State and regulatory agencies deposit some of their own specimens here, and they rely on the facility to provide data on threatened and endangered species that influence land use plans. The collection's specimens also are loaned to scientists around the globe. Eventually, a searchable list of all holdings will be posted on a new Internet web site, providing easier access for teachers, natural resource managers, and other scientists. The new manager also will work with Brandon and Burr to catalog a backlog of thousands of specimens, many of which were collected during recent species inventories and status surveys in the United States and elsewhere. Burr compares the collection to a 3-D library.
Undergrads use it to learn about ichthyology, herpetology, and vertebrate zoology.
Graduate students turn to it for information about evolution, species identification and classification, molecular structure, and ecology. We learn about their reproductive cycles and diets, and changes in the environment. As society continues to encroach on wilderness, it becomes increasingly important to know the conservation status, distribution, life history, and genetic relationship of species. Since the 1960s, several dozen students have used the collection in their thesis or dissertation research. In the collection's herpetology section, jars of frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards, crocodiles, and snakes line the shelves.