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background:white">On March 31, 2020, the American
Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance), and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) – the founding members of the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN), wrote to the White
House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to draw attention to the important role that biological collections can play in helping to understand and identify solutions to current and future global health
and environmental problems. BCoN’s </span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz140"><span style="color:#F7941E;
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Specimen Network</span></a><span style="color:#404040;
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background:white"> was highlighted as the kind of large-scale initiative that is needed to improve our understanding of biodiversity
and how biodiversity and human systems interact. The groups called for a federal investment of $1 billion in biodiversity collections-related and -enabled research and education. </span></span></p>
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<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="https://bcon.aibs.org/2020/04/01/science-groups-request-support-for-collections-enabled-research-and-education/"><span style="color:blue">https://bcon.aibs.org/2020/04/01/science-groups-request-support-for-collections-enabled-research-and-education/</span></a></span></p>
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<div style="font-size:13.600000381469727px">Dr. Barbara M. Thiers</div>
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<div style="font-size:13.600000381469727px">Patricia K. Holmgren Director</div>
<div style="font-size:13.600000381469727px">William and Lynda Steere Herbarium</div>
<div style="font-size:13.600000381469727px">The New York Botanical Garden</div>
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World’s Herbaria 2017</a></span><span style="color:rgb(0,32,96)"> </span><span style="font-family:Century,serif; color:rgb(0,32,96)"> (second Index Herbariorum annual report)</span><span style="color:rgb(0,32,96)"></span></p>
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