BERAU HERBARIUM

� Termites and ants
Apart from insects and fungi like moulds and mildew, only mites, mice and rats are of
significant importance.
Detection
Regular visual inspection is needed to detect the evidence of damage. The best place to
check are families like Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Ericaceae and other plants which
contain latex, as insect pests are known to be naturally attracted to them.
Prevention
Minimise insect access to the building. Fit fine screens on entry points to the building.
Close doors and windows carefully. Avoid bringing living material and food to the storage
room.
Fumigation of herbarium rooms and cabinets and poisoning specimens is believed to be
valuable in many herbaria in providing relatively long-term protection against insect attack.
However, the chemicals used are usually very poisonous to people and so are not
recommended here.
Figure 20: Deep freezer for
decontamination of specimens from
insects
The Berau herbarium instead decontaminates specimens
using deep-freezing (figure 20), a safe and reliable
alternative. This method has been used very successfully in
the last decade in Wanariset in combination with a fully air
conditioned room.
The freezer unit should be a standard, branded name, topopening
domestic chest freezer. The temperature should go
below –18 o C. Make sure that at least 6 boxes can be
packed to give maximum space economy.
Specimens should be frozen, sealed in the freezer, for a 72hour
total period.
The freezer should be maintained. Ice build-up in the
tropics is usually high, so it is recommended to defrost the
freezer at relatively short intervals, especially if it is run
under particularly high moisture conditions.
Once a month the herbarium storage room should be sprayed with a commercial insecticide
to repel ants and other insects outside the racks and boxes as these can cause considerable
damage.
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