There is an urgent need to better understand how human activities are affecting biodiversity and to develop mitigation strategies for the ongoing extinction crisis. Knapp and coauthors (https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa141) presented a detailed research agenda that aims to fill gaps in ecological data and knowledge about urban biodiversity, outlining important considerations, topics, questions, and suggested approaches. We agree that this research agenda provides needed insights; however, an indispensable component of urban biodiversity research was not included: natural history collections. In the present letter, we briefly outline the value of natural history collections to urban biodiversity science and how collections can contribute to the research proposed by Knapp and colleagues.

中文翻译：

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博物馆是研究城市生物多样性的关键基础设施

迫切需要更好地了解人类活动如何影响生物多样性，并为持续的灭绝危机制定缓解战略。纳普（Knapp）和合著者（https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa141）提出了详细的研究议程，旨在填补生态数据和有关城市生物多样性的知识的空白，概述了重要的考虑因素，主题，问题和建议的方法。我们同意，该研究议程可提供所需的见解；但是，城市生物多样性研究中不可缺少的组成部分是自然历史收藏。在本信中，我们简要概述了自然历史收藏对城市生物多样性科学的价值，以及这些收藏如何对Knapp及其同事提出的研究做出贡献。