The Museum of Natural Sciences (MCN) of the Zoobotanical Foundation of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), founded in 1955, is the state museum housing collections representative of southern Brazil's living and fossil biotas. To enhance objective action toward preservation of these natural resources by the government, the museum staff devised and inaugurated in 1983 a data bank, BDA, based on the MCN scientific collections, but located at the State Data Processing Agency. Computer terminals operating inside the Museum allow for sixteen access keys to the BDA, thus converting the MCN collections into effective tools for regional impact assessment and conservation planning.