scholarly journals On the role of (and threat to) natural history museums in mammal conservation: an African small mammal perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam W. Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Natural History Museums ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Mammal Conservation

scholarly journals Museum specimens of terrestrial vertebrates are sensitive indicators of environmental change in the Anthropocene

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1763) ◽  
pp. 20170387 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Jonathan Schmitt ◽  
Joseph A. Cook ◽  
Kelly R. Zamudio ◽  
Scott V. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Museum Specimens ◽  
Natural History Museums ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Biodiversity Science ◽  
The Impact

Natural history museums and the specimen collections they curate are vital scientific infrastructure, a fact as true today as it was when biologists began collecting and preserving specimens over 200 years ago. The importance of museum specimens in studies of taxonomy, systematics, ecology and evolutionary biology is evidenced by a rich and abundant literature, yet creative and novel uses of specimens are constantly broadening the impact of natural history collections on biodiversity science and global sustainability. Excellent examples of the critical importance of specimens come from their use in documenting the consequences of environmental change, which is particularly relevant considering the alarming rate at which we now modify our planet in the Anthropocene. In this review, we highlight the important role of bird, mammal and amphibian specimens in documenting the Anthropocene and provide examples that underscore the need for continued collection of museum specimens. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene’.

The Case of a Rudderfish Highlights the Role of Natural History Museums as Sentinels of Bio-invasions

Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4254 (3) ◽  
pp. 382 ◽  
Author(s):  
SABRINA LO BRUTTO
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Natural History Museums ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Western Sicily ◽  
Kyphosus Vaigiensis ◽  
The Mediterranean

In September 2013 fishermen captured a rudderfish—Kyphosus vaigiensis—off Favignana Island, one of the islands of the Egadi Islands Marine Protected Area (MPA) in western Sicily (Mannino et al., 2015). This species is rarely sampled in the Mediterranean Sea. 

scholarly journals DESCRIBING THE EDUCATIONAL ROLE OF NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS: AN ANALYSIS TOOL FOR PRE-SERVICE AND IN-SERVICE TEACHERS

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eirini Gkouskou ◽  
Dimitrios Koliopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Natural History Museums ◽  
History Museum ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Educational Role

This study presents a tool for description and potential analysis of the educational role of the Science and Technology museum. This tool has been constructed from the point of view of formal education and it is proposed as a framework for the approach of the science/technology museum from the teachers and education administrators. More specifically, the tool is, at first, described in terms of structure, content and functionality and, afterwards, examples are provided for cases of international, national and local natural history museums (Natural History Museum in Paris, Goulandris Natural History Museum in Athens and University of Patras Zoology Museum accordingly). Finally, there is a discussion regarding the suitability of this tool to inform, instruct and train future and in-service teachers in aspects of museum education. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0720/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

scholarly journals Java Man and the Politics of Natural History

2021 ◽  
Vol 177 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 290-311
Author(s):  
Caroline Drieënhuizen ◽  
Fenneke Sysling
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Natural History Museums ◽  
History Museum ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Geological Information

Abstract Natural history museums have long escaped postcolonial or decolonial scrutiny; their specimens were and are usually presented as part of the natural world, containing only biological or geological information. However, their collections, like those of other museums, are rooted in colonial practices and thinking. In this article, we sketch a political and decolonial biography of ‘Java Man’, the fossilized remains of a Homo erectus specimen, housed in Naturalis, the Natural History Museum, in the Netherlands. We describe the context of Dutch colonialism and the role of indigenous knowledge and activity in the discovery of Java Man. We also follow Java Man to the Netherlands, where it became a contested specimen and part of a discussion about repatriation. This article argues that the fossils of Java Man and their meanings are products of ‘creolized’ knowledge systems produced by Empire and sites of competing national and disciplinary histories and identities.

scholarly journals The Classic: The natural history museum

1970 ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Albert Eide Parr
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
Natural History Museums ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Human Thought ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Dead Material

1939: «- if we do recognize that one of the main research missions of a natural history museum lies in the ecological types of investigation, we must obviously also admit the perfect appropriateness of handling live, as well as dead material, in the museum to the extent that the observations on the living individuals may tend to confirm or to explain the conclusions arrived at by the study of the preserved samples of natural populations.» 1950: «The side of nature which concerns society most of all is not undisturbed nature, but nature as the environment of man, and that is the field in which the educational efforts of the natural history museums could make their greatest contribution to human thought, welfare, and progress today.» 1980: «- it seems clear that museums, at least in the larger cities, may be more important as independently explorable additions to the environment itself than in the simple role of didactic interpreters of experiences gained from other sources.» 

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ulrike Kirchberger
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Ecological Change ◽  
Natural History Museums ◽  
History Museums ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
The Individual

The introduction outlines the concept of the volume. It briefly sketches the state of research, it defines the key issues and it outlines the structures, dimensions and outreaches of the networks dealt with in the book. It reflects upon informal aspects of the networks, such as correspondences and exchanges between those scientists who played important parts in the global ecological networks and feature in many of the following chapters. It also refers to the institutional infrastructures which shaped the networks and are examined in the individual chapters, such as acclimatization societies, forest administrations, botanical and zoological gardens, natural history museums, agricultural colleges and colonial research stations. Following the results of actor-network-theory, the introduction defines three categories of agents of ecological change: firstly, European scientists and colonists, secondly, non-European actors, and thirdly, non-human agents of transfer, such as animals and plants. Furthermore, the introduction addresses the temporal dimensions of the networks. It problematizes their chronological organization and the role of different forms of temporality.

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