The Danish Environmental Specimen Bank--status of establishment

In 1988 the Ministry of Environment, Denmark appointed a committee with the purpose of investigating the need for and the requirements of a Danish Environmental Specimen Bank. The purpose of the Danish Specimen Bank will be to collect and store samples from the Danish environment in order to make retrospective studies.

The sampling strategy is to select various biotopes and from each biotope to sample at least one species of plant, one species of invertebrate and one species of vertebrate. Six basic types including all fourteen subdivisions of biotopes were selected. Seven species of plants, four species of invertebrates and eleven species of vertebrates were selected.

The number of biotic samples in all will be 119 every second year. No abiotic sampling strategy has yet been selected. Samples will be stored in containers cooled with liquid nitrogen, to preserve them for at least 50-100 years. The capital investment and the annual operating cost for the Danish Specimen Bank are estimated to 2,500,000 DKr. (350,000 $US) and 550,000 DKr. (70,000 $US), respectively.