An International View of National Biological Surveys

Abstract

Museums and herbaria in industrialized countries hold a huge amount of data in the form of labels associated with specimens collected in developing countries. These data represent a significant part of the existing information on biodiversity available for most developing countries. In this paper we first discuss the usefulness of the label information, providing some examples from Mexico. Acquiring and updating the information requires international cooperation, including the agreement of common policies for ownership and use of the data. Beneficiaries of such efforts will be not only the countries that assemble the databases from foreign museums, but the international scientific community as well, due to the increased scientific value that large databases coupled with modern computer technologies provide.