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Institution:Idaho Museum of Natural History, Idaho State Univ.
Email Address: sommstef@isu.edu
Research Area: Systematics
Views of Stefan Sommer about report of the Biodiversity Monitoring Workshop :
It seems to me that Museums of Natural History on University campuses would be natural location for these biodiversity observatories. These organizations have already built substantial collections documenting current and past biodiversity in their geographic regions. However, they are consistently under funded and in almost all cases do not have complete records of their regional biodiversity. Also, these museums of natural history have acted as important repositories for ecological research being conducted by faculty on their respective campuses. So, strong connections to ecological research are already in place. One further point that may be of interest, campus museums of natural history have often developed innovative means of communicating their knowledge on biodiversity not only to the scientific community, but also to their constituents who are the citizens of their state or region.
In any case, funding of further collaboration between University Museums of Natural History and Ecological Field Stations would be beneficial to all.