The most salient material factor discussed in this post would be the difference between “resource-rich and resource-constrained institutions and researchers.” But this should not be understood as the presence or absence of “natural resources.” It is more so about how certain resources (“natural” or social) are differentially valued at different times and different places, as well as the sociotechnical systems that have been developed to extract/capture/harness, transport, distribute, and use these resources.
The “natural” stores of data, being the local flora and fauna, were being lost to development. The project of preserving a record of California’s wildlife, as well as type of analysis Grinnell was attempting to undertake, would require droves of meticulously prepared specimen. The labor-intensive process of trapping, recording, transporting, and preserving specimens required a considerably large and diverse labor force. Decomposition presented itself as a formidable enemy to recording and preserving this data.
AO: The authors talk about how lack of lab materials, etc. may incentivize greater collaboration in certain fields.
AO: unequal funding (Northern funding is much more prolific and then sets the agenda for the project).