Six large campus biological collections with millions of specimens -- including fossils, insects and the largest assemblage in the world of tiny worms called nematodes -- are now protected under the auspices of the new UC Davis 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 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." The new center will seek outside funding sources through grants, fees and rates in order to better support and maintain the collections. The collections help researchers in the scientific field of biosystematics to study the physical and genetic relationships among past and present living things and is considered especially valuable now for issues in conservation biology and biodiversity.