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Regulations
Destructive Sampling Policy
The collections of the
University of North Carolina Herbarium are maintained with the goal
of balancing preservation of the integrity of herbarium specimens
with utilization for scientific research. While every effort will
be made to accommodate researchers, decisions concerning destructive
sampling of collections are made on a case-by-case basis.
As a rule, no material may be removed from specimens without prior
consent of an appropriate member of the curatorial staff. Permission
for removal of material is contingent upon adherence to the following
guidelines:
1. Leaf material,
pollen, spores, etc. may be removed from specimens only when adequate
material is available. Care must be taken not to damage the specimen.
2. Material may not be removed from type collections or from taxa
represented in the herbarium by fewer than three collections except
in rare instances, and then only by an appropriate staff member,
or with advance permission.
3. Each specimen must be annotated indicating the material removed,
the nature of the study, the researcher's name and institutional
affiliation, and the date. The University of North Carolina Herbarium
should be cited in any resulting publication, a copy of which
should be sent here.
4. Material may not be removed from an herbarium sheet for a second
time if the nature of the study is the same (i.e., pollen material
for SEM, leaf material for DNA analysis, etc.). Exceptions will
be made in cases where additional material was collected specifically
for sampling purposes (e.g., air-dried leaf material for DNA analysis).
5. We encourage the researcher to return a duplicate permanent
pollen, spore, or leaf slide or an SEM photograph to the University
of North Carolina Herbarium. The label on the slide or photograph
should provide the name of the taxon, the collector's name and
number, the country of origin of the voucher sheet from which
the sample was obtained, and the method of preparation used. Such
material will be housed in the herbarium in a suitable place,
cross-referenced to the specimen from which it was removed, and
made accessible to other researchers as requested.
6. Requests for removal of material for DNA studies will be reviewed
and approved by the appropriate curator. Requests should state
the amount of material needed. Excessive destruction must be avoided.
Results (both positive and negative) must be reported in writing,
the specimens must be annotated, and GenBank and/or EMBL accession
numbers must be included (sent later, if necessary). A reference
to where the results are published is highly desirable. The researcher
must provide NCU with location and storage method of any left-over
sample. The University of North Carolina Herbarium reserves the
right to request DNA or molecular information obtained from NCU
specimens. Removal shall not be permitted if there is reason to
believe that the data sought cannot be obtained from such a sample
(e.g., the technique is not sufficiently well known to consistently
produce satisfactory results) or the specimen is known to be unsuitable
for sampling (e.g. old or treated with heat or chemicals inimical
to DNA sampling). Herbarium specimens should not be the source
of first choice if there are other available sources for the desired
material.
7. The University of North Carolina Herbarium maintains no records
on the history or treatment of the collections; materials are
supplied with no warranty of any kind.
  
Curriculum North Carolina UNC
In Ecology Botanical Garden Biology Department
University of North Carolina
Herbarium
CB# 3280, Coker Hall
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280
phone: (919) 962-6931
fax: (919) 962-6930
email: herbarium@bio.unc.edu
Last Updated: 7 June 2004
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