CSBR: Natural History: Compact Mobile Storage Retrofit, Electrical to Mechanical, Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

This award is made to improve physical access to approximately 2.5 million herbarium specimens in the Herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden by converting the portion of the current compact storage ranges that are electrical/motor-drive to manual/mechanical-drive. The Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, established in 1859, contains over 6.6 million specimens of ferns, conifers, flowering plants and mosses from around the globe, making it the second largest collection of its kind in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The Herbarium is a major global repository of preserved plants and a research resource of botanical information accessible to a world-wide community of scientists, students, governmental and non-governmental agencies and the general public. The specimens contained in the herbarium document the variety of plant life on Earth and can be used to answer a multitude of fundamental questions related to species diversity, genetics, ecology, environmental change, agronomy and other uses of plants by people. Analysis of specimen attributes and their associated data, as well as information from other sources, can provide solutions to these problems but only if the specimens are cared for and accessible. Ultimately, the use of herbarium resources will lead to a better understanding of the world's rich botanical heritage and to the development of the knowledge base necessary to conserve and use that diversity for societal benefit into the future. This project will retrofit the ten electrical/motor-drive compactor ranges in the Lehmann Building to manual/mechanical-drive. After more than forty years of continuous service, the increasing lack of operational reliability and the difficulty in finding parts and making repairs is significantly impacting access to the collection by users. This is a serious and urgent problem since access to the herbarium collection is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week for hundreds of staff, students and visiting researchers each year. Completion of this project will immediately improve the reliability and ease of use of the compactor system, and will significantly reduce future maintenance issues. The conversion to a manual system will involve replacing the end panels of the compactor units with new panels fitted with a hand crank and a gear and chain-drive system. Although this project is a relatively fundamental infrastructure modification, the results will have a real impact and benefit for all who consult the herbarium collection. It will allow users to utilize their time more efficiently with simple, unimpeded access to all parts of the collection. This infrastructure improvement continues the Garden's long-term commitment to provide safe and reliable access to the specimens under its care. Additional information on the Missouri Botanical Garden and its science and conservation programs may be consulted online (www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/).