PLoS Biology (Nov 2023)

Specimen collection is essential for modern science.

  • Michael W Nachman,
  • Elizabeth J Beckman,
  • Rauri Ck Bowie,
  • Carla Cicero,
  • Chris J Conroy,
  • Robert Dudley,
  • Tyrone B Hayes,
  • Michelle S Koo,
  • Eileen A Lacey,
  • Christopher H Martin,
  • Jimmy A McGuire,
  • James L Patton,
  • Carol L Spencer,
  • Rebecca D Tarvin,
  • Marvalee H Wake,
  • Ian J Wang,
  • Anang Achmadi,
  • Sergio Ticul Álvarez-Castañeda,
  • Michael J Andersen,
  • Jairo Arroyave,
  • Christopher C Austin,
  • F Keith Barker,
  • Lisa N Barrow,
  • George F Barrowclough,
  • John Bates,
  • Aaron M Bauer,
  • Kayce C Bell,
  • Rayna C Bell,
  • Allison W Bronson,
  • Rafe M Brown,
  • Frank T Burbrink,
  • Kevin J Burns,
  • Carlos Daniel Cadena,
  • David C Cannatella,
  • Todd A Castoe,
  • Prosanta Chakrabarty,
  • Jocelyn P Colella,
  • Joseph A Cook,
  • Joel L Cracraft,
  • Drew R Davis,
  • Alison R Davis Rabosky,
  • Guillermo D'Elía,
  • John P Dumbacher,
  • Jonathan L Dunnum,
  • Scott V Edwards,
  • Jacob A Esselstyn,
  • Julián Faivovich,
  • Jon Fjeldså,
  • Oscar A Flores-Villela,
  • Kassandra Ford,
  • Jérôme Fuchs,
  • Matthew K Fujita,
  • Jeffrey M Good,
  • Eli Greenbaum,
  • Harry W Greene,
  • Shannon Hackett,
  • Amir Hamidy,
  • James Hanken,
  • Tri Haryoko,
  • Melissa Tr Hawkins,
  • Lawrence R Heaney,
  • David M Hillis,
  • Bradford D Hollingsworth,
  • Angela D Hornsby,
  • Peter A Hosner,
  • Mohammad Irham,
  • Sharon Jansa,
  • Rosa Alicia Jiménez,
  • Leo Joseph,
  • Jeremy J Kirchman,
  • Travis J LaDuc,
  • Adam D Leaché,
  • Enrique P Lessa,
  • Hernán López-Fernández,
  • Nicholas A Mason,
  • John E McCormack,
  • Caleb D McMahan,
  • Robert G Moyle,
  • Ricardo A Ojeda,
  • Link E Olson,
  • Chan Kin Onn,
  • Lynne R Parenti,
  • Gabriela Parra-Olea,
  • Bruce D Patterson,
  • Gregory B Pauly,
  • Silvia E Pavan,
  • A Townsend Peterson,
  • Steven Poe,
  • Daniel L Rabosky,
  • Christopher J Raxworthy,
  • Sushma Reddy,
  • Alejandro Rico-Guevara,
  • Awal Riyanto,
  • Luiz A Rocha,
  • Santiago R Ron,
  • Sean M Rovito,
  • Kevin C Rowe,
  • Jodi Rowley,
  • Sara Ruane,
  • David Salazar-Valenzuela,
  • Allison J Shultz,
  • Brian Sidlauskas,
  • Derek S Sikes,
  • Nancy B Simmons,
  • Melanie L J Stiassny,
  • Jeffrey W Streicher,
  • Bryan L Stuart,
  • Adam P Summers,
  • Jose Tavera,
  • Pablo Teta,
  • Cody W Thompson,
  • Robert M Timm,
  • Omar Torres-Carvajal,
  • Gary Voelker,
  • Robert S Voss,
  • Kevin Winker,
  • Christopher Witt,
  • Elizabeth A Wommack,
  • Robert M Zink

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002318
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 21, no. 11
p. e3002318

Abstract

Read online

Natural history museums are vital repositories of specimens, samples and data that inform about the natural world; this Formal Comment revisits a Perspective that advocated for the adoption of compassionate collection practices, querying whether it will ever be possible to completely do away with whole animal specimen collection.