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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: mccormickATSIGNunc.edu
Last
Updated: 7 June 2004
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