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| Botanist Mike Murphy shows sedge specimen. These are specimen of particular interest to Murphy because they are present in nearly every ecosystem in the Midwest, but little is understood about them since they are difficult to identify. |
Picture
the Field Museum's main entrance. You're likely to imagine groups of
schoolchildren and camera-clad tourists crowding around Sue, the
famous t-rex skeleton. Now, imagine the herbarium at the University
of Illinois. This may be more difficult, since the herbarium sees few
visitors and many people have no idea what an herbarium looks like,
or even is. However, the herbarium, which holds hundreds of thousands
of dried plant specimen, is as important to understanding our
planet's past as dinosaur bones. And, unlike Sue, these plant
specimen are also important to understanding the present and future
of our planet.
“You
hear a lot of talk in the news about conserving species, but when you
talk about ecosystems the foundation... of the majority of ecosystems
are plants,” says Botanist Mike Murphy.
The
Roger A. Evers Laboratory is home to the Illinois Natural History
Survey Herbarium, which is one of the largest and most active
remaining university collections in the country.
“A
lot of colleges, because there are so few botanists, are getting rid
of their herberia,” says Murphy. This collection is instead growing
by 4,000 to 5,000 specimen a year and holds local and international
specimen.
Rows
of cabinets make up the herbarium, which simply appears to be a
storage facility. It would remain unclear to visitors what was stored
within these cabinets, if not for the earthy, almost flowery, scent.
The cabinets are fire and waterproof and the room is kept around 65
degrees and at 33 percent humidity. These measures keep the
collection from being ruined by insects and moisture, which could
easily destroy the collection- especially the oldest specimen dating
back to the 1700's.
“The
herbarium is completely invaluable to protecting our natural
resources and understanding what was here, what is here and why it's
here,” says Murphy. In order to protect these specimen, the
botanists must continue to protect the collection from the threats of
fire, moisture, and insects- as well as humankind.
Gwen, I really enjoyed your blog! You used elements that we have been talking about in class all semester, which was really great! I love how you compared the importance of the herbarium to the bones of Sue. You used an experience we all shared as young school children (going to the Field Museum), which made your science writing very understandable and enjoyable to read!
ReplyDelete-Abigail
Gwen, I loved how you lead into the quote, it was a really good way to set it up. The contrast between Sue and the herbarium's plants was an awesome comparison. It was a really enjoyable read.
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Austin
Gwen, I really enjoyed the news-editorial feel your blog had; it strayed from the typical first person account, which was interesting. Like Abigail said, you incorporated everything that we had been talking about in class which was awesome. I also loved that you include a picture for the audience to really get an understanding of who Mike Murphy is and what he represents. Good job!
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