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EDUCATION

Safe: ULM natural history collections go to universities from Mississippi to Texas

Bonnie Bolden
The News Star

Millions of scientific specimens housed at the University of Louisiana at Monroe will be moved to four universities across the South.

Jars containing snake specimens sit on shelves in Brown Stadium at the University of Louisiana at Monroe on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. The research collection contains approximately 6 million specimens, including reptiles, fish, insects and plants. Neil Douglas, an expert on fish in Louisiana and biology professor at the university, collected the majority of the fish specimens, starting in the 1960s. "This is a history from 1962 until today of what fish were found where," Dennis Bell, the Collections Manager of the herbarium, said.

In March, news that the collections might be destroyed if new homes couldn't be found, spread rapidly throughout the scientific community. The university then clarified that the collections would be sent to other institutions, and destruction was a last-ditch solution.

"In April, we made a call to the broad scientific community in an effort to preserve those collections. We reached out to representatives from 32 Louisiana and out-of-state institutions who had expressed an interest in them," said Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael A. Camille.

Color-coded folders containing pressed and dried plant specimens sit on shelves in a cabinet in Brown Stadium at the University of Louisiana at Monroe on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Specimens in yellow folders were collected in North America. Specimens in green folders were collected in the 50 states. Specimens in blue folders were collected in other countries. The university has traded plant specimens with more than 200 herbaria around the world. Herbaria are essentially archives of plant specimens.

"Eighteen institutions submitted proposals to receive one or more of the collections. A review team consisting of museum curators and administrators from the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences evaluated the proposals and recommended making the following transfers:

  • The fish collection to a consortium of institutions headed by Tulane University
  • The reptile and amphibian collection to the University of Texas at Arlington
  • The insect collection to Mississippi State University
  • The herbarium to the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in Ft. Worth"

Camille said that ULM has been working with the receiving institutions to arrange the transfer, which could be completed in August.

"We had hoped to complete our work by mid-July but we will likely need an extra month due to the enormity of the project," he said.

"Please note that the specimens will remain available to researchers nationwide as they will be housed in institutions that can preserve their scientific worth. None of the specimens will be destroyed," Camille said.

Dennis Bell, Collections Manager of the Herbarium at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, displays a pressed Tragopogon, or oyster plant, stored in Brown Stadium on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Plant taxonomist Dale Thomas, who retired from the university in 2003, collected approximately 170,000 plant specimens throughout his career, Bell said. The university has exchanged specimens with more than 200 herbaria all over the world.

About the collection

The Museum of Natural History at ULM's holdings consist of:

  • a fish collection (approximately 70,000 jars of specimens),
  • a reptile and amphibian collection (10,000 jars of specimens),
  • an insect collection (a few hundred jars of specimens),  
  • a herbarium (approximately 450,000 pressed plant specimens).

Thomas Sasek, a biology professor at the university and the curator of the ULM Natural History Museum, said in March that the collections are the product of two men's 40- to 50-year careers.

Neil Douglas compiled the fish collection, which consists of at least 3 million to 6 million specimens in jars, including multiples of some species.

Dale Thomas created the herbarium, which has about 500,000 items and is the biggest in the state. It's larger than all the other collections in Louisiana combined and is estimated to be the fifth largest in the South. Bell said Thomas collected about 170,00 specimens himself, and the university has traded samples with more than 200 institutions worldwide, giving the collection global relevance. The collection is kept in 330 cabinets.

"Also, our community will be relieved to know that the transfer of the research collections will not affect the displays in our wonderful Museum of Natural History exhibit area in Hanna Hall. ULM faculty and staff will continue to welcome the public, including local school children and their teachers, to tour Museum of Natural History exhibits," Camille said.

Follow Bonnie Bolden on Twitter @Bonnie_Bolden_ and on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/1RtsEEP. Hannah Baldwin contributed to this report.

Want to go?

ULM Museum of Natural History: http://www.ulm.edu/mnh/

Call: 342-1868

Hours: During University semesters

  • Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Friday 10 a.m. to noon
  • First Saturday of the month: 10 a.m. to noon

 Closed for major holidays and during university vacations.

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