Help - molding collection in the tropics

[Woody Woods]

A colleague who lives in Monteverde, Costa Rica keeps a droplight in the
cabinet that houses his collection. Installing a bulb fixture-- careful of
the wattage, experiment so things aren't cooked-- should help the mold
problem without frequent desiccant changes.

*************************************************
William A. Woods Jr.
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125

Lab: 617-287-6642
Fax: 617-287-6650
*************************************************

From: "John Shuey" <jshuey at tnc.org>
Reply-To: <jshuey at tnc.org>
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 08:57:37 -0500
To: "leps" <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Subject: Help - molding collection in the tropics


I was just at a field station in Belize which has a nice "butterfly display"
with data in their classroom (~200 specimens).  But it has two major
problems that will ultimately destroy it - so I'm looking for ideas about
how to at least prolong its life by several years.
 
It is housed in a less than air-tight display case with a hinged glass lid -
it probably has about the same surface area as 5 Cornell drawers.
 
Problem one - psocids are eating it alive - I though I would just send a
couple of no-pest strips and that should wipe out the extra insects.. no?  I
also though I would send some adhesive weather stripping down, so that maybe
they could get a seal in place.
 
Problem two - mold.  Because of the humidity (the station is in a small
clearing in premontane rainforest), mold is hitting the collection pretty
hard.  Two things come to mind.  I could send some desiccant, but they would
have to constantly change and dry it out (this is a really damp place).
And, if could send something that would at least kill the current batch of
mold, that would help a lot - but I have no idea what that something might
be.  
 
Any ideas or alternate solutions???
 
Champion of lost causes,
John
_________________
John Shuey
Director of Conservation Science
Indiana Office of The Nature Conservancy
 




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