Support for the LSU Collection of Mammals

路易斯安那州立大学自然科学博物馆的哺乳动物藏品有3万件标本，是美国大学收藏的最大标本之一。在过去的十年里，藏品数量显著增加，目前超过一半的藏品来自新大陆热带地区。哺乳动物馆长兼博物馆馆长马克·哈夫纳博士建议对博物馆的藏品进行翻新，扩大存储空间，并纳入西南路易斯安那大学捐赠的一大批藏品。新的储藏柜将安装在将建在目前收藏区上方的夹层上。在合并这些收藏时，研究人员将有更多机会获得重要的参考标本。自然历史博物馆的系统收藏品是地球上生命进化的无与伦比的记录。系统学家、生态学家、生物地理学家、功能形态学家和来自不同学科的研究人员越来越依赖这些研究资源。这些收藏品的持续增长和改进将对生物多样性的研究产生广泛影响。

The Mammal Collection in the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science comprises 30,000 specimens, placing it among the largest such university collections in the U.S. The collection has grown remarkably during the past decade, and more than half of its current holdings are from the New World Tropics. Dr. Mark Hafner, Curator of Mammals and Director of the Museum, proposes a renovation of the Museum's collections, leading to expanded storage space and incorporation of a large collection donated by the University of Southwestern Louisiana. New storage cabinets will be installed on a mezzanine to be built above the present collections area. In consolidating these collections, researchers will be given greater access to important reference specimens. Systematic collections in natural history museums are an incomparable record of the evolution of life on earth. Systematists, ecologists, biogeographers, functional morphologists, and researchers from a variety of other disciplines are increasingly dependent on these research resources. The continued growth and improvement of these collections will have wide impact on research into biological diversity.