Rescuing a heritage treasure: the herbarium of the INRAE ASTRO research unit

History :

Created by Jacques Fournet (a weed scientist at INRA) in the 1970s, it contains around 15,000 plates, corresponding to over 2,500 species found in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and almost 700 boxes of insects, representing a very large proportion of local biodiversity.
Its inclusion in the Index Herbariorum, a worldwide directory of herbaria, thanks to the e-RecolNat project, will provide direct access to this herbarium for scientists all over the world.

Fire and rescue :

The old dehumidifier in the collection room caught fire and engulfed everything around it. Fortunately, the room is airtight, so the fire smothered itself. Despite this, the fire released thick smoke that deposited soot everywhere.
The rescue of the collections involved a dozen INRAE staff and was carried out in several phases: dusting of soot from each herbarium box and entomological box, transfer to an air-conditioned room to preserve the integrity of the specimens, cleaning of the room and, finally, reintegration into the original room with a new air-conditioning system.

The future :

Following the restructuring of the center's real estate, a new collection room has been built. The herbarium will soon be able to be moved, after cold disinfection, i.e. storage for a week in a container at -20°C. It will soon be included in the certification perimeter of the CRB Plantes Tropicales Antilles. It is currently at the heart of negotiations to set up a partnership between the INRAE Antilles-Guyane center and the new conservatoire botanique des îles de Guadeloupe.

Contacts :

• Anne-Marie Toussaint ;  Marie Umber