| Abstract | Specimens in institutional collections provide the foundation upon which effective communication in much of biology depends, and they provide the most reliable and verifiable morphological, spatial and temporal data for evolutionary and ecological studies. Natural history collections are of necessity geographically and temporally limited, and the scientific value they provide depends on targeted supplementation, which requires additional fieldwork and collecting. Biological ethics has no more important goal than protecting the natural world at all spatial scales. Given the essential role that collecting and collections have in documenting species distributions, habitats, and habits, as well as in elucidating factors affecting ecosystem structure and function, reasoned analyses can only vigorously encourage collecting and collections. |
