Endangered Species Day
May 17, 2019
Every year the third Friday in May is Endangered Species Day. Take this opportunity to learn about animals and plants at risk of extinction and the importance of protecting endangered species and their habitats. Explore The Hand Lens of the NYBG Herbarium website featuring endangered species and read about the precious plants that are in dire needs of conservation attention.
Endless Forms featured in Popular Science
Endless Forms was featured in the magazine Popular Science. Learn more about the project and take a first glimpse of some of the fascinating forms from a diverse taxa!
Plant Diversity and Conservation Internship Opportunities for High School Students
May 20 – June 13, 2019
Endless Forms will provide internship opportunities to high school students to carry out conservation assessments for selected species. In summer of 2019, a small group of high school students will join our team at NY to photograph and gather data from specimens, and enter the data they create in a computerized geographical information system (GIS). Under the guidance of the project staff, the students will then use the GIS program to perform calculations that will indicate whether or not the species is rare, and thus at risk of extinction. Interns will write up their results and present their conservation assessments at the end of the internship. Stay tuned for their reports!
Symposium on Sensitive Species and Data Use
May 2020
This grant will fund a symposium on the use of collections data titled Ethical Use of Natural History Specimen Collection Information. We will invite speakers representing a variety of communities, including Natural History Collections (all collections types), Hobbyists, Commercial Collectors, Government Agencies, Researchers, and Conservation Managers. Participants will discuss issues on how to ethically share data of endangered species and other frequently poached object types (e.g., fossils), and draft a community guideline white paper that will help institutions make informed decisions about how to handle sensitive data, with specific recommendations for future exploration of the topic. If you would like to give a talk or have a speaker suggestion, please contact mpace@nybg.org or LLi@nybg.org