Science Strategy
Collections - in depth
Kew is responsible for 19 main collections (Table 1) that were begun at different times, serve different purposes and differ markedly in size and complexity. These collections can be divided into three main groups: preserved plant collections, living and genetic resource collections, and documentary and visual reference collections.
Preserved Plant Collections – The preserved plant collections primarily serve the research needs of the scientific community. The Economic Botany collection also provides material for public display, both at Kew and through loans to other institutions.
Herbarium and Mycology Collections - The Herbarium was founded in 1852 and is housed in a complex of buildings situated on the north side of Kew Green. It is Kew’s largest and globally most comprehensive collection, totalling more than 7.5 million, dried, paper-mounted specimens of higher plants, including an estimated 300,000 nomenclatural types, with ancillary collections of carpological samples, spirit-preserved material (70,000 databased accessions, begun in 1930) and dead seeds (20,530 databased accessions, housed separately housed in the Seed Conservation Department, Wakehurst Place). The Mycology Collection, begun in 1879, comprises 800,000 fungal specimens and includes the national reference collection for UK taxa (250,000 specimens). Recently transferred to purpose-built accommodation beneath the Jodrell Laboratory, the Mycology Collection is the richest depository for fungal types in the world.
Micromorphology, Cytogenetics and Biochemistry Collections - The Micromorphology and Cytogenetics Collections comprise microscope slides covering plant anatomy (115,000), palynology (24,000) and cytogenetics (35,000). These collections are housed in fire-proof cabinets in the Herbarium and Jodrell Laboratory and have been developed in response to past and present research interests of Kew staff. The anatomy collection, established c. 1930, is the oldest of these collections. In addition, the Mycology Collection includes some 15,000 slides of hymenia or other spore-producing parts of fungi. A collection of c. 13,000 historical microscope slides, dating from the 1880s, is separately housed in the Jodrell Laboratory and Sir Joseph Banks Building. The biochemistry collection comprises over 10,000 activity profiles, most with the original extracts from which they were obtained.
Economic Botany Collections - The Centre for Economic Botany is responsible for collections totalling 78,000 items (the largest such assemblage in the world), which document the great variety of uses of plants. These collections are stored in the Sir Joseph Banks Building, situated to the west of the Herbarium, except for those on public display in Museum No. 1 or elsewhere. The collections were first displayed in 1847 and significantly expanded at the time of the Great Exhibition, in 1851. Museum No. 1, built in 1857, was the first of its kind devoted to economic botany. These collections are databased and fully documented photographically.
Living and Genetic Resource Collections – The Living Collections and, to a lesser extent, the Millennium Seed Bank, have significant visitor amenity roles. In addition, together with the in vitro elements listed below, they also support Kew's conservation programmes. All of the Living and Genetic Resource Collections also include accessions primarily used for research, and this is the main purpose of the DNA samples.
Plants in vivo (Living Collections, Seed Bank) - The Living Collections are Kew’s oldest, dating from 1759. They are held at the main estate at Kew (130 ha, 3 ha under glass) and the satellite garden at Wakehurst Place, Sussex (200 ha, leased from the National Trust). Kew also has significant management input to the collections held in The Arboretum and Ray Wood, at Castle Howard, Yorkshire. Current holdings on all three sites total c. 85,000 live accessions, representing more than 33,000 different taxa. The composition of these collections, and the fact that they are mainly held outdoors, is constrained by the UK's cool temperate climate. The living collections are of major importance to Kew's role as a visitor amenity, but also reflect Kew’s research interests, both now and in the past. Records of current living and dead accessions are databased.
The Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) on land owned by Kew adjacent to Wakehurst Place, was completed in August 2000. The collections housed in the seed bank were begun in 1974 and currently amount to more than 27,000 databased samples of living seed, especially from the world’s drylands. They also include a nearly complete representation of bankable elements from the UK’s flora. The MSB has been designed with the capacity to hold at least 20% of the world’s flora as an ex situ resource for conservation and potential reintroduction and restoration programmes (see Millennium Seed Bank Project).
Plants in vitro / cryo-preserved (incl. DNA samples and cryo-preserved tissues) - The Micropropagation Laboratory, established in 1976 in Aiton House, near the Brentford Gate car park, is ancillary to the Living Collections, holding some 5,000 cultures representing an average of 800 species of higher plants and bryophytes in vitro. In addition it holds several species as cryo-preserved plant tissues and numerous samples of orchid seeds. Kew’s DNA Bank, established in the Jodrell Laboratory in 1992, contains some 24,000 samples of highly stable DNA from a wide range of world's plant species.
Fungal in vitro / cultures / cryo-preserved - The Mycology Collections include a facility with c. 1,000 fungal cultures (mainly wood-rotting basidiomycetes) which has been established over the last decade. The Micropropagation Laboratory also holds in vitro and cryo-preserved collections of those fungi involved in mycorrhizal associations with orchids (100 accessions).
Documentary and Visual Reference Collections – These primarily support research, both of RBG Kew and of visiting scientists, while the Illustrations and Photographic Collections are also used for commercial purposes.
Library - The Library, whose main collections and Preservation Unit are housed within Wing D of the Herbarium complex, was founded in 1852 and thereafter was greatly enhanced by presentations from George Bentham (1854) and Sir William Hooker (1866). It is a global collection of botanical literature, totalling some 316,000 items including 140,000 monographs, 4,000 periodical titles, 140,000 pamphlets/separata and 11,000 sheet maps. Specialist branch library collections are found in the Jodrell Laboratory, School of Horticulture, Banks Building and Seed Conservation Department.
Archives - The archives comprise collections of hand-written, rather than printed material relating to the history of RBG Kew from the 1840s onwards, and the letters and other private papers of retired and former staff (totalling 4,600 collections and over 7 million sheets). The archives also house many manuscript itineraries and field notes (e.g. R. Spruce).
Illustrations Collections - These are ancillary to, and housed together with, the Herbarium and Library collections and amount to 200,000 prints and drawings - mainly plant portraits.
Photographic Collections - Photographic images, whether on paper or digitised, are part of the Herbarium holdings (c. 100,000, mainly plants and habitats), Information Services Department (c. 100,000, mainly photographs of the gardens, people, plants) and Centre for Economic Botany (5,000).
Relevance – Well curated collections are the foundation on which all Kew's work on plant diversity is built. Voucher specimens are also vital to accurate communication about plants. Specific societal needs served by the collections (rather than via survey, inventory, identification and other activities based upon them) include national heritage functions (library and archives, national collections of certain botanical groups, [e.g. UK fungi, four NCCPG genera], education at all levels (including capacity building in curation and other collection techniques), data repatriation, systematic and ethnobotanical research, medicine, conservation, and amenity uses.
Much of Kew's collection work is impacted by the Convention on Biological Diversity and this is likely to increase in the future. Kew's policy is to abide by the spirit, not only the letter, of the CBD. Numerous projects involving data repatriation and capacity building have been undertaken using Kew funds and also via the Darwin Initiative. Close compliance with CBD policies is especially crucial in relation to the ex situ conservation collections of genetic resources found in the Seed Bank, Living Collections and DNA bank.
Kew's collections comprise a huge educational resource and are used daily at many levels – from primary school to post-doctoral scholars. The collections underpin Kew's public education strategy, and the living collections in particular demonstrate the wonder and vast variety of plant life. Interpretation efforts seek to explain the importance of this diversity to our daily lives, as well as our responsibility to future generations to conserve and use plant diversity in sustainable ways.
At a more advanced level, all of Kew's preserved collections are used as research tools, providing data to advance scientific understanding of plant and fungal diversity. The collections are increasingly recognised as important international research facilities and we are working with partners in Europe – through the Committee on European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) to establish this principle within Europe. Some of Kew's collections also fulfil important legal functions – for example as evidence in the case of material seized under CITES by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.
Connections to Other Kew Programmes – Collections are fundamental to the plant diversity research undertaken at Kew, including particularly research (baseline plant diversity research, comparative plant biology, sustainable utilisation) and conservation (in situ, ex situ techniques). Living collections are especially important for supporting Kew’s Visitor Experience and Education programmes; Economic Botany Collections also support these through the Plants and People exhibition and through the provision of materials for display. The collections are also the basis for a range of critical income generating activities such as visitor-related income, licensing of Kew designs, reproductions of illustrations, and many other initiatives.
Collections Strengths – The strengths of Kew's collections lie in their comprehensiveness, diversity and high levels of use, relative to other collections of international scope. They are particularly rich in nomenclatural types and historical specimens and are generally of a very high quality (including high standards of curation and documentation). The inherent value of the collections is increased enormously by the expertise of associated staff (including affiliated researchers and students) and also by the intellectual input of visitors and other users. The Kew collections also have an unparalleled international reputation for excellence and form the hub of much networking with colleagues both nationally and internationally.
Key Objective
Build the quality of Kew's collections and encourage access by others, so as to maximise their use and increase their scientific, utilitarian and conservation value.
Measure of success:
· Total access to behind-the-scenes collections
Strategy for Collections – A cornerstone of Kew's science strategy for the future must be to ensure that our unique assets are safeguarded, developed and – most importantly –used, and this applies particularly to our collections. In order to safeguard the collections and increase their use Kew must place greater value on curatorial activity and training. In order to accomplish this we must broaden the experience base of our collection staff and provide an enhanced career structure with opportunities for appropriate development, while at the same time ensuring that curation is not disassociated from research where there are benefits of synergy. We must also ensure that appropriate collections facilities are available and encourage a greater emphasis on curatorial activities that are specifically targeted to increase the use of the collection.
Actions 2006-2011
To help meet our objectives the following general actions have been agreed for the period 2006-2011. More specific actions are set out in the science team documents
· Continue preparations to publish a guide to the Kew Collections on the website as a first step to a Handbook including elements on all the major collections, their history and development, current content and curation, with profiles of important collectors and references to further sources of information.
· Continue to encourage staff making collections in the field to include a sample dried in silica gel, a sample for the Spirit Collection and, if applicable, a wood sample for each gathering made so as to facilitate subsequent analyses.
· Complete detailed planning for the extension to the Herbarium and Library & Archive building to accommodate Herbarium and Library & Archives collections.
· Prepare for a major reorganization of the Herbarium and Library & Archive collections and then implement the reorganisation once the extension to the Herbarium and Library & Archive building has been completed.
· Move the Mycology Library into the Jodrell extension and move and amalgamate into one sequence Library collections in Palynology, Economic Botany and the previous Jodrell extension.
· Continue to add examples of botanical art by artists unrepresented in the collections.
· Maintain and enhance curation skills and the development of regional plant identification and survey expertise.
· Increase the focus on users of Kew's collections by improving understanding of user needs.
· Aid access to collections, either on site or remotely by IT solutions (a range of non-mutually exclusive options will be offered, relating to increasing databased information, better cross-sectoral information management, avoiding duplicated effort, converting information collected for internal management purposes to benefit external users etc).
· Improve access by the general public to the behind-the-scenes collections through the development of the extension to the Herbarium and Library & Archive building and by instituting tours of the Herbarium and Jodrell Laboratory, to be led by volunteer guides.
· Take a more comprehensive view of Kew's image collections and explore the potential use of the photographic (transparency slide) collections for publishing and merchandising, purposes for which paintings and line-drawings have been used extensively in the past.