Treasures of Nature: Anniversary celebration at the Kiel Zoological Museum!

Treasures of Nature: Anniversary celebration at the Kiel Zoological Museum!

The Zoological Museum of the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel (CAU) is celebrating an important anniversary this year. As part of the celebrations, a ceremony will take place on March 27th that will focus on the importance of natural history collections. The focus is on a lecture by Professor Lars Krogmann, director of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. The title of his lecture is “Treasures of the Past, Keys to the Future: Natural History Collections in the Age of Museomics.” The lecture starts at 7 p.m. and is free of charge. After the presentation, the museum invites you to a reception in the Walhalle.

Professor Dirk Brandis, the director of the Kiel Zoological Museum, emphasizes the value and fascination of the collections. He emphasizes that these collections are more than just archives; They represent dynamic resources for biodiversity research. Due to advances in research, modern techniques such as genomics, 3D morphology and artificial intelligence offer new approaches to exploring historical collections and help to gain valuable insights into biodiversity and climate change.

Importance of natural history collections

The natural history collections, which are housed in various museums such as the Natural History Museum in Karlsruhe, document the organic and inorganic diversity of the earth and its changes. Around 5 million collection objects in the Karlsruhe Museum are stored in closed storage and are accessible to scientists at any time. These objects can be borrowed for research, teaching or exhibition purposes. The collections also include specimen specimens that are important for verifying scientific studies.

The collections act as comparative material for identifying species and provide detailed information about the distribution areas, diversity and abundance of species. They are essential for biodiversity research and species protection. The use of digital technologies also opens up new evaluation options and enables a more comprehensive analysis of the collected data.

Special collections, such as paleontological ones, document the diversity of extinct life forms and offer valuable information on determining age. In addition, geoscientific collections containing rocks and minerals are of great importance for the analysis of their composition and formation. Modern methods enable even the smallest traces of heavy metals, DNA or environmental toxins to be analyzed.

Innovations in biodiversity research

A pioneering example of the dynamics in research is the “Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery” (CIBD). This interdisciplinary facility aims to accelerate the discovery and study of global biodiversity. By using modern technologies in combination with classic methods, the CIBD aims to create a comprehensive inventory of known and unknown animal species.

The focus of her work is on taxonomy, evolutionary biology and ecology. One of the greatest challenges is the global loss of biodiversity and habitats. The research will develop automated tools to ease the time-consuming sorting of large collections of arthropods. A notable example is the “DiversityScanner” robot, which automatically sorts samples and prepares them for sequencing.

The use of DNA barcoding and modern sequencing technology allows samples and images to be assigned to new species. Research in this area aims to better understand the complex relationships between species and their environment and to develop effective strategies to conserve biodiversity.

Professor Krogmann's upcoming lecture at the Kiel Zoological Museum celebrates a further step in appreciating the importance of natural history collections, which are recognized not only as historical archives, but as living resources for biodiversity research.