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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mysticete" data-source="post: 1581547" data-attributes="member: 67784">Specimen based research is still a very important part of science today.  Reasons for collecting include.Having a specimen to collect additional DNA samples from should further analysis be needed, as well as something to double check if samples were mixed up (does happen), etc.Access to material for stable isotope studies.a skin can provide useful data that a photograph can't for Morphometric studiesAccess to skeletal materialMost importantly, a voucher to prove the existence of a bird should it go extinct or lost, and allowing future researchers access to material.  Also we don't really know what future research scientists might be interested in.  Thirty years ago no one would have considered collecting material for isotope analysis or DNA analysis.  Whose to say that some new technique won't come along in future which also requires access to specimens?Honestly, the loss of a few individuals shouldn't harm a population.  My own research interests lie in marine mammal systematics and ecology, and I can say that if museum specimens didn't exist, I wouldn't be able to to carry out a single chapter of research in my dissertation.</blockquote>