Palaeontology Collection Policy

Research Ideas and Outcomes

The collection policy of the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus is hierarchically structured. General principles and guidelines are defined in the General Collections Policy. Subordinate to it, the collection policies for the individual sub-collections implement and specify these guidelines and instructions, considering the special nature of each sub-collection. The invertebrate collections policy in 2017 was the first sub-collection policy to observe this hierarchical structure, and was guided by the standards set by the European SYNTHESYS collections management self-assessment procedure. The invertebrate collections policy directs all activities related to the Luomus invertebrate collections (apart from DNA and tissue samples), which comprise the separately managed entomological collections (ca. 9 million specimens) and collections of other invertebrates (0.4 million). The policy defines the purpose of the collections, outlines the objectives and content of procedures and ac...

Research Ideas and Outcomes

The Geology Collection is part of the national collections of the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus. General principles and guidelines for the collections are defined in the General Collection Policy of Luomus. The Geology Collection Policy is subordinate to the General Collection Policy of Luomus, clarifying its content with reference to the special characteristics of the geological collections. The Geological Collection includes mineral, rock, and meteorite specimens worldwide and from all geologic ages to support Finnish research and educational projects. The coverage emphasizes specimens from Finland, Scandinavia, Africa, and Antarctica. The Geology Collection Policy defines the purpose of the collections, the objectives, the distribution of responsibilities for collection management and maintenance in the organisation, and the principles of collection accumulation, preservation, accessibility and use to public.

Research Ideas and Outcomes

As part of its quality management and goal-driven strategic development, the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus drafts policy documents to guide its operational sectors. The purpose of such policies is to define the content and procedures of the Museum’s activities. They answer the questions “what”, “why”, “who” and “for whom” about the activities they discuss, which is to say that they define and delimit the scope of the operational sector, provide the operations with a purpose and determine their content, describe the allocation of responsibilities in the sector under the Luomus organisation and identify the target groups. The policies provide general objectives and thus form the basis for target programmes and any action plans which in turn answer the question “How can we reach the designated goals?”. Policies are not tied to a schedule, unlike target programmes, even though they must be dynamic and updated periodically to better serve the organisation. The core activities ...

2020

The herbarium collections are sub-collections of the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus that manages national natural history collections, as referred to in the Universities Act. The general collections policy defines the overall principles and guidelines concerning the collections practices. The sub-collections policies specify its guidelines and instructions, considering the special nature of the sub-collections. The policy for the botanical and mycological herbarium collections guides the activities related to all botanical, mycological and phycological collections in herbaria, hence excluding digital collections, DNA and tissue samples as well as living collections, which have separate policies. The herbarium collections policy defines and outlines the purpose of the collections as is to accrue and preserve natural specimens representing biodiversity for research and university-level teaching. The policy defines the objectives and content of related activities, the divisio...

GFF, 2013

To commemorate the 100 years since Carl Wiman was appointed Sweden’s first Professor of Palaeontology in 1911, a 2-day symposium showcasing advances in Scandinavian-Baltic palaeontology was held at Uppsala University during 17–18 November 2011. This meeting organised jointly by The Museum of Evolution, Palaeobiology Programme, and the Sub-Department of Evolution and Development attracted some 60 delegates from the Nordic countries presenting 22 talks and 19 posters on a range of topics relevant to Carl Wiman’s research interests. This special issue of GFF encapsulates papers arising from the conference, including contributions on the history and social impacts of collections, palynological applications, Scandinavian Palaeozoic invertebrates, and Palaeozoic–Mesozoic vertebrates. Through these endeavours, we hope to carry on the spirit of Carl Wiman’s distinguished legacy.

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards

Palaeontology and biology are closely related sciences, as are the collections associated with them. Nevertheless there are differences between the two types of collections and the scientific data that they yield with regards to taxonomy, climate and ecology. In order to bridge the gap between the two subjects, it is important to clarify what these differences are and how they can be used to supplement research that addresses future environmental/climatic issues. In biology, valuable traits of the whole organism serve for taxonomy. In the fossil record, a morphospecies concept needs to be used because specimens are mainly preserved fragmentarily and palaeontologists have to take advantage of morphological traits that are often disregarded by biologists. Another difference is that biological objects represent modern time, while the fossil record provides valuable information on a deep time perspective, i.e., in a third dimension. Yet, these two disciplines obviously depend on each ot...

2010

The number of accessions amounted to 895 vertebrates, 49,855 insects, and 9,714 samples of other invertebrates. The systematic groups represented are listed below and some noteworthy records for Finland are reported. Bembidion obtusum Serv. and Polydrusus formosus (Mayer) (Insecta: Coleoptera), Culicoides dewulfi (Goetgh.) (Insecta: Diptera), and Thanatus arcticus Thorell and Palliduphantes insignis (O. P.-Cambr.) (Araneida) are reported as new to Finland.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022

The archaeological potential of Svalbard in the circum-Arctic context continues to be overlooked and its zooarchaeology in particular is much undervalued. Svalbard is far away and expensive to travel to, so without a stepping-stone, no one is simply going to pick up a project on animal bones. We therefore went through the trouble of gathering the material presented here in order to provide such a stepping-stone and to inspire future research in Arctic zooarchaeology and historical ecology. Lea Kohlhage visually inspected the faunal material in the archives of the Svalbard Museum for one and a half weeks in November/December 2021. Time was short. It always is. Kohlhage therefore ignored the boxes from Smeerenburg, Kokerineset, and Advent City, which are published projects. A quick look into several Russian-led excavations indicated that unworked faunal remains appear not to have been kept. She nevertheless photographed and described assemblages from 15 separate excavations. Frigga Kruse compared the photographs and descriptions to information readily available online. She searched the collections of the Svalbard Museum 1 and the Digitalt Museum 2 for photographs and finds from the archaeological sites, but with limited success. Google Scholar 3 served as a first indication of whether any excavations had been published. Kruse also owns copies of past excavation reports that are otherwise stored by the Governor of Svalbard 4. As is often the case, some excavations have been reported well, others not. Barely any pay due attention to the bone assemblages. It was not our goal to present extensive and exhaustive zooarchaeological research here. In fact, our preliminary identification may not always be correct. We neither studied the available excavation reports and finds lists in detail, nor did we consult Askeladden 5 , the official database for cultural heritage in Norway. We leave that up to you. If we do inspire you, please remember to cite this report, including its DOI, and acknowledge all the effort we put into it. We would like to hear about your project.

2009

Fossil occurrences across the world are endangered by development, construction, collecting, and vandalism, even though many outstanding examples have been protected by World Heritage Sites, national parks, monuments and reserves, state and provincial parks, and local government and non-profit organizations, as well as some private individuals. The International Palaeontological Association (IPA) established a PaleoParks Initiative to protect endangered sites and to catalog and make public established parks of any nature that protect fossils in the ground, a primary source of scientific data, educational opportunities and recreational activities, as well as key places protecting "living fossils". IPA has 15 aims and goals and a web site for documenting both established and proposed sites. IPA sponsored meetings and workshops at three international meetings over the past five years to discuss these problems, successful solutions, and its goals and aims. Ten examples of PaleoParks are presented in this e-book to demonstrate and document problems with established and endangered sites. They include sites in nine countries, with eight protected and two endangered examples ranging in age from Ediacaran to Late Pleistocene.

Memoranda Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, 2014

The vertebrate collections increased by 1842 samples, which included 200 mammals, 1552 birds, 49 reptiles, 24 amphibians and 17 fishes. Besides the conventional museum specimens, the current count includes 820 feather samples of raptor birds (Accipitriformes) collected at nest sites, and some muscle tissue samples with no morphological voucher material retained. Some interesting additions are mentioned below.