Kwang-Tsao Shao & Ching-I Peng
Research Center for Biodiversity, Academia Sinica

        Biological collections are essential for biodiversity research, including systematics, ecology, evolution, agriculture/fishery, nature conservation, environmental health or epidemiology. All voucher specimens should be deposited in a museum after research papers are published or bio-products are produced so that their identification can be verified. Biological collections provide useful research materials as well as information. They not only record the biological survival history but also keep the gene banks for all lives on earth. In view of the alarming destruction of natural habitats and loss of the organisms therein, the value and function of the museums are all the more important.

        Museums are important sites for the preservation of natural heritage. Type collections for new species are as precious as antiques or relics, which must be preserved with utmost care in the museum. Museum collections are not only useful academically, but also play a vital societal service because they contain a wealth of information for public health and safety, environmental change monitoring, and national security enhancement. Nearly all top universities in the world have museums with biological collections. To promote science, they welcome scientists and even provide funds to visitors to examine specimens. In addition, museums also play an important role in societal education. Many leading taxonomists or biologists received training from museums.

        Many reputable museums, such as Smithsonian Institution, Field Museum, France National Museum of Natural Sciences, Missouri Botanical Garden and British Natural History Museum, have expansion plans for collections. In Australia, Sydney Museum, Queensland Museum and CSRIO are now constructing new buildings to accommodate the expanding zoological and plant specimens. Recently in China, Chinese Academy of Sciences also invested billions dollars to construct modern museums and to renovate old museums.

        In Taiwan, the development of museums is slow or in small scale and the amount of collections is relatively insufficient. In addition, for historical reasons, many older authentic collections were not deposited on this island. Local biodiversity researchers have to go abroad to study plants of Taiwan. We hope that the museums in Taiwan, such as those located in Academia Sinica, National Museum of Natural Science, National Taiwan University, Agriculture Research Institute, Forest Research Institute, will team together and each enlarge their collections in the field of their staff’s expertise.
 
        The Research Museum of Zoology and Herbarium of Academia Sinica were founded several decades ago. Shortly after Research Center for Biodiversity (RCBAS) was established for Academia Sinica in 2004, these two museums were transferred to RCBAS. In the past three years, we saw a significant increase of collections, including type specimens and donated specimens. Our zoological collections have increased from 13,708 to 25,267 lots and plant collections increased from 95,717 to 113,565. More than 30 new species and 600 species of new Taiwanese records were added. Funded by Council of Agriculture (COA) to inventory genetic materials of wild animals in Taiwan in the past two years, we have collected more than 1,000 cryobanking or alcohol preserved tissue specimens (mostly fishes). RCBAS is also coordinating and promoting another international collaboration project, called the barcode of life project (BOL), in Taiwan.

        On database work, RCBAS joined the “National Digital Archive Program” since 2002. All collection information on fishes, mollusks and plants, including specimens and/or ecological images, literatures were digitized and made available on the web. In addition, successful integration of all biodiversity information in Taiwan, including Catalog of Life (TaiBNET, http://taibnet.sinica.edu.tw) and the establishment of Taiwan’s national portal of TaiBIF (http://taibif.org.tw), was executed by RCBAS. TaibNET and TaiBIF are supported mainly by National Science Council and COA to bridge with the international “Global Biodiversity Information Facility.” Such accomplishments were not trivial and RCBAS received nomination for the “Sustainability Award” of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan this year.

        Considering the limited budget and space RCBAS museums received, its research performance and academic services are reasonably good. Each year we publish more than ten taxonomic papers, mostly in SCI journals. Research papers citing our museum collections (“ASIZ" for zoological collections; “HAST” for plant collections) are also increasing rapidly. To further consolidate our museums, RCBAS’ all-PI meeting has approved the merge of the two museums into “Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Muesum”. We anticipate that Academia Sinica will keep up the level of support and our colleagues will perform better academic research and provide better societal services, both locally and globally.