duke.edu/discover/division-of-fossil-primates/ and http://morphosource.org/.