Biocultural Collections: Establishing Curation Standards; 9-13 July; St. Louis Missouri

Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

Biocultural Collections include plants and animals used by people, products made from them, and information and archives about them. They are numerous and diverse, including biological specimens, valuable natural products (e.g., medicine, food, fibers, resins) and cultural artifacts (e.g., clothing, baskets, weaponry, tools) from around the world. Existing Biocultural Collections are poorly curated and lack established standards for preservation, data-basing, and exhibition. As a result they are largely inaccessible for research, reference and use. The Biocultural Collections Workshop will remedy longstanding neglect of these valuable resources and facilitate their use by gathering experts to develop and publish Biocultural Collection Curation Standards that meets the needs of the greatest number of people. The broader impact of the Workshop will be to make popular Biocultural Collections available to the public, teachers, students, underrepresented groups, conservationists and development professionals. Plants and animals with diverse economic, subsistence, cultural and historical uses are the foundation of BC, and thus the collections have value for a community of users far greater than those in the basic sciences. These collections are employed in many forms of applied research, conservation, natural resource management, development, and education. Standardization of and improved access to Biocultural Collections will greatly augment the depth and breadth of our knowledge of useful plants and animals and will make these collections more meaningful to a broad audience.