The National Institute of Environmental Research said Wednesday it will build what it calls an "environmental sample bank" by 2010 that would preserve a large number of biological samples.

The facility will be built on 23-hundred-40 square meters of land at the institute's complex in Incheon. It will have 74 tanks capable of holding up to 400-thousand samples.

The institute has selected 14 biological species that play an important role in the natural food chain.

Research staff will gather the samples at a variety of places, taking into account local pollution levels. The samples will be preserved at extremely low temperatures.