| NSF Org: |
DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | May 25, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 14, 2021 |
| Award Number: | 1601729 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Reed Beaman
rsbeaman@nsf.gov (703)292-7163 DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $191,548.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $191,548.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO US 80309-0001 (303)492-6221 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
265 UCM, CU Museum Boulder CO US 80309-0265 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Digitization |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
Between 65 and 100 million years ago, during the time that dinosaurs walked the earth, a large, tropical seaway covered the central part of what is now North America. This seaway teemed with marine life. Snails and clams lived on the seafloor; ammonites, along with giant mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks, and fish, swam about; at the same time early birds and pterosaurs floated on or flew above the seaway. What remains today is a prolific fossil record that has been collected by paleontologists for over 100 years. Notable fossils from this time period and region are on display at museums around the world. However, the vast bulk of fossils collected from this region are locked away in museum drawers. To provide scientists and the general public access to these fossils and their associated data, this project proposes to digitize invertebrate and vertebrate fossils from this time period and region, making information accessible through searchable electronic databases. Additionally, a variety of online resources illustrating and describing these fossils and mapping their distributions will be developed. A freely accessible online textbook of paleontology will be generated and a website and App will be developed to highlight the appearances, occurrences, and ages of constituent species, to help students and aspiring paleontologists identify and learn about these fossils. The project plans to generate a variety of curricular materials for K-12 education, including 3-D scans of fossils for free download and printed 3-D models for classroom use. Products of this project will also include workshops to engage science teachers and items to augment public programs and exhibits at participating institutions.
This work will greatly increase the scientific value of eight major U.S. museum collections of fossils. The museum collections contain large amounts of data useful for studying what causes marine species to migrate, go extinct, and evolve during a long period of greenhouse climate conditions similar to those our planet may soon experience. These data have relevance for evaluating how global change has and will continue to affect life on earth. An estimated 164,000 specimens collected from thousands of locations, in the region once occupied by the Western Interior Seaway, will be databased and georeferenced. Representatives from each of roughly 1,500 microfossil, invertebrate, and vertebrate species will be imaged. The digitized records will be made available online via individual museum databases, iDigBio, and iDigPaleo. The resultant data will enable scientists to answer questions about how different species interact and ecosystems change in the face of environmental shifts during a key time in the history of life. Moreover, the data will be ideal for use with an assortment of modern quantitative tools -including paleoecological niche modeling (PaleoENM) - and will help improve paleoclimate and paleoceanographic models. Finally, several undergraduate and graduate students will be trained. Results of the project will be published at the following url: www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Cretaceous World: Digitizing Fossils to Reconstruct Evolving Ecosystems in the Western Interior SeawayProject (WIS TCN) enabled the digitization and georeferencing of fossil invertebrates from the Cretaceous interior seaway held in the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History?s Paleontology Collections. The digitized collection now consists of over 21,000 individual specimen records from nearly 1,600 georeferenced localities, with over 17,000 associated specimen images, all of which are now publicly available via portals hosted by iDigBio, GBIF, and iDigPaleo. A Cretaceous World themed page for the iDigPaleo education and outreach portal was supported by this project. The portal is a critical access point for increasing accessibility to these collections as it allows users to explore collections data and associated media via clickable filters and a Browse tab that automatically shows users all records that have media. This significantly lowers the bar to accessing this material compared to traditional portals which require users to essentially know what they are looking for before viewing any records (e.g. entering scientific names of taxa to access records).
Digitization protocols and workflows developed as part of this project proved extremely valuable to the collection for this and other projects. They continue to be used for training new students on data transcription, georeferencing, databasing, digital inventory, and other digitization tasks. Numerous opportunities for dissemination of information and professional development for staff, graduate students, undergraduates, and volunteers were made possible as part of the WIS TCN project. An active Instagram account (CUMNH_invertpaleo) was created and project related images shared; project related webinars and other presentations were given to a wide variety of audiences. Members of the WIS TCN have been active leaders and participants in the iDigBio Paleo Digitization Working Group and the Paleo Data Happy Hour series over the course of the award, hosting biweekly webinars, organizing online workshops, and sharing knowledge gained from the project more broadly with the collections community. Lastly, digitization assistants working on the project gained vital knowledge related to specific digitization tasks, workflow development, and project management. These skills have been transferable to their work on other projects and in their careers as museum professionals.
Last Modified: 08/25/2022
Modified by: Talia S Karim
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