Oral Theme 2

Best Practices in Collections Management in the Philippine Setting

Toward Best Practices in Collections Management: Re-Introducing UPLB IBS Course – BIO 192 (Museum-Herbarium Curatorship) – The First of its Kind in the Philippines

Ireneo L. Lit, Jr.¹, Aimee Lynn A. Barrion-Dupo¹, Annalee S. Hadsall¹ and James dV. Alvarez²

¹Faculty Members, Systematics Major Program, Institute of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, and Curators, UPLB Museum of Natural History, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna; ²Research/Extension Staff, UPLB Museum of Natural History and Affiliate Faculty/Graduate Student, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna

Email for correspondence: illit@up.edu.ph

This paper aims to re-introduce BIO 192 (Museum-Herbarium Curatorship), a course offered by the Institute of Biological Sciences, UP Los Baños. This was among those originally proposed as a core course for the Systematics Major Program under the BS Biology Degree Program, currently the first and only AUN-Accredited Baccalaureate Program in the Philippines. Recently, the contents of the course have been updated to be in synchrony with current developments in molecular biology/phylogenetics, information technology and occupational health and safety. Together with backgrounders on other theoretical and philosophical foundations, the course begins with definitions and expectations of a biological museum as well as curatorship being a career and a responsibility to science and the general public. Succeeding chapters focus on maintenance of biological collections and on principles and ethics of collections management. The lecture portion concludes with linkage between biological collections and biodiversity conservation with special attention drawn to policies governing biological collections in the Philippines. The laboratory which constitutes a great bulk of the course provides for practical aspects and activities on maintenance of collections, database establishment and a teacher-/curator-supervised internship for six weeks in selected sections of the UPLB Museum of Natural History. Overall, the course emphasizes the best practices for management of biological collections, those sets of unique and irreplaceable gems of our natural heritage.

The Status of the National Entomological Collections and Shift towards Better Collections Management

Perry Archival C. Buenavente

Entomology Section, Zoology Division, National Museum of the Philippines, Padre Burgos Ave., Ermita, Manila

Email for correspondence: buenavente@gmail.com

The Philippine National Museum's Entomological Collections established after the Bureau of Science’ destruction during the war has had to struggle to replace all its destroyed collections. No surviving records have been published to describe the inception of the Entomology Section in the National Museum and, consecutively, its valuable reference collections to create an overview of the diversity of the entomological fauna of the country. Collecting and curating these taxa poses a daunting task for any entomology curators, and with the loss of the original reference collections, the records of the insect diversity of the country were also lost. Historical collections from the National Museum’s Entomology section started to build up during the Philippine Zoological Expedition in 1946-1947 and succeeding expeditions headed by Museum personnel in other parts of the country. Traditional Schmidt boxes and fabricated glass-covered insect boxes with cork-board pinning bottoms were used to house the insect specimens that corroded non-entomological pins used during the time. With the transition of the National Museum of Natural History to its new home, the reference collection is undergoing a major overhaul by replacing the traditional insect boxes to new fabricated Cornell-type drawers to ensure the conservation of the specimens. It is also being re-cataloged to reconcile actual specimens from the surviving catalog to ensure research-valuable specimens are presented to the scientific community.

Upgrading Preservation Methods for Entomological Collections for Generation of Both Molecular and Morphological Data

Kristine O. Abenis¹, Ireneo L. Lit, Jr.^1,2, Orlando L. Eusebio¹, Doo-Sang Park³, Cristian C. Lucañas¹ and Jeremy Carlo C. Naredo¹

¹Entomology Section, UPLB Museum of Natural History, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna; ²Environmental Biology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna and ³Korea Collection for Type Culture, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejon, South Korea

Email for correspondence: kristineabenis@gmail.com

Recent attempts at DNA barcoding for selected species from the orders Hymenoptera and Phasmatodea deposited in the Entomology Section of the UPLB Museum of Natural History revealed that most specimens older than 10 years have degraded DNA and/or amplify for fungal species. Three percent of the hymenopteran specimens collected from 1947-2013 and 39% of phasmids collected from 1949-2015 were successfully barcoded. Only 407-bp barcodes were obtained from the hymenopteran specimens while 20% and 18% for 658-bp and 407-bp lengths, respectively, were obtained from the phasmid samples. With the need for molecular data to address problems like unresolved phylogenetic relationships and polymorphism, it is important that preservation methods for entomological collections should consider increasingly expanding use of specimens for molecular analyses. Suggestions or pointers for improvement are enumerated and briefly explained.

Practical Recommendations for Pest management: Experience from the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago and the Philippine National Museum of Natural History

Maria Josefa S. Veluz, Perry Archival C. Buenavente and Normandy M. Barbecho

Zoology Division, National Museum of the Philippines, Padre Burgos Ave., Ermita, Manila

Email for correspondence: maria.josefa.veluz@gmail.com

The Philippine National Museum of Natural History holds a vast collection of natural history specimens gathered from decades of exploration and research. Natural history specimens provide the baseline data for studying the geologic and biological history of our planet. However, these specimens are threatened by a host of museum pests, notably by rodents, insects, and fungi. As the Philippine National Museum undergoes its biggest transition to date with the retrofitting of a historical building to be dedicated exclusively to natural history, maintaining the specimens in excellent condition remains our utmost priority. In this paper I will share practical recommendations that we have drawn from our experience at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and which we currently apply at the Philippine National Museum of Natural History particularly, the zoological collections. These involve choosing and properly using less toxic but readily available chemicals, procuring the right equipment, manipulating the conditions of the collection environment, and following good housekeeping practices. These recommendations would guide our colleagues from other museums in modifying their own pest management strategies to ensure the preservation of valuable specimens under their care in excellent condition and making them accessible for present and future research, as well as for public education and appreciation.

The Status of Butterflies of Cebu City - An Inventory

Humaida A. Jumalon

Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary, Cebu City

Email for correspondence: humaidajumalon@yahoo.com.ph

The Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary in Cebu City is an expression of the more than 30 years of research, collection, food plant determination and publication of the late Prof. Julian Jumalon and his children. The first listing of butterflies in the Sanctuary was done in 2000, a result of data obtained since 1974. There were 56 species that were identified to have completed their life cycles in the garden, belonging to seven Families of Order Lepidoptera. The most represented are Nymphalidae and Papilionidae, and the least is Hesperiidae. The second inventory was done in 2013 and this included those that are found in other parts of the city. The number of Families is still the same but the relative abundance is significantly different. The butterfly fauna in Cebu City has decreased from 56 species to less than 30 in recent years. The Jumalon collection of more than 800 species and subspecies (the oldest in the country?) is kept in frames with cork-board pinning bottoms which are inspected and fumigated with naphthalene powder every year. In the open type garden, there is a continuous planting of food plants and almost daily collection of larvae and pupae which are placed in screened cages to keep them safe from predators. We account the decrease in population of butterflies to the destruction of food plants, pollution and urbanization. The collection and the Butterfly Sanctuary continue to educate people on butterfly conservation.

Online Database System of the University of the Philippines Baguio Herbarium

Ashlyn Kim D. Balangcod, Nicole F. Galapate, Lance Oliver C. Licnachan, Roberto Angelo A. Purugganan and Ron Isaiah F. Ramos

University of the Philippines Baguio, Governor Pack Road, Baguio City

Email for correspondence: adbalangcod@up.edu.ph

In plant taxonomy, the process of plant identification is tedious and time consuming. The emergence of herbaria all over the world allows a faster and more accurate method of identifying plants as they are repositories of actual local plants which can be readily compared with the specimens yet to be identified. However, these herbaria may be inaccessible for some taxonomist especially if they wish to visit one located in a different country. The internet has paved way for people from different places to easily access information regardless of the location of the source. Hence, the online database system of the University of the Philippines Baguio Herbarium takes this advantage of the internet making people access its content from anywhere in the world. This database system allows easier search and retrieval of information of plants residing in the herbarium with data such as photograph of the mounted specimen, common name, scientific name, date of collection and location of where the plant was collected. In the administration side, it allows an efficient inventory of specimen, and an easy way to add and edit data.