Importance and Use of Natural History Collections – European and Global Perspective

1. Importance and Use of Natural History Collections – European and Global Perspective Fredrik Ronquist Swedish Museum of Natural History Stockholm

2. Natural History Collections • Research – collections – exhibits • Large collections (millions of biological and geological specimens), rapidly growing • Invaluable archive: diversity and evolution of life on earth, geological history, environmental changes • Strong research tradition: cradle of natural science • Much of research still tied to collections • Outreach, play major role in promoting public understanding of science

3. Modern collections … • Observation databases • Image databases • DNA Archives • …

4. The Species Gateway (www.artportalen.se) • Web Repository for Observational Data • Used by amateur and professional biologists • Developed and hosted by Swedish Species Information Centre and Swedish Environmental Protection Agency • Collaboration with Amateur Societies • 14 M observations in total (1.4 M digitized museum specimens) • 4.5 M observations 2008

5. Do we still need collections of biological and geological specimens?

6. Wood White Réal’s Wood White

7. Dept. Contaminant Research • 1960s: bird and seal populations decreasing; egg-shell thinning • Baltic Sea and feeding rivers: among the world’s most polluted waters • Existing collections of eggs, bones and skin allowed tracing of historical trends and identification of contaminant sources (chlorinated toxins and heavy metals) • Started systematic collection of frozen tissue samples • Environmental Specimen Bank now holds about 260,000 samples • The world’s longest time series of biological samples of this kind Guillemot eggs Harbour seal Sampling eggs

8. Current Trends • The biodiversity revolution: Charting and monitoring changes in biological diversity on the planet • The cyber-revolution: information technology transforming the way we work with natural history collections

9. Charting Biological Diversity • Only 10-20 % of species of life on earth described • 50 % of species extinct or critically endangered by 2100 due to human impact • Climate change alone estimated to cause extinction of 25 % of species in the next 50 years • Few species known well enough to judge whether they are threatened by extinction (15 % US, 33 % Sweden) • 2010 biodiversity target (significant reduction in loss) difficult to reach • Loss of diversity and ecosystem services threat to the survival of humankind • Completing the inventory of life on earth should be a top scientific and societal priority • With extra funding and technology advances could be done in 20-25 years

10. National Science Foundation Focus on World fauna of individual groups • Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) • Assembling the Tree of Life (AToL) • Revisionary Synthesis in Systematics (REVSYS) • Planetary Biodiversity Inventories (PBI)

11. Swedish Taxonomy Initiative All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) • Within 20 years, all Swedishmulticellular species will be scientifically described and documented • All species that can be identified without advanced technical methodology (appr. 35,000) will be presented in Swedish in a well-illustrated Swedish Flora and Fauna Encyclopaedia • There will be keys to all species and the distribution, biology, and conservation of each species will be summarized • A collaborative projectcoordinated by the Swedish Species Information Centre (ArtDatabanken)

12. Swedish Taxonomy Initiative • 3.0 M Euro/year for the core activities, Biodiversity Encyclopedia, inventories, etc. • 1.5 M Euro/year to support taxonomic research on poorly known organisms • 2.0 M Euro/year to support natural history museums • 130 M Euro over 20 years(LHC 3,200 – 6,400 M Euro) • To date about 2,000 new speciesrecorded, about 600 new to science

13. Other Nordic Countries • The Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre awarded 2.3 M Euro to launch Norwegian TaxonomyInitiative in 2009 • Finnish PUTTE project finished in 2008; continued as Taxonomy Initiative? • Nordic Taxonomic Research Council? • Amateur biologists are crucial in inventorying and monitoring

14. Information Technology • Specimen-based research is becoming an e-science • Rational collection management relies more and more on information technology • Virtual experience crucial part of exhibits

15. Information Technology • Major push to digitize museum specimens (NHRS 15 years) • Development of novel, partly automated digitization techniques (robots, image-based, OCR, web annotation) • Specimen data through common data portal (GBIF, www.gbif.org; > 150 M specimens) • High-resolution images (Morphbank; www.morphbank.net) • Digitization of older literature (Biodiversity Heritage Library; www.biodiversitylibrary.org) • Publishing of hyperlinked species descriptions online (ZooTaxa; www.mapress.com/zootaxa) • Mandatory registration of new species names in open web repositories (ZooBank; www.zoobank.org)

18. Information Technology cont’d • Scratchpads – collaborative tools for building web sites • Encyclopedia of Life – aggregating information for all known species Vince Smith E O Wilson

19. The European Scene • Research: • EU funding gradually becomes more important • Competition among institutions across Europe for best scientists and for EU funding • Biodiversity invontories and monitoring • Programmes for integrating amateur biologists • E-science • Collections: • Standardization across Europe of storage – More cost-effective • Avoidance of pesticides – New & better storage facilities • Aggregation of collections – More cost-effective • Information technology for collection management • Exhibits: • Local presence more important than ever • Virtual museums • Exhibits on tour

20. Major Research Infrastructures • Natural History Collections are MRIs (cf. Large Hadron Collider; EMBL) • Collections: storage facilities, pest management, personnel, information technology • Labs: DNA labs, geological analysis • European competition will result in fewer top research institutions • Well coordinated, distributed set of collections: (The Netherlands) • Centralized: UK (The Natural History Museum), Denmark (Statens Naturhistoriske Museer), Sweden (Naturhistoriska riksmuseet)

21. Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities www.cetaf.org • Synthesys I and II: Synthesis of Systematic Resources (EU 6th and 7th framework programme; 2004-2009, 2009-2015, www.synthesys.info) • Transnational access to CETAF facilities • Networking activities • Joint research • EDIT: Towards a European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (Centre of Excellence, EU 6th Framework Programme, 2006-2011, www.e-taxonomy.eu) • Integrate taxonomic effort within Europe • Build world-leading capacity • Create virtual centre of excellence (EDIT) • Increase scientific basis and capacity for conservation

22. Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities www.cetaf.org CETAF-related projects or initiatives: • ENBI: European Network for Biodiversity Information • ENHSIN: European Natural History Specimen Information Network • BioCASE: A Biological Collection Access Service for Europe • Fauna Europaea: Database of the names of all known European animal species • Euro + Med PlantBase: Database of vascular plants of Europe and the Mediterranean region • LifeWatch: e-science and technology infrastructure for biodiversity data and observatories

23. Good Advice (?) • Coordinate or centralize the resources • Think long-term (50-100 years) • Cut corners by using emerging information technology • Specialize; aim to be best in Europe in some areas • Be a good European and international player: participate in joint projects, cut out a role for yourselves as leaders of some initiatives • Join CETAF, EDIT • Prepare for major biodiversity inventorying and monitoring initiatives • Contribute to development of information technology? • Build collaborations with amateur biologists