Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: NPCC Letter to National Science Foundation: Restore and Expand Funding for Herbaria and Other Biological Specimen Collections.

April 18, 2016

 

On March 16, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it was indefinitely suspending funding for the Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) Program. This Program is one of very few funding sources that help maintain biological specimen collections such as herbaria and seed collections. The NSF stated that it will use the suspension to evaluate the program and its impacts and efficacy.

 

If you wish to comment on the funding suspension, the NSF is accepting feedback. Send comments to DBICSBR@nsf.gov. You can review their guidelines and instructions on providing feedback.

 

For more information:

• Read the Native Plant Conservation Campaign (NPCC) Letter asking NSF to restore and expand funding.
• Read the American Institute of Biological Scientists (AIBS) letter to NSF about collections in support of biological research
• See article in Nature on the funding suspension
• See NSF Announcement of the suspension
• See the NSF Description of the Biological Collections Program

The Native Plant Conservation Campaign letter in support of the program pointed some irreplaceable and essential functions of herbaria and other biological specimen collections:

• Identifying species new to science, including extinct and newly emerging taxa.
• Understanding the processes of species emergence and extinction.
• Maintaining repositories of spatial and temporal data on biological diversity, evolution and adaptation.
• Mapping species’ historic ranges to evaluate species endangerment.
• Documenting and understanding the responses of species and ecosystems to climate change.
• Understanding the spatial and temporal development, distribution, and movement of diseases and disease organisms.