The NHC at SDSU
is the largest resource center for biodiversity and natural history
information for South Dakota and the northern Great Plains. The Natural
History Collections provide critical baseline data for future studies
of our environment, and help document how humans have changed ecosystems
over time. In turn, the collections provide an extremely valuable
window into our past, helping us to better understand our constantly
changing environment and plan for the future. These voucher specimens
are the product of detailed original research being performed across
the State. We can maximize the value of individual specimens through
careful data management, information technology, and preparation of
ancillary materials such as tissue samples. Essentially all serious
organizations interested in biodiversity preservation, use, and appreciate
biodiversity collections data; natural history collections are the
verifiable database of biodiversity. All monographs, field guides,
and systematic and taxonomic treatises are ultimately based on voucher
specimens that document the range and distributions of each population—consider
species distribution maps. We are constantly surprised to find species
occurring where we did not know they existed, and equally surprised
to learn they are absent from suitable habitat. The voucher is the
proof, and it may be re-examined forever. Distributions change through
time, and documenting spatial changes in distribution is one of the
long-term benefits of collections, and also one of the most apparent
applications of biodiversity collections data to conservation.
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