Brazilian herbaria: an overview

ABSTRACT Herbaria represent irreplaceable repositories of biodiversity and are used to answer questions about conservation, ecology, systematics, and other sciences. In this sense, we characterize the infrastructure, human resources, and idiosyncrasies of Brazilian herbaria. To achieve this goal, curators were sent a structured and standardized questionnaire to gather information about herbaria. The Brazilian Herbaria Network listed 216 active herbaria in the year 2018, of which 139 answered the questionnaire. These herbaria hold 6,741,469 samples in their collections and more than 39,000 type samples. Most herbaria are in federal universities (40.28 %). Only 24 % of the curators considered that their herbarium is valued by their institutions and 52 % indicated inadequate storage areas. Only nine collections have smoke sensors. Our analysis showed that if an herbarium has an institutional policy the curator is 78 % more likely to consider its herbarium valued. Therefore, it is important for all herbaria to institute their policy. These numbers reflect the difficulty in maintaining herbaria, in many cases cared for only by its curator without institutional recognition and support. Despite recent losses in Brazilian natural history collections, herbaria are still threatened by a lack of basic infrastructure.

摘要：植物标本馆（Herbarium）是生物多样性不可或缺的典藏库，可用于解答保护学、生态学、系统分类学及其他学科的相关学术问题。基于此，本研究对巴西植物标本馆的基础设施、人力资源与馆藏特色展开系统性表征分析。为达成该研究目标，研究团队向各标本馆负责人发放了结构化标准化问卷，以采集相关馆藏信息。2018年，巴西植物标本馆网络共登记在册216家活跃标本馆，其中139家完成了问卷反馈。这些标本馆的馆藏标本总量达6741469份，其中模式标本（type sample）超过39000份。超四成（40.28%）的标本馆设立于联邦大学内。仅有24%的标本馆负责人认为其所在馆获得了所属机构的重视，另有52%的负责人指出馆藏存储区域不符合规范要求。仅9家标本馆配备了烟雾传感器。本研究分析显示，若某标本馆制定了机构相关政策，则其负责人认为该馆获得重视的概率将提升78%。因此，所有植物标本馆均应制定自身的机构政策。上述数据反映出植物标本馆运维的现实困境：诸多标本馆仅由负责人独自打理，且未获得所属机构的认可与支持。尽管巴西自然历史馆藏近年出现流失情况，植物标本馆仍面临基础基础设施匮乏的严峻威胁。