Responding to severe budget cuts over the past several
years, UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography is introducing an opportunity
to support its oceanographic collections by allowing donors to name newly
discovered marine life.
The institution houses many of the most important libraries
of ocean specimens in the world, and scientists worldwide reference the Scripps
Oceanographic Collections. Collections staff and researchers discover new
species of marine creatures every year.
Names selected by donors will be introduced in scientific
publications that permanently establish the new species. There are currently
several organisms in the collections available for naming, starting at $5,000.
Donors will also receive a framed print of their species along with a copy of
the subsequent scientific publication.
Funds raised will be used to help maintain and expand the
collections for future generations of scientists.