COLLECTIONS and 



The late Timothy C, Plowman (left) with Jack C. Staehle, loyal supporter of botanical research projects, Dr, Plowman, former chairman of the 

 Department of Botany, was the world's leading authority on the plant family Erythroxylaceae, 



10 



Centennial Directions assigns five tasks to the research 

 and collections divisions of the Museum: to work with other 

 private and governmental organizations in planning a 

 national strategy that would guide us in adding to the Field 

 Museum's collections; to add selectively to the collections 

 in the areas of the Museum's established strengths 

 through fieldwork, purchases, and gifts in kind; to provide 

 adequate staffing for conservation and management of 

 the collections; to upgrade research equipment, storage 

 facilities, and computer capabilities; and to maintain and 

 build the library. 



During the past biennium, progress has been made in 

 each of these areas. A visiting committee of university, 

 museum, and science laboratory leaders reviewed the 

 Museum's collections and research programs in 1 987 and 

 concluded that while the collections "represent a major 

 world resource," they "need to be nurtured both by addi- 

 tions and by continuous reinterpretation as our un- 

 derstanding of the evolutionary process grows as the re- 

 sult of advances in earth, planetary, and anthropological 

 sciences." 



Certainly our Museum scientists have become more 



acutely aware these past few years of their role in the 

 rapidly escalating conservation crisis, particularly in the 

 tropical rain forests. Each year an area the size of West 

 Virginia is being denuded of lush jungle, and species not 

 yet named or recognized are disappearing faster than 

 they can be inventoried and protected. The first step in 

 preserving biological diversity must be an inventory of 

 species and an understanding of how they interact with 

 each other and their environment. The Museum is one of 

 only a few institutions with the personnel and resources to 

 make major conthbutions at every level of the conserva- 

 tion process. While our researchers, of course, work in 

 many other disciplines and areas of the world, it's appro- 

 priate to highlight here their timely and urgent assign- 

 ments in the tropics. 



Tropical Botany and Zoology 



In 1 988, the Field Museum entered into an agreement with 

 Conservation International, formalizing a partnership to 

 promote the understanding and conservation of tropical 

 ecosystems. In Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Boll- 



