ColdGene will provide basic knowledge concerning the biology of threatened species. This may be the only information available for future generations on species going extinct in the future. This information may be of help in the conservation of the species. The collection enables broad scientific studies of given species.This is so because this information is stored within the species’ DNA and cell constituents. This information includes aspects of the species’ developmental biology, behaviour, ecology, evolutionary history, physiology and molecular biology. We can thus expect the collection to enable new and important knowledge on threatened species in Norway. This should also give a better understanding of how biological diversity best can be maintained, and how efficient conservation of given species should be performed.