Heather M. Campbell R.L. Blinn & Andrew R. Deans Profiling
and Improving Alcohol Collections: an Evaluation of Current
Practices Slide 2 In this talk... North Carolina Insect Museum A
profiling system for the alcohol collection. Discuss current
practices and institutional benchmarks Slide 3 NC State Insect
Museum Slide 4 Collection established in the 1950s, by Zeno P.
Metcalf 3 generations of Museum Director, Hemiptera systematists.
Large holdings of Sternorrhyncha and Auchenorrhyncha Theodore B.
Mitchell 1926-1961 Massive contributions to Anthophila holdings The
Bees of the Eastern United States Zeno P. Metcalf T.B. Mitchell
Slide 5 Present day... Current Director, Andrew R. Deans Parasitic
wasp systematics! Emphasis on informatics NC State Insect Museum
GigaPan Website Blog Andrew R. Deans Slide 6 NC State Insect Museum
Due to past curators focus on pinned and slide mounted specimens
the alcohol collection has received little attention. Important
holdings Aquatic Invertebrates Pyralidae Slide 7 Development of the
Profiling System Why profile a collection? Existing Profile Systems
Evaluated profiling regime used for NC State Insect Museum pinned
collection (adapted from A&M) Smithsonian (NMNH) Illinois
Natural History Survey (INHS) Being a first year grad student I
wanted to put my mark on things so I decided to make my own
profiling system By customizing the INHS profiling method Slide 8
Scoring Regime 1 Indicator0 = triage1 = problematic2 = substandard3
= acceptable4 = ideal conservation status Specimen damaged
irreparably, container dry, specimen desiccated Specimen damage,
fluid level low (does not cover specimen), fluid dark. Low pH (4.5
or below) Specimen intact Fluid level low (covers specimen) or dark
Specimen intact Fluid topped up and clear or color not caused by
acidification or tannins. ? processing state n/a Stored as bulk,
unprocessed sampling, e.g., in Whirlpacs or jars Unsorted field
sample, rinsed, stored in clean EtOH Sorted into proper containers
with locality info Fully curated: sorted, locality and det labels.
Databased? container condition Glass container broken, cork stopper
Stopper cracked, broken, disintegrating; jar seals missing or
degraded, rubber gaskets Hardened but intact stoppers, metal jar
lids or non-polyethylene seals Good quality stoppers in vials,
bail-topped jars with polyethylene gaskets or have polypropylene
lids Screw-top vials, shell vials with cotton stopper with in
bail-topped jars rack Vials loose on shelf, not in vial rack {?}
Assorted vial rack types with no expansion space or proper labels
Assorted vial rack types, properly labeled Current foam racks,
properly labeled with expansion space {UNSURE} label condition
label missing/ crumbling labels faded or illegible labels partially
faded, laser-printed in fluid or on non-archival paper {how is this
determined reliably?} labels legible, printed in pencil or with
archival ink, labels size not standard printed with non-bleeding
archival paper and ink, {standard size?} identification level n/a
all specimens undetermined, no taxonomic classification assigned or
unsorted specimens determined to order or family specimens
determined to genus or family specimens determined to species data
quality data are in codes or missing entirely some data missing but
can be inferred; containers lack det labels all data fields are
complete for all groups localities fully georeferenced digitization
n/ano computerizationspecimens partially databased using Mx
specimens fully databased and georeferenced using Mx fully
databased {and imaged ?} Slide 9 Slide 10 Back to the drawing board
Slide 11 Scoring Regime 2 Indicator0 = triage123 4 5 6 = ideal
conservation status Specimen destroyed, container dry, specimen
desiccated Specimen damaged, fluid level low (not covering
specimen), fluid too dark to see specimen or label. pH 4.5 or below
Specimen intact Fluid level low (covers specimen) and dark Fluid
level low (covers specimen) and clear Specimen intact Fluid topped
up and clear or color not due to acidification container condition
Glass container broken Stopper cracked, broken, disintegrating; jar
seals missing or degraded, rubber gaskets cork stopper Hardened or
swollen but intact stoppers, metal jar lids or non- polyethylene
seals Stoppers that are not swollen or hardened, bail-topped jars
with polyethylene gaskets or have polypropylene lids with liners
Screw-top vials, shell vials with cotton stopper with in bail-
topped jars rack Vials loose on shelf, not in vial rack Assorted
vial rack types with no expansion space or proper labels Current
foam racks, properly labeled More stream-lined rack {metal rack?},
properly labeled with expansion space processing state n/a Stored
as bulk, unprocessed sample, e.g., in Whirlpacs or jars Unsorted
field sample, rinsed, stored in clean EtOH, with locality label
Taxa sorted into proper containers with locality info Fully
curated: sorted, locality and det labels. Databased Databsed and
Imaged label & data quality label missing data are in codes/
some data missing labels faded or illegible/ crumbling labels
partially faded or showing signs of bleeding labels legible,
printed in pencil or with archival ink printed with non- bleeding
ink on archival paper (labels size not standard) printed with non-
bleeding ink on archival paper (labels standard size)
identification level n/aunsortedundeterminedspecimens determined to
order or family specimens determined to genus or family specimens
determined to species Slide 12 Results Number of Shelves Score
Slide 13 Evaluation of Scoring Regime Would this regime translate
to other collections? Is a shelf too large of a profiling unit?
Disproportionately skewed toward the negative We were unable to
take into account the positive aspects of the collection Perhaps
rack would be a good middle ground Still a valuable tool for
showing improvement. Slide 14 Opportunities for improvement Cork
stoppers!!! Rubber gaskets Racks Swollen stoppers Light
exposure!!!! Low pH=high acidity Unsorted bulk samples Metal lids
Slide 15 An oral tradition Robert Boyle first discovered specimens
could be preserved in alcohol in the 1600s Techniques for
preparation and care are steeped in tradition. In the absence of
rigorous analysis, we lack the historical data to resolve issues
Slide 16 Paradox How do we stop the natural process of decay
without altering the nature of the specimen? Slide 17 Current Ideal
Alcohol concentration: 70-80% (for storage, not DNA) Alcohol pH:
6-7 Specimens housed in screw-top glass vials or bale-top jars with
shell vials stoppered with polyethylene stoppers Photos taken by
David Furth, Smithsonian NMNH Slide 18 Current Ideal Explosion
proof cabinets Consistent temperature and relative humidity in
collection space Archival Racks Slide 19 We want to transition from
Here...There... Slide 20 Lets discuss Has anyone established
benchmarks for their alcohol collection? Management plans Profiling
Systems: profile unit, is profiling worth while Storage methods:
Identify high use areas? Active collection/ longterm storage Bulk
vial systems Individual vial system Is there a flexible system?
Identify high use areas Bulk Alcohol Samples Are we dealing with a
toxic soup? Slide 21 [email protected] Slide 22 Thank you Tanner
Stanfield Lab mates Trish and Andrew for emotional support David
Furth for photographs NSF for previous funding, grant #
DBI-0847924
