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| Association of Systematics Collections | |
|---|---|
| Name | Association of Systematics Collections |
| Formation | 1972 |
| Type | Nonprofit organization |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Region served | International |
| Focus | Natural history collections, biodiversity informatics |
Association of Systematics Collections
The Association of Systematics Collections was an international nonprofit organization focused on natural history museums, herbaria, and research collections. Founded in the early 1970s, it engaged with institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Field Museum, and worked alongside agencies like the National Science Foundation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. ACM-related initiatives intersected with projects involving the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the World Wildlife Fund.
The organization emerged during a period when institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, and the British Museum (Natural History) were addressing cataloging challenges posed by collections from expeditions such as those of Charles Darwin, Alexander von Humboldt, and Alfred Russel Wallace. Early collaborations included contacts with the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the United Nations Environment Programme, and drew on practices from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, and the Musée de l'Homme. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s it intersected with policies shaped by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and worked with organizations such as the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Its mission emphasized stewardship of holdings at institutions like the Natural History Museum, London, the New York Botanical Garden, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Australian Museum, and supported research linked to universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford. Activities included promoting standards developed in concert with bodies like the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and the Catalogue of Life, and coordinating training with the Royal Society, the Linnean Society of London, and the Botanical Society of America.
Members encompassed museums, herbaria, botanical gardens, zoos, and universities including the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, the Natural History Museum, London, the New York Botanical Garden, Harvard University Herbaria, and the United States National Herbarium. Governance structures mirrored nonprofit practices used by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academies, the International Council for Science, and the Council on Library and Information Resources, with advisory input from the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Work on collections standards referenced nomenclatural codes such as the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, and guidelines from the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), and intersected with databases like GenBank, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. The organization promoted specimen data mobilization practices used by the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Encyclopedia of Life, the Atlas of Living Australia, and the iDigBio initiative, and engaged with curatorial procedures practiced at institutions including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, and the California Academy of Sciences.
Programs included training programs comparable to those run by the National Science Foundation, capacity building similar to initiatives by the United Nations Development Programme, and digitization projects resonant with the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, iDigBio, and the Encyclopedia of Life. Projects often partnered with universities such as Cornell University, the University of California system, Stanford University, and Oxford University, and with museums like the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and the Natural History Museum, London, leveraging tools developed by the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, GenBank, and the Barcode of Life Data System.
Conferences convened participants from institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, the Natural History Museum, London, the New York Botanical Garden, and international bodies such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the United Nations Environment Programme. Publications and guidelines drew on standards and literatures produced by the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Catalogue of Life, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the Biodiversity Informatics community, and journals such as Systematic Biology, Taxon, and the Journal of Natural History.
The organization partnered with entities including the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, the Natural History Museum, London, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the National Science Foundation to advocate for funding, policy recognition, and international cooperation. Advocacy efforts aligned with initiatives like the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the United Nations.
Category:Natural history organizations Category:Biological databases