Authors
Luiz A Rocha, A Aleixo, G Allen, Frank Almeda, Carole C Baldwin, Maxwell VL Barclay, John M Bates, AM Bauer, Francesca Benzoni, CM Berns, Michael L Berumen, DC Blackburn, S Blum, Federico Bolaños, Rauri CK Bowie, R Britz, RM Brown, Carlos Daniel Cadena, K Carpenter, LM Ceríaco, P Chakrabarty, Gerardo Cháves, John Howard Choat, Kendall D Clements, Bruce B Collette, A Collins, J Coyne, J Cracraft, T Daniel, Marcelo Rodrigues De Carvalho, Kevin De Queiroz, Fabio Di Dario, R Drewes, John P Dumbacher, Andrew Engilis, Mark V Erdmann, W Eschmeyer, CR Feldman, BL Fisher, Jon Fjeldså, Peter W Fritsch, J Fuchs, Abebe Getahun, A Gill, M Gomon, T Gosliner, Gary R Graves, CE Griswold, R Guralnick, K Hartel, Kristofer M Helgen, H Ho, Djoko T Iskandar, T Iwamoto, Zeehan Jaafar, Helen F James, D Johnson, D Kavanaugh, Nancy Knowlton, E Lacey, HK Larson, P Last, JM Leis, H Lessios, J Liebherr, M Lowman, DL Mahler, Victor Mamonekene
Publication date
2014/5/23
Journal
Science
Volume
344
Issue
6186
Pages
814-815
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Description
COLLECTING BIOLOGICAL specimens for scientific studies came under scrutiny when BA Minteer et al.[“Avoiding (re) extinction,” Perspectives, 18 April, p. 260] suggested that this practice plays a significant role in species extinctions. Based on a small number of examples (rare birds, frogs, and a few plants), the authors concluded that collection of voucher specimens is potentially harmful to many species, and that alternatives—photographs, audio recordings and nonlethal tissue sampling for DNA analysis—are sufficient to document biological diversity. The isolated examples that Minteer et al. cited to demonstrate the negative impact of scientific collecting have been carefully analyzed, and none of these extinction events can be attributed to that cause (1–3). For example, only about 102 Great Auk specimens
Scholar articles
LA Rocha, A Aleixo, G Allen, F Almeda, CC Baldwin… - Science, 2014