Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:21:39.253Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Museums of natural history—do we need their collections in the time of molecular biology?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Sven Mathiasson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

All over the world natural history museums act as storehouses. Billions of creatures are preserved. Most museum visitors never see these collections; they only meet the limited specimens presented in public exhibitions. Most people seem to know little about the value of these collections and how they are used. This article presents some aspects of natural history collections and their value in scientific and other contexts.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , October 1993 , pp. 319 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. (1975) Encyclopaedia Britannica.Google Scholar
2. (1965) The American People's Encyclopedia.Google Scholar
3.Löwegren, Y. (1971) Inledning/Introduction. In B. Gullander, Olof Rudbecks Fågelbok 1693–1710. Eden Bokförlag, pp 13–15.Google Scholar
4.Griffin, D. (1990) Exhibit A. Muse, Australian Museum News and Events. 08–09. (1990) 2.Google Scholar
5.von Linné, C. (1766) Systema Naturae. Ed. XII: 99.Google Scholar
6.Mayr, E., Linsley, E. G. and Usinger, R. L. (1953) Methods and Principles of Systematic Zoology. McGraw-Hill Book Company.Google Scholar
7.May, R. M. (1988) How many species are there on the earth? Science, 241, 1441–1449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Erwin, T. L. (1991) How many species are there? Conservation Biology, 5, 1–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Darwin, C. (1859) On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. John Murray, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Huxley, J. L. (Ed.) (1940) The New Systematics. Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
11.Chiarelli, A. B. and Capana, E. (Eds.) (1973) Cytotaxonomy and Vertebrate Evolution. London.Google Scholar
12.Sibley, C. G., Ahlquist, J. E. and Monroe, B. L. Jr (1988) A classification of the living birds of the world based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies. The Auk, 105, 409–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Sibley, C. G. (1991) Phylogeny and classification of birds from DNA comparisons. Acta XX Congr. Int. Orn., Vol. I, 111–126.Google Scholar
14.Morris, P. and Cobabe, E. (1991) Cuvier meets Watson and Crick: the utility of molecules as classical homologies. Biol. J. of the Linnean Society, 44, 307–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Stensiö, E. (1925) Triassic Fishes from Spitzbergen. Wien.Google Scholar
16.Stensiö, E. (1963) The brain and the cranial nerves in fossil, lower craniate Vertebrates. D. Norske Vid.-Akad., Math.-Naturw. Kl. Ny Serie No 13, 5–120.Google Scholar
17.Jarvik, E. (1959) De tidiga fossila ryggradsdjuren. Les Theories de l'Evolution des Vertebres. Svensk Naturvetenskap, 5–80.Google Scholar
18.Wilson, A. C. and Cann, R. L. (1992) The recent african genesis of humans. Scientific American, 266, 22–27.Google ScholarPubMed
19.Thorne, A. G. and Wolpoff, M. H. (1992) The multiregional evolution of humans. Scientific American, 266, 28–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20.Houlihan, P. F. (1986) The Birds of Ancient Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press.Google Scholar
21.Ellegren, H. (1991) DNA typing of museum birds. Nature, 354, 113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Jungers, W. L. (1982) Lucy's limbs: skeletal allometry and locomotion in Australopithecus afarensis. Nature, 297, 676–678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Herbenstein, S. (1549) Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentar. p. 33.Google Scholar
24.Bojanus, L. H. (1827) De Uro nostrate ejusque sceleto, Commentatio. Nova Acta Physico-Medica Acad. Caesar. Leopold. Carolinae Naturae Curiosarum. T. XIII(II), 424.Google Scholar
25.Lagerheim, G. and von Post, L. (1916) Om skogsträdspollen i sydsvenska torfmosselagerfö ljder. Geol. För. Förh., 38, 384–390.Google Scholar
26.Libby, L. M. (1955) Radiocarbon Dating. 2nd edn.Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
27.Boschma, H. (1938) On the teeth and some other particulars of the Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus). Temminckia, 3, 151–278.Google Scholar
28.Scheffer, W. B. (1950) The use of growth layers on the teeth of Pinnipedia as an indication of age. Science, 112, 309–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29.Laws, R. M. (1952) A new method of age determination for Mammals. Nature, 169, 972–973.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Mundi, K. R. D. and Fuller, W. A. (1964) Age determination in the Grizzly Bear. General Wildlife Mgmt, 28(4), 863–869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31.Nybelin, O. (1943) Västsvenska subfossilfynd av ren, kronhjort och uroxe. Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museums Årstryck, 43, 99–117.Google Scholar
32.Fredén, C. (1984) Faunahistoriska notiser om några av Naturhistoriska museets daterade subfossila fynd. Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museums Årstryck, 84, 31–45.Google Scholar
33.Lepiksaar, J. (1973) Die Vorgeschichtlichen Haustiere Schwedens. Publ. House the Hungarian Acad. Sci., pp. 223–228.Google Scholar
34.Mathiasson, S. (1988) Uroxen (Bos primigenius) i Västsverige—ett nytt subfossilfynd från Göteborg. Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museums Årstryck, 88, 16–34.Google Scholar
35.Groombridge, B. (Ed.) (1992) Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth's Living Resources. Chapman & Hall, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36.Fisher, J. (1965) The expectation of geological life of bird species in and after the Pleistocene. A New Dictionary of Birds, p. 263.Google Scholar
37.Ehrlich, P. R. and Roughgarden, J. (1987) The Science of Ecology. Macmillan, New York and London.Google Scholar
38.Järvinen, O. and Miettinen, K. (1988) Sista paret ut. Miljöförlaget.Google Scholar
39.Fuller, E. (1987) Extinct Birds. London.Google Scholar
40.Nilsson, A. (1992) Evolutionen—livets stora spel. Fauna och Flora, 87, 12–14.Google Scholar
41.Hubendick, B. (1958) A note on the taxonomy of the Brazilian vector snails of ‘Schistosoma mansoni’. Rev. Brasil. Biol., 18(1), 37–40.Google Scholar
42.Hubendick, B. (1958) A possible method of Schistosome-Vector Control by Competition between Resistant and Susceptible Strains. Bull. Wld Hlth Org., 18, 113–1116.Google ScholarPubMed
43.Aitken, T. H. C. and Trapido, H. (1961) Replacement phenomenon observed amongst Sardinian anopheline mosquitoes following eradication measures. Proc. 8th Tech. Meet. Int. Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Warszawa, pp. 106–114.Google Scholar
44.Tyler, M. J. (1984) There's a Frog in My Stomach. Collins, Sydney.Google Scholar
45.Strier, K. B. (1993) Menu for a Monkey. Natural History, 102(3), 34–43.Google Scholar
46.Butler, J. N., Burnett-Herkes, J., Barnes, J. A. and Ward, J. (1993) The Bermuda fisheries. A tragedy of the commons averted. Environment, 35(1), 7–15, 25–33.Google Scholar
47.Dasmann, R. F. (1964) African Game Ranching. Pergamon, Oxford.Google Scholar
48.Sandlund, O. T. (1991) Costa Rica's INBio: Towards sustainable use of natural biodiversity. Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning, Notat 007, 1–25.Google Scholar
49.Olson, S. L. (1981) The museum tradition on ornithology—a response to Ricklefs. The Auk, 98, 193–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
50.Fjeldså, J. (1987) Museum collections of birds—relevance and strategies for the future. Acta Reg. Sci. Gothoburgensis Zoologica, 14, 223–228.Google Scholar
51.Berg, W., Johnels, A. G., Sjöstrand, B. and Westermark, T. (1966) Mercury content in feathers of Swedish birds from the past 100 years. Oikos, 17, 71–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
52.Mathiasson, S. (1986) Lead in tissues and gizzards of Mute Swans Cygnus olor from the Swedish West-coast, with remarks on other heavy metals and possible additive and synergetic effects. Vår Fågelvärld, Suppl. II, 111–126.Google Scholar
53.Mathiasson, S. (1986) Oil pollution and the rehabilitation of Mute Swans of the Swedish west-coast. Vår Fågelvärld, Suppl. II, 127–134.Google Scholar
54.Gärdenfors, U., Waldén, H. W. and Wäreborn, I. (1992) The impact of acid rain and heavy metals on the terrestrial mollusc fauna. Proc. Tenth. Int. Malac. Congress, pp. 425–433.Google Scholar
55.Cuvier, G. (1825) Recherches sur les Ossement fossiles. Ed. III. T. IV: 150.Google Scholar
56.Retzius, A. J. (1802) Några i Skåne fundna fossila Horn och Skallar. K. Vet. Akad:s Nya Handl., T. XXIII, 280–282.Google Scholar