As more and more amateur ornithology projects are including population genetics, or, institutions rely on amateur bird ringers/ornithologists to collect samples, I though it might be useful to have specimen storage clarified.
So, given what is available to those of us who don't have access to a lab supplies, how is it best to store biological specimens collected in the field and what makes a good preservative?
There are stories of vodka and orange juice being used where ethanol isn't available...
Don't use chemicals for the storage of feathers. This will damage your material. Store feathers at a relative humidity of 45-55% RH, temperature of 15-23 degrees Celcius, visible light levels of less than 50 lux and UV radiation of less than 75 μW/lumen.
I have a book chapter I have written on the preventive conservation of natural history collections, but it is in Greek. If there is a way you can read it I can send it to you.
It only makes sense to store feathers if you wish to extract dna from them. If so, to avoid too much contamination, put feather samples (growing feathers have the most dna) in clean ziploc bags and freeze them. As Evangelia says, do not use chemicals as they are likely to denature your dna...
When you want to make a DNA purification it is O.K. ethyl alcohol, some time feather with ectoparasites or lice eggs an ethyl alcohol suitable material, otherwise, not benefit for other study.
If you want the material for DNA/RNA extraction, it is always advisable to keep it in pure or 96% alcohol. For feather preservation you have to google or do it the way my previous friends comment.
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