Collections are truly priceless

Last month, Duke University in North Carolina announced that it was shuttering its herbarium. The collection consists of nearly 1 million specimens representing the most comprehensive and historic set of plants from the southeastern United States. It also includes extensive holdings from other regio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 383; no. 6687; p. 1035
Main Author Davis, Charles C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 08.03.2024
Subjects
Natural history
Science and Society
Shutters
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Summary:Last month, Duke University in North Carolina announced that it was shuttering its herbarium. The collection consists of nearly 1 million specimens representing the most comprehensive and historic set of plants from the southeastern United States. It also includes extensive holdings from other regions of the world, especially Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. Duke plans to disperse these samples to other institutions for use or storage over the next 2 to 3 years, but this decision reflects a lack of awareness by academia that such collections are being leveraged as never before. With modern technologies spanning multiple fields of study, the holdings in herbaria and other natural history collections are not only facilitating a deeper and broader understanding of the past and present world but are also providing tools to meet both known and unforeseen challenges facing humanity. Science and society can hardly risk the loss of such an important resource.
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.ado9732