Participating Institutions
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
Website: http://www.colorado.edu/CUMUSEUM/
Address: Henderson Building, 218 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309
Overview: UCM museum collections date back to the 1870's, before its founding in 1902. The museum is now split into five sections each with its own staff. The four sections involved in this grant are: 1) Zoology 2) Paleontology and Geology 3) Botany, and 4) Entomology. Over the last three years, the condition of the UCM collections and their data has been substantially enhanced as the result of two NSF-funded collections improvement projects (NSF DBI 9728995, NSF DEB 9709543).
Collections:
Zoology. The Zoology Section collections strength is in the bioregion, especially Colorado and the surrounding plains, plateaus and basins. All of the collections (mollusks, other invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals) are the largest in the state except for the birds, which are the second largest. The collections are approximately 85% databased.
Paleontology. The Geology Section of the UCM houses the Paleontology Collection, which emphasizes the Cenozoic fossil record of the Rocky Mountain region. Including invertebrates (primarily insects, spiders, and mollusks), vertebrates, and plants, the collections is the largest in numbers of catalogued specimens in the Rocky Mountain region.
Herbarium/Botany. The UCM Herbarium presently houses nearly 500,000 specimens including 260,000 vascular plants, 105,000 bryophytes, 95,000 lichens, and 25,000 algae and fungi. The Herbarium has an outstanding collection from the Rocky Mountains which serves as a backbone for a major research center devoted to the botanical exploration of the region.
Entomology. The UCM entomology collection is estimated to total 450,000 insect and spider specimens and number over 13,500 species. Specimens date back to 1877 and focus primarily on the Rocky Mountain region.
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Website: http://www.dmns.org/
Address: 2001 Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO 80205
Phone: (303)322-7009 | (800)925-2250
Overview: The collections in Zoology and Earth and Space Science Departments at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science had their beginnings in collections from the late nineteenth century and continue to grow in size and usability with the help of 21st century technology. All collections are either fully databased or in the process of becoming fully databased and a GIS laboratory at the museum helps researchers utilize the collections for research purposes.
Collections:
Paleontology. The strength of the DMNS Paleontology collections are early Tertiary and Quaternary mammals, and late Mesozoic and early Tertiary plants. The paleobotanical collections are the largest in the region, and the vertebrate fossil collections the second largest.
Zoology. The DMNS zoological collections are the second largest (bird collection is the largest) in Colorado for the central Rockies and plains region and include numerous specimens from rare, endangered, and extripated species. The DMNS will be a partner in the Rocky Mountain Center for Conservation Genetics and Systematics, to be located in Denver, and will become the voucher specimen and DNA archive for projects conducted by users of that facility.
Denver Botanic Gardens
Website: http://www.botanicgardens.org
Address: 1005 York Street, Denver, CO 80206
Phone: 720-865-3500
Overview: The herbaria of the Denver Botanic Gardens have collections dating back to the 1860's, although the gardens was not founded until 1950. The garden is one of twelve American Association of Museums (AAM) accredited herbaria and maintains the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium of vascular plants (KHD) and the Herbarium of Fungi (DBG). The past few years have brought about many improvements to the collections, including: new facilities (January 2001), increased funding for data entry of specimens, a digital imaging system, and a GIS.
Collections:
Herbarium/Mycology. The Denver Botanic Gardens houses two herbaria; the Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium (KHD) of vascular plants and the Herbarium of Fungi (DBG). The herbaria hold over 56,000 specimens with more than 10,125 specimens databased.
|
