Curating an inclusive fungal collection

[Michael.Chamberland]

Our university has recently formed a fungi discussion group.  I presented for
them a short description of the MSC herbarium's lichenized and non-lichenized
fungi holdings.  Hopefully this will encourage use of the collections
by diverse groups (plant pathologists, ecologists, etc.), and I encouraged
them to deposit vouchers of their work.

I was approached by a faculty member working with fungal animal pathogens.
He is interested in depositing vouchers.  As far as I know, all of our
current fungal specimens are either lichens, plant pathogens, or saprophytes.
I am unsure of methods for handling and storing fungal animal pathogens, and
I am not sure if they even belong in a traditional "plant herbarium".
Certainly, a line must be drawn when it comes to fungal human pathogens.

How inclusive should be a herbarium's fungal collections?  Can animal
pathogens be preserved in an innocuous form (ie. dried agar cultures)
which can be mounted in packets and curated as herbarium sheets?

Michael Chamberland
Assistant Curator
Beal-Darlington Herbarium
Michigan State University