Museum of Southwestern Biology

07/21/2025

https://www.wvpe.org/2025-02-24/plant-libraries-herbaria-closures-climate-change

Scientists say amid climate change and biodiversity loss, the world’s herbaria could hold the keys to overcoming the crises in their folders of dried plant specimens. But their future is in question amid cuts to research and education funding.

09/26/2024

https://therevelator.org/botanists-endangered/

As funding drops and institutions change, the study of plants appears to be withering on the vine. That's letting critical skills go extinct.

08/17/2024

https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-viral-paleontologist-who-unearths-pathogens-deep-histories-20240816

Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer searches museum jars for genetic traces of flu, measles and other viruses. Their evolutionary stories can help treat modern outbreaks and prepare for future ones.

07/08/2024

“These new species were discovered as a result of studying specimens in herbaria and demonstrate the importance of maintaining these natural history collections as many more species remain to be discovered within them,” said Dr. Richardson.

Scientists discovered three new species of Theobroma cacao. These new species could lead to climate-resistant cocoa.

03/08/2024

https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/the-dunes-sagebrush-lizard-is-vanishing-one-texas-scientist-has-spent-decades-trying-to-save-it/

The dunes sagebrush lizard is vanishing. Texas A&M herpetologist Lee Fitzgerald has spent his career trying to save it.

01/11/2024

MSB specimens once again! Repeated sampling stimulates insights into changing conditions, food webs, and more.

New research by Amanda Koltz provides the latest evidence that climate change is having an impact on food webs in high-latitude ecosystems.

06/05/2023

Sofi is amazing! This Class of 2023 graduate is headed to NM Tech in the fall where she received the Silver Scholarship. She is passionate about science and research as demonstrated by her senior project at the Museum of Southwestern Biology. We are proud to have her as a rep for ABHS and Latinas in STEM.

07/16/2022

Let's reverse this trend!

Botany is disappearing from university modules in the UK.

07/09/2022

Another specimen-based star!

Plant biologist Jun Wen investigates the sprawling diversity of plant life on Earth and the lessons it offers in conservation

01/26/2022

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/hunters-researchers-work-together-to-study-sandhill-cranes/6364013/?cat=504

Thousands of sandhill cranes migrate through the Middle Rio Grande Valley every year. There is a unique partnership in Albuquerque that helps researchers to better understand the birds. 

08/27/2021

Specimen-based genetic studies provide the critical spatial and temporal data needed to fully exploit the promise of genetics. Museum databases have become a key link to fully unlocking the promise of new advances in genomic technology.

Genomic data are being produced and archived at a prodigious rate, and current studies could become historical baselines for future global genetic diversity analyses and monitoring programs. However, when we evaluated the potential utility of genomic data from wild and domesticated eukaryote species...