As we prepare to enter the 21st century, we are entering a new era in conservation biology, in which resources for genetic analysis of plants and animals (DNA, cell lines, tissue, blood, sperm and embryos) can be preserved without fear of decay in Genetic Resource Repositories (GRR’s). On the one hand, these resources provide significant new tools to understand the diversity of life on earth. Tissue collections serve as a genetic baseline that can be used for health monitoring, disease surveillance, captive breeding management, and the study of genetic variation underlying biological diversity. DNA sequencing and analysis enables researchers to solve taxonomic puzzles intrinsic to sound conservation management, for example, the determination of genetically distinct species unique to a particular habitat. On the other hand, developing GRR’s means that we have the opportunity to conserve resources far greater than previously imagined. Frozen sperm and embryos provide increased efficiency in breeding endangered species, and ‘insurance’ for small populations vulnerable to disease and environmental catastrophes. GRR’s also represent research resources with vast potential for benefit to humankind through applications in comparative medicine, agriculture and environmental science.

The Smithsonian Institution has more than 100 years of experience working with rare and valuable species, and is well situated to develop national GRR’s as a complement to its Institute for Conservation Biology and affiliated research and collections programs at the National Museum of Natural History, National Zoological Park (and its Conservation & Research Center), and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The most important benefit of GRR’s to conservation is that such biomaterials can help scientists to quickly provide answers to biological questions that influence national policies, society and the environment. Other major benefits are that biologists will be able to easily locate available samples for specific groups, begin many projects without having to go on additional, expensive collecting trips, and determine what effects habitat changes have had on the genetic diversity of populations by comparing information from tissues collected now to those collected in the future. Support for GRR’s has been a key recommendation of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment, the National Science Foundation and several external reviews of Smithsonian programs, including, most recently, the SI Council Report on Collections to Secretary Heyman, part of which is excerpted below.