Botanists fear research slowdown after priceless specimens destroyed at Australian border

By Erik Stokstad

This week’s news that Australian customs officers incinerated irreplaceable plant specimens has shocked botanists around the world, and left many concerned about possible impacts on international research exchanges. Some have put a freeze on sending samples to Australia until they are assured that their packages won’t meet a similar fate, and others are discussing broader ways of assuring safe passage of priceless specimens.

“This story is likely to have a major chilling effect on the loan system between herbaria across national boundaries,” says Austin Mast, president of the Society of Herbarium Curators and director of the herbarium at Florida State University in Tallahassee. “Without the free sharing of specimens, the pace of plant diversity research slows.”

As a result of the customs debacle, curators in New Zealand put a stay on shipping samples to Australia. So has the New York Botanical Garden in New York City, which holds the second largest collection of preserved plants in the world. “We, and many other herbaria, will not send specimens to Australia until we are sure this situation will not be repeated,” says herbarium Director Barbara Thiers. 

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