The Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science (LSUMNS) Collection of Genetic Resources is probably the largest and most active collection of wild vertebrate frozen tissues in the world. It contains nearly 40,000 specimens and over 100,000 samples of frozen tissues and extracts (e.g., DNA, proteins, and antisera). In the last five years, the Collection has given more than 2,000 samples of frozen tissues to researchers form 10 countries. During the same period, more than 80 publications and theses relying on LSUMNS tissues and extracts have been produced. In the years to come, demands for tissues and tissue extracts are expected to rise substantially as more and more researchers turn to comparative molecular methods and as the LSUMNS Collection grows and becomes better known as a repository and source of genetic materials. Improvements in molecular technology and methodology will cause an increase in specimen requests form systematists and population geneticists (currently the Collection s main users), and will lead to greater interest in the Collection form nontraditi onal sources -- ecologists, behaviorists, wildlife managers, epidemiologists, and other comparative molecular biologists. Already, the Collection is feeling an impact particularly from bird ecologists and behaviorists interested in an historical (phylogenetic) perspective from which to interpret their copious life- history data. The LSUMNS Collection must meet this expected increase in demand. The Collection is growing rapidly as a result of the Museum s aggressive program of collection and soliciting tissues and tissue extracts. This program is intended not only to increase holdings but also to salvage and centralize tissues and genetic extracts that might otherwise be scattered and unavailable to the research community. This project will support repairing, replacing, and adding new ultracold freezers and their alarms and backup systems. It will also assist in storing and in preparing and mailing of frozen specimens to researchers at other institutions.
