In April, 2014 an article called “Avoiding (Re)extinction” was published in Science magazine that said that collecting biological could “magnify the extinction risk” for some species, and that alternatives such as “high-resolution photography, audio recording, and non-lethal sampling” could be used instead.

The article drew quite a response, as more than 60 international research institutions wrote a letter to Science that supported collecting whole specimens, and stressed the minimal impact that collecting has on populations.

Now, the leaders of the Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity Section (SysEB) of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) have weighed in with a statement that supports museum collections that house biological specimens, and encourages future collecting for conservation and management efforts.

“The vast majority of animals are quite small, and because of spatial limitations, a scientist moving through a large, complex, three-dimensional environment and encountering a significant part of such a population is simply beyond the capacity to cause extinction,” said Dr. Michael Ivie, a former president of ESA. “Anyone who has tried eliminating the mosquitoes from their backyard by slapping can easily understand this.”

“The Entomological Society of America is dedicated to the support of biological collections, especially those related to arthropods, the most diverse group of species on Earth,” said current ESA President Frank Zalom. “Collections represent a biological observatory not only for the germplasm available from within them, but also for immediate information necessary to study climate change and other grand challenges facing people globally.”

“Whole specimens are necessary in order to study morphology and evolution,” said Jessica Ware, President of the SysEB Section. “In addition, whole specimens can be preserved and studied in the future in ways that we do not even know about, with technologies that have not yet been invented.”

As ESA member Dr. Frank Krell recently co-wrote to Science magazine (“Specimen collection: Plan for the future”), “Molecular data, although helpful in identifications, is neither a panacea nor surrogate for museum specimens, especially when it comes to newly discovered species. Describing a new species without depositing a holotype when a specimen can be preserved borders on taxonomic malpractice.”

Leaders of ESA’s SysEB Section agree with these sentiments and with those in another recent letter to Science (“Specimen collection: An essential tool”) that was signed by 60+ international research institutions, which said, “Halting collection of voucher specimens by scientists would be detrimental not only to our understanding of Earth’s diverse biota and its biological processes, but also for conservation and management efforts.”

Read more at:

– Entomologists Support Specimen Collections as Vital Component of Research

– “Specimen collection: Plan for the future”

– “Specimen collection: An essential tool”