CSBR Natural History: Rehousing and inventory of fluid-preserved mollusks at the Academy of Natural Sciences

Academy Of Natural Sciences Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will inventory more than 50,000 samples of fluid-preserved mollusks at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP). The collection is threatened by the increasing failure rate of old jar lids, which will be addressed by replacing the lids with ones made of archival materials. The collection contains about 1.5 million specimens from 140 countries. Endangered and extinct species are represented in more than 1,000 samples containing more than 200,000 specimens. Much of the fluid-preserved collection is appropriate for DNA analysis, in addition to being suitable for dissections. Ensuring that this material is properly archived and that information about is available online supports research on molluscan biology and conservation throughout the world. The project will train four undergraduate students from Drexel University in molluscan systematics, taxonomy, and curatorial techniques. Each student will work full-time for six months as a curatorial assistant at ANSP, learning conservation and preservation techniques. Students will receive an introduction to molluscan diversity and learn about the value of systematic collections for research in evolutionary and conservation biology. The general public will be introduced to the project at the annual Members' Night at ANSP, which was attended by more than 1,000 people in 2014, and at the annual Philadelphia Shell Show, which attracts about 1,500 visitors. The project will rehouse in archival materials 41,000 samples from ANSP and integrate about 9,500 samples received from other institutions. Many of the jar lids in the collection are made of bakelite or steel, materials now known not to be archival for fluid preservation. When lids fail, the specimens dry out, reducing their scientific value; all non-archival lids will be replaced with archival ones. Jars will be moved from standing directly on shelves into aluminum trays, so that fluid levels can be checked by scanning entire trays rather than picking up one jar at a time. Before the advent of DNA technology, it was assumed that samples sent on loan from the fluid-preserved collection would be destroyed when they were dissected, so ANSP asked for similar material in exchange. However, it was not usually recorded when a sample had been deaccessioned for destructive sampling. Also, in some cases, the presence of an alcohol lot in addition to a dry lot was not recorded in the catalogue. Each sample will therefore be verified against its database record, yielding a current inventory of the fluid-preserved collection. A module will be added to the database to record the condition of the sample at the time of rehousing and any action taken. All data resulting from this project will be shared with iDigBio (https://www.idigbio.org/), ensuring accessibility to researchers and educators. Data will be made available online through the ANSP website (http://clade.ansp.org/malacology/collections/) and other portals.