Living World II

Herbarium

A herbarium is a collection of plants, which have been dried, pressed and mounted on herbarium sheets, identified and classified according to some approved system of classification. Most countries possess their own plant collections (herbaria). The greatest herbarium of the world is at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Eng1an9. The biggest herbarium of our country is at the Indian Botanic garden, Calcutta, possessing about one million specimens.

The details of structure and development of a plant cannot be studied by means of drawings and photographs. Most comparative studies for taxonomic purposes are made in the herbarium and laboratories. The newly collected specimens are identified by the comparison of their morphology and the morphology of plants stored in the herbarium.

Various instruments used are:

a.  Field note book: It is the most important instrument of plant collection. It is a small note pad in which the relevant data like, locality, ecological point, habits etc of the plant are noted down.

b.  Small instrument Kit: This consists of needles, a razor blade, a magnifier, and a pair of forceps.

c.  Digging and scraping instruments: These are used when small plants are to be digging out or when some Bryophytes or Lichens are to be scraped out.

d.  Vasculum:  A special metallic box - for keeping plants for several hours before bringing them to laboratory.

e.  Plant Press: There are various kinds. These are used for pressing plants that are to be put on to a herbarium sheet. The most widely used press is one which is made up of wooden plank.

a.    Drying sheets: These are special absorbant paper which are used to dry specimen.

Disinfecting and Mounting

The dried specimens are treated with poisonous solution a precaution against fungal and insect infections. Eg. Mercuric bichloride is the most widely used poison.

Mounting of specimen needs special skill and experience. Specimens are pasted to standard herbarium sheets. The glue is spread over a glass plate, the specimen is then placed over it with face uppermost, it is then removed and kept on to the herbarium sheet. A newspaper sheet is placed over it to remove excess of glue. Such mounted sheets are placed one over the other and a plank is placed over it for proper fixing.

Storage of Herbarium Sheets

The herbarium sheets are better stored in a special room. The sheets are stored in wooden or steel shelves containing pigeon holes of describable size. These are arranged according to a well-known taxonomic system. In India BENTHAM and HOOKER'S system of classification is followed. These are arranged family wise, within family genera wise and the genus species wise. 

Zoological Park

Zoological parks are public institutions where wild animals are exhibited for promoting interest, love and awareness among the people. There are more than 300 zoological parks in India. The main aim of such parks is to increase public interest and understanding of wild life. It also provides recreation and education. Now-a-days zoos are also involved in the conservation of endangered species. Protection of wild life from extinction requires conservation of natural habitats and ecosystems, and captive breeding of species.

A zoo generally keeps mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and arthropods. It includes lion, tiger, leopards, elephants, wolves, foxes, camels, giraffes, horses, zebras, asses, rhinoceros, deer, mountain goats, sheep, kangaroo and many more. Aquatic animals are also displayed in artificial ponds or watercourses. Zoos in foreign countries show dolphins and seals in big tanks.

Zoological parks undertake many other activities such as animal rides, animal shows, film shows, adoption of animals, research and training.

Delhi zoo and Chhat Bir zoological park, Punjab are famous zoological parks of India.

Biological Museums.

Biological museums have collection of preserved plant and animal specimens for study and reference. Specimens are preserved in containers or jars in preservative solution, insect boxes or as dry specimens. Objects exhibited in museums include stuffed animals, stuffed heads, preserved animals, skeleton, bird's beak, eggs of rare species or extinct birds, shells, tusks, fossils etc.