A grant has been awarded to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County under the direction of Dr. Christine Thacker for partial support of a project to clean and rehouse the skeletal collections of Ichthyology and Herpetology, as well as combat an Aspergillus fungus infestation in the Ichthyology skeletal collections. Together these sections maintain an estimated 5,200,000 specimens (5 million fishes and 200,000 amphibians and reptiles), including 8,000 dried, articulated or disarticulated skeletal preparations. These specimens include both marine and freshwater fishes, including elasmobranch skeletons and jaws, as well as snakes, lizards and frogs. They serve as a resource for biological, biomechanical, evolutionary and archaeological studies. These important collections have been stored in cardboard boxes that are not suitable for proper storage, should be replaced. Additionally, the skeleton collections in Ichthyology have recently become infested with Apergillus fungus. For this project, the infested skeletal collections will be cleaned by a fungus remediation firm, and rehoused in plastic boxes, as well as plastic bags and/or silica gel packs to reduce humidity. The specimens in different storage treatments will be monitored to determine if any fungus regrowth occurs in individual treated specimens. Uninfested skeletons will be manually cleaned, reboxed, and catalogued if necessary. Collection areas will also be cleaned, and humidity lowered to prevent recurrence of the fungus.
Treatment of a fungal infection of this magnitude in a natural history collection is rare, and the specific needs for combat of an infection on skeletons are particularly unusual. We have documented all steps in our response thus far, including detection and identification of the fungus, pilot studies of treatment and storage methods, and plans for collection treatments and upgrades. We will continue to document our progress in treatment and storage methods for preparation as a case study. Due to the health hazards associated with exposure to Aspergillus fungus, tours and educational activities in Ichthyology and Herpetology have been suspended since the fungus was identified. This project will enable us to reopen the collections to students, researchers, and the public.
This project will arrest a potentially devastating fungal infection in two significant skeletal collections and provide for rehousing and cataloguing those collections so that they may be made available to the research community as well as for the educational and exhibit programs at the Natural History Museum. These skeletal holdings are of value for collection-based research such as studies of evolution, systematics, taxonomy, biomechanics, age and growth, as well as in related fields such as archaeology and history.
