Natural history collections-based research: progress, promise, and best practices.

Specimens and associated data in natural history collections (NHCs) foster substantial scientific progress. In this paper, we explore recent contributions of NHCs to the study of systematics and biogeography, genomics, morphology, stable isotope ecology, and parasites and pathogens of mammals. To begin to assess the magnitude and scope of these contributions, we analyzed publications in the over the last decade, as well as recent research supported by a single university mammal collection (Museum of Southwestern Biology, Division of Mammals).