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. 2023 Nov 22;21(11):e3002318.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002318. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Specimen collection is essential for modern science

Michael W Nachman  1 , Elizabeth J Beckman  1 , Rauri Ck Bowie  1 , Carla Cicero  1 , Chris J Conroy  1 , Robert Dudley  1 , Tyrone B Hayes  1 , Michelle S Koo  1 , Eileen A Lacey  1 , Christopher H Martin  1 , Jimmy A McGuire  1 , James L Patton  1 , Carol L Spencer  1 , Rebecca D Tarvin  1 , Marvalee H Wake  1 , Ian J Wang  1 , Anang Achmadi  2 , Sergio Ticul Álvarez-Castañeda  3 , Michael J Andersen  4 , Jairo Arroyave  5 , Christopher C Austin  6 , F Keith Barker  7 , Lisa N Barrow  4 , George F Barrowclough  8 , John Bates  9 , Aaron M Bauer  10 , Kayce C Bell  11 , Rayna C Bell  12 , Allison W Bronson  13 , Rafe M Brown  14 , Frank T Burbrink  8 , Kevin J Burns  15 , Carlos Daniel Cadena  16 , David C Cannatella  17 , Todd A Castoe  18 , Prosanta Chakrabarty  6 , Jocelyn P Colella  14 , Joseph A Cook  4 , Joel L Cracraft  8 , Drew R Davis  19 , Alison R Davis Rabosky  20 , Guillermo D'Elía  21 , John P Dumbacher  12 , Jonathan L Dunnum  4 , Scott V Edwards  22 , Jacob A Esselstyn  6 , Julián Faivovich  23 , Jon Fjeldså  24 , Oscar A Flores-Villela  25 , Kassandra Ford  7 , Jérôme Fuchs  26 , Matthew K Fujita  18 , Jeffrey M Good  27 , Eli Greenbaum  28 , Harry W Greene  17 , Shannon Hackett  9 , Amir Hamidy  2 , James Hanken  22 , Tri Haryoko  2 , Melissa Tr Hawkins  29 , Lawrence R Heaney  9 , David M Hillis  17 , Bradford D Hollingsworth  30 , Angela D Hornsby  27 , Peter A Hosner  24 , Mohammad Irham  2 , Sharon Jansa  7 , Rosa Alicia Jiménez  31 , Leo Joseph  32 , Jeremy J Kirchman  33 , Travis J LaDuc  17 , Adam D Leaché  34 , Enrique P Lessa  35 , Hernán López-Fernández  20 , Nicholas A Mason  6 , John E McCormack  36 , Caleb D McMahan  9 , Robert G Moyle  14 , Ricardo A Ojeda  37 , Link E Olson  38 , Chan Kin Onn  39 , Lynne R Parenti  29 , Gabriela Parra-Olea  5 , Bruce D Patterson  9 , Gregory B Pauly  11 , Silvia E Pavan  13 , A Townsend Peterson  14 , Steven Poe  4 , Daniel L Rabosky  20 , Christopher J Raxworthy  8 , Sushma Reddy  7 , Alejandro Rico-Guevara  34 , Awal Riyanto  2 , Luiz A Rocha  12 , Santiago R Ron  40 , Sean M Rovito  41 , Kevin C Rowe  42 , Jodi Rowley  43 , Sara Ruane  9 , David Salazar-Valenzuela  44 , Allison J Shultz  11 , Brian Sidlauskas  45 , Derek S Sikes  38 , Nancy B Simmons  8 , Melanie L J Stiassny  8 , Jeffrey W Streicher  46 , Bryan L Stuart  47 , Adam P Summers  48 , Jose Tavera  49 , Pablo Teta  23 , Cody W Thompson  20 , Robert M Timm  14 , Omar Torres-Carvajal  40 , Gary Voelker  50 , Robert S Voss  8 , Kevin Winker  38 , Christopher Witt  4 , Elizabeth A Wommack  51 , Robert M Zink  52
Affiliations

Specimen collection is essential for modern science

Michael W Nachman et al. PLoS Biol. .

Abstract

Natural history museums are vital repositories of specimens, samples and data that inform about the natural world; this Formal Comment revisits a Perspective that advocated for the adoption of compassionate collection practices, querying whether it will ever be possible to completely do away with whole animal specimen collection.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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