Support of Symposium of Modernization of Neotropical Ornithological Collections

玛丽昂·詹金森是堪萨斯大学鸟类馆的兼职馆长，目前担任美国鸟类学家联盟的财务主管。詹金森博士组织了一个由美国鸟类联合会收藏委员会主办的题为“新热带美洲鸟类收藏现代化”的研讨会。该专题讨论会将于1991年11月在厄瓜多尔基多举行第四届新热带鸟类大会的同时举行。在1987年的第三届大会上讨论了拉丁美洲的藏品，提议的会议将集中讨论最近新热带地区生物多样性调查和库存项目激增所产生的策展需求。这次研讨会提供了一个机会，传播有关保存标本的最新策展技术的信息，并建立协调收集和策展工作的国际合作。将出版一册论文集，免费分发给参加讨论会的拉丁美洲与会者和该区域的自然历史图书馆。保护热带地区的自然历史收藏品是至关重要的，因为栖息地被破坏的速度很快，物种正在灭绝。这些博物馆标本将提供研究许多生命形式的唯一手段，它们的保存对未来几代研究人员至关重要。

Marion Jenkinson is an adjunct curator of birds at the University of Kansas, and presently serves as Treasurer of the American Ornithologists' Union. Dr. Jenkinson has organized a symposium entitled "Modernization of the Ornithological Collections of Neotropical America", sponsored by the Collections Committee of the American Ornithological Union. The symposium is to be held in conjunction with the Fourth Neotropical Ornithological Congress in Quito, Ecuador, in November, 1991. Collections in Latin America were discussed at the Third Congress in 1987, and the proposed meeting will focus on the curatorial needs created by the recent explosion of biodiversity survey and inventory projects in the Neotropics. This symposium affords an opportunity to disseminate information on the newest curatorial technologies for preserving specimens, and to establish international collaborations for coordinating collecting and curating efforts. A proceedings volume will be published and distributed at no cost to Latin American participants in the symposium, and to natural history libraries in the region. Preserving natural history collections in tropical regions is critical because of the high rate at which habitats are being destroyed, and species are becoming extinct. These museum specimens will provide the sole means of studying many life forms, and their preservation is critical to future generations of researchers.