CSBR: Natural History: Launching the University of Vermont Natural History Museum Step One: Securing the Collections

University Of Vermont & State Agricultural College, Burlington VT

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Vermont Natural History Museum (UVM) collections are a valuable resource for researchers throughout the world because of their worldwide geographic scope and long history of collecting specimens. By far the largest in the state, they serve as the State of Vermont's official archive for documentation of its flora and fauna. The reorganization of the collections will expand its access to a wide array of people, including UVM undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, citizen scientists, and local volunteers. Outreach efforts will attract K-12 groups interested in learning about biodiversity and conservation through hands-on use of the specimens. This investment into UVM's natural history collections will help to improve specimen storage conditions, enhancing pest control strategies and reduce the chance of damage from fire and flood. The targeted collection houses over 660,000 specimens of plants, arthropods and mammals. While the specimens are being secured, curators and students will systematically reorganize them to reflect contemporary taxonomic classification. Also, the plant and arthropod digitization program will be expanded to fully represent the collections and make specimen images and related data available to researchers and educators. Additional information about the collection and its scientific and educational missions is publicly available on the museum's website: http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmnhm/.