What happens to a scientist’s tsetse fly collection during a pandemic?
Living collections that hold everything from plants to viruses
require a lot of time and technical skill to preserve.
In a time of social distancing, that becomes much harder.
To keep collections going,
scientists appear to be taking two approaches:
putting collections into hibernation
or bringing them home.
A group of scientists who maintain 900 strains of fungi
at West Virginia University
has carefully planned maintenance with
the minimum number of visits to the greenhouse.
They wear masks, disinfect shared surfaces
and coordinate with other essential personnel
to be on campus at different times.
Others are bringing their collections of
spiders, beetles or butterflies home.
Many scientists are taking risks
and have had to justify the importance of their collections
to gain lab access during lockdowns.
But keeping their collections alive is worth it
to bring the benefits of their science to other researchers
and society overall.
