Natural science collections produced by marine environmental research: From sample to the web

Collections of marine organisms were gathered during environmental research projects carried out by the National Research Council of Italy-Marine Sciences Institute (CNR-ISMAR) in venice, in marine and estuarine habitats of the North Adriatic Sea. Sediment cores were extracted to investigate the venice lagoon subsidence. The need to organize and make accessible natural science collections led to the drawing up of a practice guideline to conserve and digitize them. The practice guideline describes the steps of a "multidisciplinary" methodological path from the study of the samples to their networking on the ISMAR repository "Archivio di Studi Adriatici" (ASA). The path includes: laboratory activities (maintenance and setting up of collections, taxonomic study), organization of ancillary collections, analysis of functional traits through bibliographic research, data organization through biodiversity informatics. following this path, the collection is organized as a valuable tool for research, knowledge, training, education and conservation of biodiversity and is also a bridge between scientific community and citizens.