Meeting Abstract

P2.108  Monday, Jan. 5  Aves 3D: A new online resource for avian skeletal anatomy CLAESSENS, L.P.*; EDWARDS, S.V.; MARTINEZ, R.; KRZYZAK, M.; ECKARDT, M.; LESLIE, G.; MARCUCCI, M.; NEABORE, S.; VRCEK, I.; MOSS, S.; GRASSI, K.; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA lclaesse@holycross.edu

Here we report the launch of a new National Science Foundation funded online resource for avian skeletal anatomy, www.Aves3D.org, which will offer three-dimensional models of a wide selection of skeletal elements of extant and extinct birds. The Aves 3D database is produced through non-contact laser scanning of skeletal material from, amongst others, the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Database growth is fueled by undergraduate student research projects, which involve a variety of functional and phylogenetic studies supervised by both affiliated and external post-graduate students and researchers. The online database will also serve as a digital archive for the collections of contributing museums and allows for rapid global dissemination of 3D digital data on common as well as rare and potentially fragile specimens, in a format ready for a wide range of two and three-dimensional computational analyses. The size of the database is currently limited, and opportunities exist for initiating new student-based projects that will contribute to database growth.