Examining the spectra of herbarium uses and users

Plant and fungal collections: Current status, future perspectives

“…Consequently, new approaches in the use of collections have transformed the scientific landscape in areas such as conservation (Nic Lughadha et al., 2019), climate research (Johnson et al., 2011), and historic disease patterns (Harmon, Littlewood, & Wood, 2019). The use of collections as a “powerful research toolbox” (Bakker et al., 2020), creating innovative science, has been described extensively (Besnard et al, 2014; Carine et al., 2018; Funk, 2018; Heberling, Prather, & Tonsor, 2019; Meineke, Davis, & Davies, 2018; Nualart, Ibáñez, Soriano, & López‐Pujol, 2017; Schindel & Cook, 2018; Soltis, 2017; Wen, Ickert‐Bond, Appelhans, Dorr, & Funk, 2015). Several studies have focused on biases and gaps in collection data (Daru et al., 2018; Meineke et al., 2018; Meyer, Weigelt, & Kreft, 2016; Mounce, Smith, & Brockington, 2017) and, in addition, some biodiversity samples, such as desiccation intolerant seeds (Wyse, Dickie, & Willis, 2018) or environmental samples (Jarman, Berry, & Bunce, 2018) are difficult to store in current collections, limiting their research and conservation potential.…”

Herbarium-based science in the twenty-first century

“…The first article of this Special Issue examines the research conducted on herbarium collections. It analyzes the array of uses of herbarium specimens as well as the profiles of the main users of herbarium collections (Carine et al 2018). The remaining contributions cover two main topics: (1) systematics and patterns of biodiversity; and (2) lineage and trait evolution.…”

Awareness and use of biodiversity collections by fish biologists

“…Current understanding of how fish biologists use biodiversity collection data for research is largely inferred from reviews of published literature, analyses of institutional collection records, or a combination of the two (Abrahamson, ; Ball‐Damerow et al ., ; Bradley et al ., ; Carine et al ., ; McLean et al ., ). While these approaches provide insight into the use of collections, they fail to capture all uses of collections as researchers often neglect to adequately cite use of collections data in published reports (Ball‐Damerow et al ., ; Mooney & Newton, ) and some kinds of publications ( e.g ., government reports) are not readily discovered using existing search tools.…”