Spain

The Royal Botanic Garden of Madrid houses the largest herbarium in Spain and is one of the most representatives in Europe. The MA-Herbarium comprises 1,3 million specimens organized according to standardized classification systems, being represented all groups of plants (Algae, Bryophytes, Lichens, Fungi, and Vascular plant) especially coming from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as type specimens of Ibero-American plants coming from historical scientific expeditions. It houses also special collections (fluid preserved specimens, gymnosperm cones, fruits and seeds, wood samples, etc.). Collections are available to researchers from around the world, who access these collections on a regular basis, in situ or through GBIF.

The Museum of Zoology is part of the Science Museum of the UNAV. It was established more than 30 years ago and has been responsible for ensuring the conservation of research material produced by the departments of Zoology and Ecology; currently integrated in the Department of Environmental Biology (AMBIUN). It comprises around 2 million specimens, mostly coming from research projects and donations, much of them digitized in databases. AMBIUN gives free access over the internet to the information of more than 230,000 of its registrations thanks to GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

The PAMP-Herbarium is part of the Science Museum of the UNAV. It was developed by the Botany Department; currently integrated in the Department of Environmental Biology (AMBIUN) of the Faculty of Sciences. It houses two main collections, one of Bryophytes and another of Vascular plants. The collection of Bryophytes reaches about 25,000 specimens, and the Vascular plants is close to 100,000 sheets. Most of the material comes from the collections made by researchers from the Department, and from the result of doctoral thesis carried out in the Statutory Community. The Herbarium is an institutional member of the Ibero-Macaronesian Herbarium Association.

The Geominero Museum houses significant collections of minerals, rocks and fossils, with around 111,000 specimens, whose information is available through the IGME Website. Mainly, museum collections come from all Spanish regions and former colonial territories, although there are also specimens from other significant sites of the world. Geominero Museum is the official repository of polar geological samples (fossils, minerals, rocks and water) resulting from the Spanish Polar Research Programme, and includes the National Polar Data Center (CNDP). Both the repository and the CNDP respond to international regulations, in particular to those emanating from the Antarctic Treaty System and to the recommendations of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), as well as that of the Spanish Polar Committee.

UCM Faculty of Biology

The Faculty of Biology (UCM) houses the Entomology Collection (UCME), the MACB- Herbarium, a “Museum of Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrate Animals” (MACV) and “the Ethnobotanical Collection”. Together gather more than 4.1 million specimens of botany and zoology. The UCME stands out with more than 4 million, being worth highlighting the extensive collections of Diptera, Coleoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, Heteroptera and Oribatid Mites. UCME is particularly rich in European and Iberian fauna, but also in tropical fauna of South American. The MACB-Herbarium also stands out with 125,000. 75 per cent of this collection corresponds to vascular plants from the Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands and North Africa area, although it also includes some remarkable collections of lichens and bryophytes. Information about some collections is already available through GBIF.

UCM Faculty of Geology

The Faculty of Geology (UCM) hosts important scientific collections of fossils (“Paleontological Collections”) and geology (“the Mineral Collection”) and a “Museum of Geology”.  The most relevant are the “Paleontological collections”, in the Paleontology Department, which includes well preserved fossils of invertebrates, vertebrates and plants. Collections’ access is restricted to researchers; however, some pieces are exhibited to the public in the gallery of the department. The Department of Crystallography and Mineralogy exhibits “the Mineral Collection” for educational purposes, where minerals and rocks are sorted by groups depending on their chemical nature. The “Museum of Geology” brings together an important exhibition of minerals, rocks and fossils.

UCM Faculty of Pharmacy

The Faculty of Farmacy (UCM) houses four collections (the MAF-Herbarium, a Mineral Collection, the Historical Collection of Pharmacognosy, and the Professor Gómez Pamo’s Vegetable Histological Collection), which gather 201,390 vouchers of botany and mineralogy. MAF-Herbarium stands out with 200,000 plant folds mainly from the Iberian Peninsula. The collection is organized by three different criteria: taxonomic groups (1-Seaweeds, 2-Fungi, 3-Lichens, 4-Moss, 5-Ferns), biogeographical peculiarities (6-Neotropical Plants: South America) and historical background (7-Pourret Herbarium). Information about some collections is already available through GBIF.

UCM Faculty of Medicine

The Faculty of Medicine (UCM) houses two museums (the Javier Puerta Museum of Anatomy and Museum of Medical and Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology and Criminalistics), which gather 3,300 vouchers of anthropology. The “Javier Puerta Museum of Anatomy” includes bone collections of different stages of prenatal and postnatal life, among which more than a thousand skulls of a Crania Collection, of an anthropological nature. The “Museum of Medical and Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology and Criminalistics” includes an important collection of skulls that can be accessed by researchers who request them for the purpose of carrying out scientific work.

UV Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum of the University of Valencia is an institution dedicated to the conservation and research of the natural world that came about by bringing together the historical and new collections of the School of Biological Sciences, the old UV Museum of Geology and several legacies to the University. The collections comprise more than 2.5 million items relating to biology, zoology, paleontology, geology and mineralogy, being also repository for natural sciences specimens. Specimens come mainly from Iberian Peninsula, Canary Islands, Mediterranean Area, Mediterranean Sea, and Northern and Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Collections are available to researchers from around the world, who can access them in situ or through GBIF and the Biodiversity Databank of the Generalitat Valenciana.

UV Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia is a living museum dedicated to the conservation and research of plants. The more than 5,000 species of plants it houses are preserved through three types of collections: live plants, in the outdoor garden with around 50,000 specimens; seeds and spores, in the germplasm bank (around 5,000 samples); and plant folds, in the VAL-Herbarium. The Germplasm Bank manages also the carpospermatheca, with around 5,000 samples more. The VAL-Herbarium came about by bringing together the old herbariums of the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Pharmacy with the Garden’s own, housing over 275,000 vouchers, especially coming from the eastern half of the Iberian Peninsula, in particular the Valencia region and the Iberian System mountain range. Collections are available to researchers from around the world.

The Natural Science Museum of Barcelona is an institution founded over 140 years ago whose natural heritage collections comprise more than 3 million specimens. These collections include plants, lichens, fungi, animals, sounds, fossils, minerals and rocks, collected and preserved thanks to the efforts of naturalists and collectors, institutions and private individuals, as well as the constant work of scientists to achieve a better understanding of biological reality and geological history. These collections are of particular scientific importance and are essential for taxonomic and systematic research, being reference collections that bring together a high diversity of species from Catalonia and the rest of the world, and containing many type specimens. We generate and share knowledge on the diversity and evolution of the natural world with the aim of helping to conserve it and create a society that is better informed, more closely connected and more responsible where nature is concerned.

The CEAB focuses its research on the Ecology and Biology of aquatic organisms, both in marine and continental systems, to identify their diversity and understand their functions and interactions in nature. This knowledge is then applied to the rational and sustainable use and management of our planet’s resources, as well as to predict responses to environmental modifications. To this end, the CEAB uses approaches ranging from organisms biochemical and genetic composition to population and ecosystem structure and dynamics and theoretical ecology. The centre currently houses collections of rotifers and crustaceans from Pyrenean lakes, entomology (Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera), marine invertebrates (mainly sponges, polychaetes and crustaceans), and it is also working to incorporate bacterioplankton and diatoms from Pyrenean lakes.

The collections at Doñana Biological Station (EBD – CSIC), currently houses more than 120,000 catalogued specimens, most of which are vertebrates. The collections are part of the ICTS that runs the Doñana Biological Reserve, facilitating the linking of ecological processes and changes to material in the Collections. The Collections include over 10,000 vertebrate species from around the world, with particular strengths in Spain, north and west Africa, central and South America. These resources are available to national and international researchers and educators under the guidelines of the ICTS. 

The ICM conducts frontier research and foster knowledge and technology transfer on topics related to ocean and climate interactions, conservation and sustainable use of marine life and ecosystems, as well as impact mitigation of natural and anthropogenic hazards. The Marine Biological Reference Collections (CBMR) host marine specimens from Protista to Animalia, being fish, crustaceans, cephalopods and echinoderms, the most abundant groups. They comprise near 2500 species, with 200 type specimens, and over 7000 fish otholits from all over the world, mainly from the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Facilities are provided to identify, perform research, catalogue, preserve and deposit marine organisms. The Geological Collections include > 1700 marine sediment cores, ~13.000 seafloor superficial samples and >250.000 km in seismic profiles. They represent a scientific heritage and greatly enhance their secondary use for many other geomarine and environmental studies. Collections are available to researchers from around the world, in situ and through GBIF. 

The IEO is a public research organization dedicated to research in marine science, especially in relation to scientific knowledge of the oceans, sustainability of fishing resources and the marine environment.

It has, nine coastal oceanographic centers, five plants of experimentation of marine cultures and an oceanographic fleet with more than twenty vessels. Four of these centers have Reference Marine Collections (CMR): Crustacean Collection of the Cadiz Oceanographic Center (CRUST-IEOCD), Marine Fauna of the Malaga O.C. (CFM-IEOMA), Marine Fauna of the Canarias O.C. (CFM-IEOCA) y Sponges of the Gijon O.C. The collections that participate in DissCo providing open collection service are: Crustacean Collection (CRUST-IEOCD), located in Cádiz (Spain), and the Marine Fauna Collection (CFM-IEOCA), located in Tenerife (Spain). The CRUST-IEOCD housed crustacean specimens from African and European Waters, and the CFM-IEOCA, invertebrate and vertebrates’ species from the Atlantic Ocean. 

The Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies is a joint research center between the CSIC and the University of the Balearic Islands whose main mission is to transfer scientific knowledge to society and advance in the understanding of the environmental processes that affect our planet and its habitants. With more than 200.000 specimens, the IMEDEA naturalistic collection represent a large component of the living and extinct fauna of the Balearic Islands. Outstanding sections of the IMEDEA collection include fossil vertebrates, insects, otoliths, crustaceans and osteology of living vertebrates. Access to the collections is open to both internal researchers and external institutions, including for outreach activities and can be consulted at GBIF, Taxo&Map and Pollinators of the Balearic Islands.

The Institute de Aquaculture Torre de la Sal (IATS) has been active in the field of Marine Aquaculture since 1979. It’s the only CSIC center devoted entirely to aquaculture research, including research lines in fish nutrition, health and welfare, reproduction, as well as biodiversity and sustainability in cultured species. This activity is often carried out in close collaboration with other national and international entities to provide services to attend the biotechnological needs of the aquaculture sector and anticipate future demands, to assess stakeholders in aquaculture related issues, to train qualified specialists, and to promote scientific and technological culture in aquaculture. In the IATS-CSIC, it is maintained a collection of 730 cyst (dormant egg) samples of the different species included in the genus Artemia (Crustacea, Branchiopoda).

The Institute of Marine Sciences of Andalusia (ICMAN) is a public research institute devoted to investigations in marine environment: biodiversity, ecotoxicology, biogeochemistry, oceanic dynamics, remote sensing or aquaculture. The Marine Microalgal Culture Collection (CCMM) of the ICMAN was created in the middle 70’s of XX century by Professor Luis Lubián. Currently comprises around three hundred microalgal strains from ten taxonomic Classes. This Collection has been, for years, a key tool for researchers from many different research centres (from CSIC, universities or autonomic and foreign research organisms), teachers (at academic level, high school, vocational training or even in primary studies), and professionals in the field of aquaculture and to particular people interested in microalgal culturing.

The Experimental Station of Arid Zones (EEZA) develops research on arid ecosystems, desertification, evolutionary ecology and species conservation are carried out. The Collections service houses approximately 170.000 specimens among the ALME Herbarium and the collections of entomology, herpetology, ornithology, mammals and ungulates. The collection of ungulates includes specimens of four endangered North African species (Gazella cuvieri, Gazella dama mhorr, Gazella dorcas and Ammotragus lervia sahariensis). These specimens come from the captive breeding program that has been carried out since 1970 at La Hoya Experimental Farm in Almería, recording both their age and the level of kinship that exists between them. The collections of ungulates, herpetology, ornithology and mammals are included in GBIF.

The collections of the University of Granada included in DiSSCo are six: the Zoology collections, including the scientific collections, with 250,000 specimens of amphibians, reptiles, fish and invertebrates and the Historical-Didactic collection, with some 1,900 specimens; the Palaeontology Museum, with some 2,200 fossils; the Herbarium, formed by two sections, the one that belonged to the Faculty of Science, with 45,000 records, and the one belonged to Pharmacy, with 58,000 records; the Museum of Minerals, with more than 3,700 samples; the Museum of Soils, with 26 soil monoliths and a collection of visu samples; and the Botanical Garden, structured in three sections: the Botanical School, the floricultural paintings and the special collections, completed with the University Botanical Garden of Sierra Nevada.

The Jardín Botánico “Viera y Clavijo”-Unidad Asociada de I+D+i al CSIC is a research division of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria devoted to the conservation of the Canarian and Macaronesian terrestrial floras through the knowledge furnished by multi-disciplinary science. It develops projects related to the origins, diversity and evolution of insular floras through six research departments (Plant Systematics, Molecular Biodiversity, Reproductive Biology and Micromorphology, Threatened Species, Seed Science, and Environmental Education and Scientific Dissemination). It hosts several banks of biological samples and data (Seed Bank, Herbarium, DNA Bank, and a Bank of Ethnobotanical Knowledge) and rich living collections focussing on Canarian and Macaronesian endemics.

The Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) was formally founded in July 2008, as a joint Institute of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). Its general mission is to promote knowledge and research excellence in evolutionary biology. The basis of the IBE, and its main peculiarity, is to address biodiversity studies describing functional and evolutionary genomics at all levels of observation: molecular, biochemical, physiological, and morphological. The IBE is the only research centre in Catalonia and Spain which completely devotes its research to Evolutionary Biology, and it is currently a reference in Southern Europe. Nowadays, IBE activity involves more than 130 people and 26 research groups distributed in 3 scientific programs related to Evolutionary Biology research.

The Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE), contributes to research on changes in terrestrial ecosystems and the organisms subject to global change, i.e., land use and climatic changes, to deliver the scientific bases for their conservation and management.

Their collections are: The Jaca Herbarium, one of the most important collections of plants in Spain, with about 400,000 specimens; the Vertebrate collection, about 5,000 specimens including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians; the historical invertebrate collection with specimens of various groups of arthropods, mainly from the Pyrenees; the Xilotheque, collection of wood samples of European conifers and hardwoods, dry tropical forests and humid temperate forests; the Palinotheque, nearly 1,500 preparations of current palynomorphs of Pyrenean and Mediterranean flora; the collection of Quaternary lake records, with more than 500 m of sediment from Spain and South America and a Speleothems repository sampled in caves from the Pyrenees.

The Faculty of Veterinary of the University Complutense of Madrid (UCM) houses the “Complutense Veterinary Museum,” whose collections are distributed throughout the Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology. The Departmental Collections include: the “Osteotheque” and the “Embryology and Teratology Collections” of the Departmental Section of Veterinary Anatomy and Embryology, which contain a large collection of bones and skeletons (articulated and disarticulated) of domestic and other species; in the Zoology Teaching Unit, the “Natural History collection” with a total of 748 specimens (naturalized birds and mammals, bird nests and eggs, mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms, fish, and reptiles); and in the Animal Health section, the collection of animal parasites, with 800 specimens of parasites from domestic and wild species; and in the section of Animal Production, the “collection of seeds” used in animal feed with 500 samples and 100 herbarium sheets of forage and pasture plants, and the “Biobank” with genetic material from domestic and wild animals with 220,000 samples.

The Botanical Institute of Barcelona (IBB) is a joint venture between the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Barcelona City Council. The second largest botanical centre in Spain, IBB stands out due to both its scientific significance and the volume of its collections.  Current botanical collections include approximately 800,000 herbarium specimens. These collections, as well as the specialised library, are part of the CSIC Library Network, which can be accessed via the Internet and is fully accessible to all interested researchers.

The IBB also holds the Salvador Cabinet, one of the few naturalist collections of the Enlightenment period still preserved. This collection includes a variety of specimens: fossils, shells, seeds, various animal and plant products and the herbarium. Holdings also include a scientific, medical and pharmaceutical library from the 16th and 18th centuries, one of the most important libraries of its kind in the world.

The CIBIO (Ibero-American Center for Biodiversity) is a research institute of the University of Alicante. The CIBIO aims to promote knowledge and excellence in research on biological diversity, promoting programs and developing tools for the protection and management of species and their habitats. 

The CIBIO has the Entomological Collection of the University of Alicante CEUA_CIBIO, with more than 1,000,000 specimens, highlighting the excellent collection of Diptera Syrphidae and Coleoptera. It also contains several historical entomological collections on loan to CIBIO, and houses more than 300 nomenclatural types that are referenced with their description and images on the CEUA website. The collection is in the process of digitization and computerization in GBIF, Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

In addition, the CIBIO institute has the Museum of Biodiversity (MUBIO), located in the town of Ibi, Alicante, where collections of vertebrates of very diverse origin are kept, as well as collections of insects that constitute the exhibition base of the museum. The specimens in the MUBIO come from material confiscated by the environmental administrative authorities, customs and foreign trade authorities and the Nature Protection Service of the Guardia Civil (SEPRONA).

The Scientific Collections Research Center of the University of Almería (CECOUAL) was established in July 2015 and was recognized by the Regional Government of Andalusia in 2018 as the first regional collections center. This center houses scientific collections of animal groups, fungi, lichens, and plants and their traces, geological and edaphological resources, fossils, etc. The geological collections consist of rocks, minerals, fossils, and sands. The zoological collections consist of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, arthropods, and fish. The main plant collection is the Herbarium of the University of Almería (HUAL), which also has collections of fruits, seeds, lichens, and fungi. It also has a germplasm bank and living collections in the form of themed botanical gardens and naturalized water points around the University of Almería campus, where some of these collections are also partially exhibited in a Natural History Pavilion. The specimens registered at CECOUAL are used in two different lines of research: one scientific (taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, conservation and climate change, research on flora, fauna, fungi, and geology in Andalusia), and the other educational and aimed at disseminating information to society. CECOUAL has more than 50 people associated with it, including more than 25 researchers from the University of Almería and more than 30 collaborators.

The Multidisciplinary Center for Balearic Biodiversity (CMB) is a scientific infrastructure of the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB), established to consolidate, promote, and support research on the biodiversity of the Balearic Islands. It is designed to host, preserve, manage, and enhance reference scientific collections related to the biodiversity and natural heritage of the archipelago.

It currently includes zoological, botanical, geological, as well as tissue and DNA collections. The CMB acts as a central hub for scientific data and resources, providing the institutional, technical, and scientific framework necessary to ensure the long-term preservation of these collections, as well as their accessibility for research, teaching, knowledge transfer, and scientific outreach.

As a university infrastructure, the CMB integrates facilities for the conservation of collections together with various analytical equipment supporting research, including genetic and genomic technologies. In this way, the CMB contributes to advancing knowledge of Balearic and Mediterranean biodiversity.