| 1. |
- Bakker, F. T., et al.
(author)
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The Global Museum: natural history collections and the future of evolutionary science and public education
- 2020
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In: PeerJ. - : PeerJ. - 2167-8359. ; 8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Natural history museums are unique spaces for interdisciplinary research and educational innovation. Through extensive exhibits and public programming and by hosting rich communities of amateurs, students, and researchers at all stages of their careers, they can provide a place-based window to focus on integration of science and discovery, as well as a locus for community engagement. At the same time, like a synthesis radio telescope, when joined together through emerging digital resources, the global community of museums (the 'Global Museum') is more than the sum of its parts, allowing insights and answers to diverse biological, environmental, and societal questions at the global scale, across eons of time, and spanning vast diversity across the Tree of Life. We argue that, whereas natural history collections and museums began with a focus on describing the diversity and peculiarities of species on Earth, they are now increasingly leveraged in new ways that significantly expand their impact and relevance. These new directions include the possibility to ask new, often interdisciplinary questions in basic and applied science, such as in biomimetic design, and by contributing to solutions to climate change, global health and food security challenges. As institutions, they have long been incubators for cutting-edge research in biology while simultaneously providing core infrastructure for research on present and future societal needs. Here we explore how the intersection between pressing issues in environmental and human health and rapid technological innovation have reinforced the relevance of museum collections. We do this by providing examples as food for thought for both the broader academic community and museum scientists on the evolving role of museums. We also identify challenges to the realization of the full potential of natural history collections and the Global Museum to science and society and discuss the critical need to grow these collections. We then focus on mapping and modelling of museum data (including place-based approaches and discovery), and explore the main projects, platforms and databases enabling this growth. Finally, we aim to improve relevant protocols for the long-term storage of specimens and tissues, ensuring proper connection with tomorrow's technologies and hence further increasing the relevance of natural history museums.
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| 2. |
- Groenewald, David P., et al.
(author)
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Unique trackway on Permian Karoo shoreline provides evidence of temnospondyl locomotory behaviour
- 2023
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 18:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Large-bodied temnospondyl amphibians were the dominant predators in non-marine aquatic ecosystems from the Carboniferous to the Middle Triassic. In the Permian-aged lower Beaufort Group ofthe main Karoo Basin, South Africa, temnospondyls are represented exclusively by the family Rhinesuchidae and are well represented by body fossils, whereas trace fossils are scarce. Accordingly, most interpretations of the behaviour of this family are based on skeletal morphology and histological data. Here we document the sedimentology and palaeontology of a late Permian palaeosurface situated immediately below the palaeoshoreline ofthe Ecca Sea (transition from the Ecca Group to the Beaufort Group) near the town of Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The surface preserves numerous ichnofossils, including tetrapod footprints and fish swim-trails, but most striking are seven body impressions and associated swim trails that we attribute to amedium-sized (~1.9 mlong) rhinesuchid temnospondyl. These provide valuable insight into the behaviour of these animals. The sinuous shape ofsome of the traces suggest that the tracemaker swam with continuous sub-undulatory propulsion of the tail.
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| 3. |
- Verstraeten, A., et al.
(author)
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Effects of tree pollen on throughfall element fluxes in European forests
- 2023
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In: Biogeochemistry. - Göteborg : Springer. - 0168-2563 .- 1573-515X. ; 165:3, s. 311-325
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The effects of tree pollen on precipitation chemistry are not fully understood and this can lead to misinterpretations of element deposition in European forests. We investigated the relationship between forest throughfall (TF) element fluxes and the Seasonal Pollen Integral (SPIn) using linear mixed-effects modelling (LME). TF was measured in 1990-2018 during the main pollen season (MPS, arbitrary two months) in 61 managed, mostly pure, even-aged Fagus, Quercus, Pinus, and Picea stands which are part of the ICP Forests Level II network. The SPIn for the dominant tree genus was observed at 56 aerobiological monitoring stations in nearby cities. The net contribution of pollen was estimated as the TF flux in the MPS minus the fluxes in the preceding and succeeding months. In stands of Fagus and Picea, two genera that do not form large amounts of flowers every year, TF fluxes of potassium (K+), ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+-N), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) showed a positive relationship with SPIn. However- for Fagus- a negative relationship was found between TF nitrate-nitrogen (NO3--N) fluxes and SPIn. For Quercus and Pinus, two genera producing many flowers each year, SPIn displayed limited variability and no clear association with TF element fluxes. Overall, pollen contributed on average 4.1-10.6% of the annual TF fluxes of K+ > DOC > DON > NH4+--N with the highest contribution in Quercus > Fagus > Pinus > Picea stands. Tree pollen appears to affect TF inorganic nitrogen fluxes both qualitatively and quantitatively, acting as a source of NH4+--N and a sink of NO3--N. Pollen appears to play a more complex role in nutrient cycling than previously thought.
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