Compactorization of the Specimens and Library of the UC Davis Herbarium

加州大学戴维斯分校植物标本馆收藏了超过24万份干燥和压制的植物标本，以及一个相关的植物图书馆，供20多个校园部门的教师在基因组学、植物生物学、昆虫学、生态学、保护学、兽医学和农业等不同领域进行研究。到20世纪70年代初，这种潮流已经过时了，当时的标本柜堆叠在一起，高度达到11英尺。在20世纪80年代，当没有更多的橱柜可以堆放在主要的收藏区时，箱子被放置在大厅里。从那时起，走廊上增加了更多的箱子和冰柜，以容纳传入的标本。此外，由于缺乏温度控制，每年至少有一段时间收集区域内的温度接近90度。这使得在主要藏品中无法完全控制标本虫的数量，并且幼虫会迅速吃掉干燥标本上的花和叶。为了解决这些问题，生命科学实验楼一楼的植物标本室被分配了空间。新的植物标本室将有温度控制和无昆虫。由于加州大学戴维斯分校的空间极其有限和昂贵，新的收藏区和植物标本室图书馆的植物标本室需要安装在一个可移动的通道存储系统上。植物标本馆的标本是植物在世界各地生长的时间和地点的历史记录，因此是大量生物信息的储存库，包括入侵杂草的当前位置和灭绝物种的以前位置。此外，加州大学戴维斯分校植物标本馆还收藏了加州春天的池塘植物、酿酒葡萄品种、草和橡树，这些都应该为后代保存下来。加州大学戴维斯分校每年培养数百名不同领域的科学家。这些科学家中有许多人去植物标本室寻求植物方面的帮助。植物标本室的工作人员经常为大学附属机构和公众（包括联邦和州机构）进行植物鉴定，如果没有参考标本，这种服务是不可能的。由于植物标本室标本既可用于植物的视觉识别，也可作为进化研究的遗传物质来源，因此将这些标本安置在安全、功能良好的设施中，并在无昆虫的情况下安置至关重要。

The UC Davis Herbarium is a reference collection of over 240,000 dried and pressed plant specimens and an associated botanical library that is used by faculty in over 20 campus departments for their research in the diverse fields of genomics, plant biology, entomology, ecology, conservation, veterinary medicine, and agriculture. The current were outgrown by the early 1970s, at which time specimen cabinets were stacked on top of each other to a height of eleven feet. In the 1980s when no further cabinets could be stacked in the main collections area, cases were placed in the hall. Since that time, many more cases and freezers have been added to the hallway to accommodate incoming specimens. In addition, the lack of temperature control results in temperatures close to ninety degrees within the collection area for at least one time period per year. This makes it impossible to completely control the population of herbarium beetles in the main collections, and the larvae rapidly eat the flowers and leaves off the dried specimens. To remedy these problems, space has been allocated for the herbarium on the first floor of the Life Sciences Laboratory Building. The new herbarium facility will be temperature controlled and insect-free. As space is extremely limited and expensive on the UC Davis campus, the herbarium cases in the new collections area and the herbarium library will need to be installed on a movable aisle storage system.The specimens of herbaria are an historic record of where and when plants have grown in all parts of the world, and as such are repositories of tremendous biological information including the current locations of invasive weeds and the former locations of extinct species. In addition, the UC Davis Herbarium houses unique collections of California vernal pool plants, wine grape varieties, grasses, and oaks which should be preserved for future generations. UC Davis trains hundreds of scientists in diverse fields every year. Many of those scientists make their way to the herbarium for help with plant inquiries. Herbarium staff routinely do plant identifications for both university affiliates and the general public, including federal and state agencies, and such a service is impossible without reference specimens. As herbarium specimens can be used for both sight identification of plants and a source of genetic material for evolutionary studies, it is critical that these specimens be rehoused in a safe and functional facility in insect-free cases.