Data submitted by workshop attendees in 2003 are shown in Table 1 and summarized below.

1. Staff time per sample is generally in the range of 10 to 20 minutes. A sample (or lot) consists of specimens of a single taxon, usually a species, that resulted from a single collecting event.
   
   
2. Material costs range from $0.20 to $3.00 per sample. This depends largely on the size and number of specimens in the samples. In the table, cost is for a single vial unless otherwise stated. Tissue and frozen samples are less expensive on a per vial basis because of their small size, but if sample is split into aliquots, costs of supplies and storage increase linearly, but labor costs per vial decrease.
   
   
3. Equipment costs for dry and wet collections depend on the typical body size of taxa and on how the collection is housed (standard steel shelving versus custom-made cabinets; compactorized or not). Range was $0.22 to $3.00 per sample.
   
   
4. Maintenance costs of samples range from negligible to $0.17 per sample per year. This includes staff time to check the integrity of samples (for example topping off fluid in ethanol perserved collections), service contracts on equipment, and, for -80°C collections, periodic replacement of compressors and freezers. In general, dry collections (slide, whole specimens, or freeze-dried tissues) were least expensive, then fluid, then frozen at -80°C, then storage in liquid nitrogen.
   
   
5. Cost of maintenance of space, including climate control, lighting, cleaning, repairs, etc., was $80 to $110 per square meter per year for the three institutions that could provide this information. For the purposes of estimating costs, $100 per square meter per year is reasonable.
   
   
6. Total costs to house specimen collections in perpetuity range from about $5 to $24 per sample (excluding marine mammals and histological preparation of flatworms). This is based on labor costs of $25/hour, and multiplies annual costs by 20, which approximates a permanent endowment yielding 5% income.