record and report their work without a name to associ- 

 ate their observations or the means to distinguish that 

 form from others. Virtually all museum scientists de- 

 scribe new organisms, expediting the work of other 

 biologists through the publication of floras, faunas, and 

 identification keys. For example, malacologist Alan 

 Solem has described more than 250 species of land 

 snails from Australia, representing at least a quarter of 

 all the species known from that continent. 



For nearly all groups, inventories are impossible 

 without making new collections. Collections of speci- 

 mens represent the primary, enduring documentation 

 of an inventory — study and analysis of collections 

 leads to identification and description, in addition to 

 enabling a host of other biological studies. Gathering 

 comprehensive collections in the field is another forte 

 of museum scientists — many groups are so incon- 

 spicuous that only an expert is able to detect their pres- 

 ence at a site. Detailed knowledge of the distribution 

 and natural history of species enable museum scientists 

 to record plants and animals that are overlooked by 

 other kinds of field biologists. 



The scientific community constantly reviews its 

 own priorities for conservation, and these guide pat- 

 terns of funding and publication. There is now a con- 

 sensus that detailed ecological studies contribute most 

 to protecting temperate-zone species. This is only pos- 

 sible because temperate-zone organisms can be easily 

 identified and their basic biology is relatively well 

 known. However, focused collecting surveys at a vari- 

 ety of sites provide the most "bang-for-the-buck" in the 

 unstudied tropics. They yield materials that permit 

 diversity to be discovered and described; they identify 

 habitats with exceptionally high diversity; and they 

 indicate (by numbers of species shared) the distinctive- 

 ness of habitats from one another. Each of these is fun- 

 damental to conservation planning. 



Definition of Biogeographic Regions 



Protecting areas that are rich in species does not ensure 

 that the goals of conservation will be met. Many areas, 

 such as the Galapagos Islands or Hawaii, support rel- 

 atively few species, yet these may be so distinctive that 

 their preservation is a high priority. Through coordin- 

 ated inventories of sites throughout a given geographic 

 region, museum scientists help to identify and delimit 

 areas that are internally similar in terms of their biotas 

 while differing from all other areas. Conservationists 

 need this information to ensure that each biogeo- 

 22 graphic region, with its unique species and resources, 



Rabor's tube-nosed bat {Nyctimene rabon) was collected by mam- 

 malogist Larry Heaney In 1981 during an inventory of Negros Island, 

 Philippines, This animal was recognized and described as a new 

 fruit-bat species in 1 984 — by 1 987, It had become severely en- 

 dangered by deforestation. Photo by P D Heideman 



contains a sufficient number of protected sites. 



Museum scientists work at different scales in such 

 regional studies. Some study the biotas of far-flung con- 

 tinents, while others concentrate on those of adjacent 

 communities. All begin their work from a specific site 

 inventory that identified large fractions of unique spe- 

 cies. Working outwards from this point of knowledge, 

 researchers sample adjacent areas to determine the geo- 

 graphic limits of these regions. General collections, a 

 hallmark of museum research, are essential to such 

 studies because they document a large segment of a re- 

 gion's biota and hence characterize its general features. 

 In addition, systematic collections are needed to deter- 

 mine a biota's affinities or evolutionary histories and 



