This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The Entomology Department at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (ANSP) will use these funds to revitalize its current research facility to ensure the conservation of one of the nation's most important entomological research collections, and in doing so, support and promote 21st century research and research training. This award provides funds to renovate and upgrade the defective wooden open-shelved mobile compactor system with state-of-the-art compactorized metal cabinetry including sealed metal doors. Insect storage cases that are a proprietary part of the cabinetry shelving will be replaced as required. The deteriorating compactor deck surface, which exacerbates the risk of additional damage to the collection, will be repaired. The renovation of the existing HVAC system will mitigate fluctuations in temperature and humidity that also threaten the collection. The research facility's deteriorating ceiling tiles will be replaced with pest and water-resistant "clean room" tiles increasing the effectiveness of the HVAC renovation.
The Academy of Natural Sciences was established in 1812 and is the oldest natural science institution and museum in the Americas. The Entomology Department at ANSP holds one of the larger and more taxonomically complete entomological collections in North America with an extensive collection of insect specimens dating from the early 19th Century. The primary focus of ANSP entomological research is systematic entomology. The renovation project ensures that the collection's worldwide holdings continue into the 21st century as a biological library documenting disease vectors, agricultural pests, climate and environmental variables, and the phylogeny, taxonomy, ecology and biodiversity of our insect fauna. The new compactor design will increase storage capacity by ca. 20% promoting collection growth and the integration of a backlog of accessioned material currently unavailable to researchers. The collection serves a local, regional, national and international audience and is used extensively by students and educators from a broad range of academic institutions, and by resident and visiting scientists. The renovation of the Entomology research facility at ANSP ensures that this significant collection will be protected and available in perpetuity to the scientific community for research and study, and to the general public through Academy exhibitions, educational programs and behind-the-scenes tours.
Improvement of the Entomology research infrastructure will enhance research training of the next generation of educators, scientists and systematic entomologists. Opportunities for entomology research in the Entomology Department will be increasingly accessible to the participants of the Academy's Women in Natural Sciences Program, a science enrichment program for high-school girls, next-generation volunteers, university students, including Research Experience for Undergraduate Program participants, and secondary and home schooled students. Modernization of the Entomology research facility will benefit greatly the day to day functioning; fulfilling loan requests, addressing information and data requests, fielding questions from the public, hosting students and scientists, systematics research, and collection care and curation. Renovation allows the recuration and organization necessary to undertake the creation of a species database of the collection ultimately served to the internet for national and worldwide use.
This award provided funds for this project to improve the storage, environmental conditions and curation of the entomology collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, a collection of 4 million specimens which started as far back as the early 1800’s and used by scientists worldwide in systematic and ecological research. The funding provided a new collection storage compactor system for the main part of the entomology collection which prevents pest intrusion, light infiltration and climate fluctuation while providing some desperately needed increase in storage capacity for this steadily increasing collection. In addition the Academy received a new HVAC system for this section of the building [as well as in the Ornithology Collection, which was funded by RAC-P (Redevelopment Assistance Capitol Program)], improving climate conditions, and installed new "clean" ceiling tiles to further reduce places for museum pests to accumulate. This project improved the accessibility of the collection for researchers and students, and gave opportunities for students to gain experience with insects, natural history collections and research. We expect usage of the collection to increase, both by local students and by national and international researchers now that the collection is better organized and housed. The collection was entirely frozen during the project as a preventative way of pest control, and we have barcoded the drawers to allow any pest infestations that were found to be tracked (pest infestations were found to be minimal, <.001%). Nearly 1200 substandard containers of specimens were removed from the collection by transferring the specimens into new entomology storage drawers.
