A National Science Foundation award has been made to the University of Alaska Museum Insect Collection under the direction of Dr. Derek Sikes. This award will provide funds to replace the insect collection?s aging compactor units and unsound cabinets, providing a 25% increase in available collection space. This upgrade will virtually eliminate dangers to specimens from pests, relieve overcrowding, enable a consistent organization of the entire collection, make specimens safely accessible, facilitate specimen data-basing and digital photography efforts, and provide significant room for future growth.
Insects are fundamental to non-marine ecology, of incredible interest to children and the public, and considerably impact human welfare. The insect collection is a key component of the Museum?s public and educational outreach program and is being increasingly used to understand Alaska?s poorly known insect fauna. The collection has recently been used to support the development of a field guide to the Insects of South Central Alaska and interactions with the public have grown significantly since the hiring of the Curator of Insects. This award will significantly enhance the value of this collection for both science and education. One graduate student and two or more undergraduate students will be hired and trained in collections-based entomology and public outreach.
to replace aging compactor units and unsound cabinets, providing a 25% increase in available collection space. This upgrade has virtually eliminated dangers to valuable research specimens from pests, has relieved overcrowding of specimens, has enabled a consistent organization of the entire collection, has made specimens safely accessible, and facilitated specimen databasing and digital photography efforts, and provided significant room for future growth. Much of the recent growth has come from federal agencies’ research efforts such as the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service and the National Park Service. During 2011 with help from this funding our cataloging efforts doubled in rate and we surpassed a milestone of over 100,000 specimen records (see associated graph). Insects are fundamental to non-marine ecology, of incredible interest to children and the public, and considerably impact human welfare (many millions of US dollars are lost due to native and invasive agricultural, structural, and medical insect pests annually). The University of Alaska Museum Insect Collection is a key component of the Museum’s public and educational outreach program and is being increasingly used to understand Alaska’s poorly known insect fauna. The collection has recently been used to support the development of a field guide to the Insects of South Central Alaska, a five month live-insect and spider exhibit, and interactions with the public have grown significantly since the hiring of the Curator of Insects Dr. D. Sikes in 2006. This award has significantly enhanced the value of this collection for both science and education. Three graduate students, one high school student, and two undergraduate students were hired and trained in collections-based entomology and public outreach.
