Fig 1.
Holistic sampling and extended specimens begin with a more comprehensive collecting event that captures multiple specimens, samples, and data about event context. These begin a cascade of subsamples, preparations, and diverse data records that may be located in different collections, institutions, data repositories, and publications. All these descendants and associated derivative data are linked to the original collecting event and, as a result, to each other.
Fig 2.
The role of natural history biorepositories in pathogen biology and mitigation.
Host–parasite collections provide an exemplar of how museums can stimulate better coordination and participation in pathobiology across multiple institutions. Their roles range from sample providers to sample users (research) to informatics resources and contributing to the mitigation of public health crises. In this model, specimens are provided to natural history repositories by existing public health networks, fieldwork, and rural communities. Frozen and traditional collections become central to pathobiology research aimed at identifying pathogens, discovering zoonotic host associations, and delineating the potential spatial extent of the pathogen. Detailed questions about the pathogen ecology and evolutionary history can then be addressed to provide a framework for more effective public health response in increasingly dynamic environments. Relational web-accessible databases at museums facilitate complex linkages between all associated materials and allow careful tracking of all studies and their derived data (e.g., GenBank).
Fig 3.
The role of biological collections in integrated pest management.
The process of diagnosing an agricultural pest and then finding, testing, mass-producing, and releasing a control agent takes place in different settings and institutions. For the process to succeed, each participant in the process must be using the same host plants, pest species, and control agent species. Morphological and genetic comparisons with reference collections and databases can reveal the inadvertent introduction of look-alike or cryptic species into the process.