Six large biological collections with millions of specimens at the University of California, Davis -- including fossils, insects and the largest assemblage in the world of tiny worms called nematodes -- are now protected under the auspices of the campus's new Center for Biosystematics. Used extensively in teaching, research and public service, many of these collections had been suffering due to budget cuts and three years of early retirements by faculty members. The campus faced the potential loss of some collections and a deterioration in the documentation and care of others. The new center will seek outside funding sources through grants, fees and rates in order to better support and maintain the collections, which help researchers in the scientific field of biosystematics to study the physical and genetic relationships among past and present living things. Used for teaching and other purposes, this information is considered especially valuable now for issues in conservation biology and biodiversity. "The loss or destruction of biological collections on university campuses is a major issue across the country," according to recently named center director Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology and director of the R.M. Bohart Museum of Entomology on campus. "This type of program hasn't been done before and, if it works well, it will be a model for other places. It is a new system for funding and protection of collections, as well as for increasing their use." Collections to be protected include fossils, plants, animals, yeasts, genetic material, anthropological items, the ninth largest collection of insects in North America, and the largest collection of nematodes in the world. The entomology collection alone is used by approximately 600 UC Davis students and 5,000 students of all ages in the region each year, as well as by nearly 100 campus, national and international researchers, including those studying agricultural and pest-related problems or doing basic research in population genetics. Entomology museum staff members each week receive numerous public-service questions, such as "Is this bug something to worry about?" or "Will this make me sick?" The new Center for Biosystematics aims to improve use of the six major campus collections. Eventually, the center hopes to link an estimated 100 campus-based biological collections. A toll number for call-in queries has been proposed, with money raised from the service to be used for student internships. Also, the center plans to make the collections accessible online; a World Wide Web home page with collections data, listings of specialists and digitized images is under consideration. "Collections and systematics have been given priority on campus because of emerging molecular techniques for systematics studies and the growing concerns over biodiversity," says Mark McNamee, dean of the campus biological sciences division and chair of the administrative council that recommended creation of the center. The need for a solution to guarantee the survival of the campus's valuable biological collections emerged from a study sponsored by the campus-based Genetic Resources Conservation Program.