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John's excellent mail reminds me that in our wet-storage room here we have a large donated collection of birds that were - unusually - preserved whole in alcohol. These thus retain their parasites, gut contents, organs - the whole ecosystem. Five of them in
a gallon jar, however, represent the same storage liability as a whole drawer of well-prepared study skins. </div>
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Our new project HaptoNet aims to re-examine collections of marine benthic organisms - primarily mollusks - and catalog all those organisms, such as sponges, hydroids, bryozoans, barnacles and tubeworms - whose presence up to now we have grudgingly tolerated
but ignored in terms of digitization. What we need to know about conditions on the sea floor over the last 350 years, however, now makes them just as important as any more "glamorous" organism. "Climate change," as someone said, "makes hypocrites of us all."
As John points out, it also calls the (historic) organization of our collections into question. </div>
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<p><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><b>Paul Callomon</b><br>
<i>Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates</i></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><b>Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia</b></span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><br>
<i><a href="mailto:callomon@ansp.org" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">callomon@ansp.org</a> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170</i></span></p>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of John E Simmons <simmons.johne@gmail.com><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, February 9, 2024 1:18 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Hawkins, Rebecca K. <rkhawkins@ou.edu><br>
<b>Cc:</b> nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Nhcoll-l] Minimum viable mammal specimen</font>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">Thank you, Rebecca Hawkins, for bringing up this problem that we, the natural history collections community need to discuss.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">I sympathize with the problem of crowded collections. I don’t know of a heavily used natural history collection anywhere that does not have this problem. However, I don’t think selecting a few essential parts of
a specimen is a good idea. As several responses have already pointed out, there are research uses for all parts of a specimen, and we keep finding new uses for all parts of a specimen. The history of use of natural history collections tells us very clearly
that there is an unending variety of ways to use specimens, particularly as advances in technology enable us to look at specimens in entirely new ways. Which brings us to a collecting conundrum—we should be making collections for future research, not just
present research, but what will future researchers need? We don’t know. What we do know is that the large amount of literature on uses of natural history collections, taken all together, makes a strong argument for keeping all parts of organisms rather than
just traditional preparations or reduced parts of specimens.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">What museums should be doing is diversifying the types of preparations for specimens they are collecting now (natural history museums should be actively collecting to document the effects of climate change). Traditional
study skins are still useful, but so are full skeletons, fluid-preserved specimens, and many other types of preparations. One of the problems is that modern collections reflect the traditions in the various “-ologies,” which is why mammal collections have
traditionally had mostly skins and skulls, bird collections mostly skins with a partial skull intact, amphibian, reptile, and fish collections but whole animals in fluid, insects are pinned, and so on. These traditional preparations often fail to provide the
kind of specimens needed for future research.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">To address the very serious problem you have brought up about “specimen footprint” (that is a very descriptive term and we should all start using it)—there are several approaches to solving the problem. To mention
just a few:<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">1-We need new designs for collection storage furniture to make better use of space while still allowing efficient monitoring of specimens (without having to pick them up or move them). We need to re-think drawer
size and shape, cabinet configurations, the use of wide shelving vs narrow shelving, making better use of compactors, the size and shape of specimens and specimen containers, and so forth.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">2-We can house specimen parts separately. Consider that most skulls are not the same shape as study skins, round jars are not necessarily the best shape to hold fluid-preserved specimens, skeletons need individual
containers but study skins usually do not, etc.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">3-This next suggestion often results in me being called a heretic, but it is, in fact, the easiest and most cost-effective way to make better use of space that we have right now. The suggestion is that we should
abandon attempts at so-called “systematic arrangements” of collection storage arrays and instead develop collection storage arrays that are designed to better use space while providing the best storage environment for the collection (for example, bones tolerate
a wider range of temperature and humidity than do skins). Particularly considering the flood of taxonomic changes resulting from molecular systematics, and the need to collect more specimens now to document climate change, our old collection storage arrays
are a liability. We need to start by assessing the size and shape of specimens and containers, then consider the environmental requirements, and then develop storage arrays that are a better use of space and use the collection database to find specimen, not
a faux systematic arrangement (no linear arrangement can be phylogenetic, and I have never seen a branching sequence of cabinets or shelving). Non-systematic arrangements can accommodate collection growth far more efficiently than traditional collection storage
arrays.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">There have been a few publications addressing the problem of crowded natural history collection storage. I will list a few below, and hope that people will add those that I have missed.
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">At the 2022 SPNHC meeting in Edinburgh there was a session on “Managing Long-Term Sustainability in an Uncertain Future” that included several presentations directly addressing the topic of best use of storage
space. Not all of the speakers published papers based on their presentations, so if you are interested, check the abstracts from the meeting.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">One last thing—before anyone rejects the idea of non-systematic arrangements for natural history collections, please take time to read the paper below by Cohen et al. listed below and look carefully at the amount
of space they saved.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">Thanks again to Rebecca for bringing up this very important topic for discussion.<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">--John<span></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></p>
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<a name="x__Hlk150355058"></a><a name="x__Hlk150355098"><span><span style="font-size:12pt">Callomon, P. 2019. An improved design for the storage of fluid-preserved specimens in small to medium-sized containers.
<i>SPNHC Connection</i> 33(2):28-32.<span style="background:yellow"><span></span></span></span></span></a></p>
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<span><span><span style="font-size:12pt; background:yellow"><span> </span></span></span></span></p>
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<span><span><span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%">Cohen, A. E., D. A. Hendrickson, and M. J. Casarez. 2019. An alternative shelving arrangement for natural history collection objects to optimize space and task efficiency.
<i>Collection Storage</i> 33(1):55-72.<span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<span><span><span style="font-size:12pt; line-height:107%"><span> </span></span></span></span></p>
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<span><span><span style="font-size:12pt">McAlpine, D. F., and F. W. Schueler. 2018. Herpetology meets botany: using herbarium methods to archive dried skins of frogs and snakes.
<i>Herpetological Review</i> 49(2):236-238.<span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<span><span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></span></span></p>
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<span><span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12pt">Simmons, J.</span></span></span><span><span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12pt">
</span></span></span><span><span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12pt">E.</span></span></span><span><span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12pt">
</span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-size:12pt">2013.</span></span></span><span><span><span lang="X-NONE" style="font-size:12pt"> Application of preventive conservation to solve the coming crisis in collections management.
<i>Collection Forum</i> 27(1-2):89-101.<span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<span><span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span> </span></span></span></span></p>
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<span><span style="font-size:12pt">Simmons, J. E. and Y. Muñoz-Saba. 2003. The theoretical bases of collections management.
<i>Collection Forum</i> 18(1-2):38-49.<span></span></span></span></p>
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<div dir="ltr"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">John E. Simmons<br>
Writer and Museum Consultant</span></font></div>
<div dir="ltr"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Museologica<br>
<i>and</i><br>
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia<br>
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima</span></font><br>
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<div dir="ltr" class="x_gmail_attr">On Fri, Feb 9, 2024 at 9:43 AM Hawkins, Rebecca K. <<a href="mailto:rkhawkins@ou.edu">rkhawkins@ou.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Hello all,</span>
<div><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br>
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<div><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Here at the Sam Noble Museum, we have been brainstorming about mammal prep types that would minimize a specimen's footprint in the collection space while maximizing
research potential, which we have dubbed the 'minimum viable specimen' in conversation. Such a concept would be useful for larger mammals like coyotes, which—in large numbers—would take a lot of time and effort to prepare and would be spatially expensive to
store as stuffed skins and skeletons. With minimum viable specimens, large mammals could be collected in larger sample sizes crucial for research like characterizing population variability and change over time.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br>
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<div><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Right now we are thinking that a minimum viable mammal specimen consists of a skull, skin swatch, and tissues (muscle and liver?), but would like to open this discussion
to other museums as it could benefit all. Thanks!</span></div>
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<div style="font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Rebecca Hawkins (she/her)</div>
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Curatorial Associate</div>
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Sam Noble Museum</div>
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2401 Chautauqua Ave.</div>
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Norman, OK 73072</div>
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