Plant samples preserved in museums may hold key to advancing biodiversity

Amazing stuff!

"A single dried flower pressed flat on a page of white cardboard is a plant sample made using very old technology. People have been collecting these types of samples since the 1600s.

Armed with very new technology, such as artificial intelligence and genomic sequencing ... sees tremendous opportunity in studying these collections that span centuries.

Researchers could potentially harvest a wealth of information from the millions of samples housed in the world’s 3,000 herbaria ...

A lot can be learned about herbivores from the bite marks on a leaf, for example. Half-moon shapes or a skeletonized leaf can indicate what type of plant-eating insects were present. Insects make up the greatest number of herbivores, but larger herbivores like deer and elk leave marks that can also be identified.

In addition, crystalized nectar can provide clues about past pollinators. ... a project ... to rehydrate old nectar from herbarium specimens and then use mass spectrometry to analyze the molecules and identify the types of sugars present. The sugars can indicate what types of pollinators – such as bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies – might have interacted with the plants 50 or even 100 years ago. ..."

Plant samples preserved in museums may hold key to advancing biodiversity | Stanford Report "Herbaria, or “museums for plants,” house millions of samples collected over centuries. Stanford biologist Barnabas Daru shares how modern technology can unlock this treasure trove, providing scientists with vital insights into plants and the ecosystems they support."