The Death of Brazil’s National Museum

Araújo, Ana Lucia

doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz177

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…(e.g., based on GBIF data most natural history specimen collections from Costa Rica, Mozambique, and India are found outside of those countries). There are large museums that are not yet digitized and part of GBIF in some of the most biodiverse places, including but not limited to the Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo, the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Inpa Coleçoes Zoológicas, and the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro (which suffered a devastating fire in 2018; [62]). Modernizing access to the reference vouchers housed at these institutions would likely benefit research groups globally and facilitate natural history and conservation research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What “unexplored” means: Mapping undersampled regions in natural history collections

Ball,

Bedoya,

Machado

et al. 2024

Preprint

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We examined global records of accessible natural history voucher collections (with publicly available data) for terrestrial and freshwater vascular plants, fungi, freshwater fishes, birds, mammals, and herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles) and highlight areas of the world that would be considered undersampled and sometimes called "unexplored" (i.e., have relatively low, or no evidence of, past sampling efforts) under typical Western-scientific descriptions. We also question what "unexplored" may actually mean in these contexts and explain how retiring the term in favor of more nuanced phrasing can mitigate future misunderstandings of natural history science.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What “unexplored” means: Mapping undersampled regions in natural history collections

Ball,

Bedoya,

Machado

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…In 2018, a major fire destroyed the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, the biggest natural history museum in the country. Among the specimens deposited at the museum at that time were more than 40,000 Indigenous and African artifacts; over 5 million insect specimens; an 11,500‐year‐old skull (Luzia, the oldest human remains in the Americas); in addition to thousands of specimens of fossils, meteorites, and other natural history collections (Araujo, 2019 ; Escobar, 2018 ; Zamudio et al., 2018 ) that were portraits of the evolution of culture and biodiversity in South America. Initially, 90% of the collections were estimated to be lost, interrupting the majority of the activities performed in the museum, such as curatorial work and research.…”

Section: Natural History: a Discipline In Dangermentioning

confidence: 99%

The nature of science: The fundamental role of natural history in ecology, evolution, conservation, and education

Nanglu,

de Carle,

Cullen

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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There is a contemporary trend in many major research institutions to de‐emphasize the importance of natural history education in favor of theoretical, laboratory, or simulation‐based research programs. This may take the form of removing biodiversity and field courses from the curriculum and the sometimes subtle maligning of natural history research as a “lesser” branch of science. Additional threats include massive funding cuts to natural history museums and the maintenance of their collections, the extirpation of taxonomists across disciplines, and a critical under‐appreciation of the role that natural history data (and other forms of observational data, including Indigenous knowledge) play in the scientific process. In this paper, we demonstrate that natural history knowledge is integral to any competitive science program through a comprehensive review of the ways in which they continue to shape modern theory and the public perception of science. We do so by reviewing how natural history research has guided the disciplines of ecology, evolution, and conservation and how natural history data are crucial for effective education programs and public policy. We underscore these insights with contemporary case studies, including: how understanding the dynamics of evolutionary radiation relies on natural history data; methods for extracting novel data from museum specimens; insights provided by multi‐decade natural history programs; and how natural history is the most logical venue for creating an informed and scientifically literate society. We conclude with recommendations aimed at students, university faculty, and administrators for integrating and supporting natural history in their mandates. Fundamentally, we are all interested in understanding the natural world, but we can often fall into the habit of abstracting our research away from its natural contexts and complexities. Doing so risks losing sight of entire vistas of new questions and insights in favor of an over‐emphasis on simulated or overly controlled studies.

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The effects of radial cracks on the fire performance of heritage timber

et al. 2022

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Heritage timber buildings are found worldwide and their irreplaceable nature makes them of high value. A common occurrence on heritage timber members is radial shrinkage cracks resulting from changing moisture contents over time. There is little information available that can be used to assess the fire performance of heritage timber members (which has unique differences from contemporary timber), and to the author's awareness, no information regarding how the presence of radial cracks affects the fire performance and char depth of a timber member. The purpose of this study is to provide an evaluation of the effects of radial cracking on the fire performance of timber members, including its effect on char depth, time to ignition, and residual strength. Full-scale heritage Pine timber members were procured from a 115-year-old building undergoing demolition and then subjected to a pool fire.Cracked samples were also extracted from the members and tested in a Cone Calorimeter apparatus relative to solid samples. It was found that the presence of cracks did allow for deeper charring with the full-scale tests showing 64% greater char depth in the cracked region and the Cone Calorimeter tests showing 29% greater char depth on the cracked samples. Four-point bending tests of the full-scale members subjected to a pool fire showed that the effect of the fire exposure and the cracks did not significantly impact the capacity of the members (7.2% difference) but reduced the stiffness as the ultimate deflection increased by 43%. These results can help to inform practitioners who encounter heritage timber members to more accurately assess the fire performance of the member, such that they can make informed decisions on the level of fire protection required. The study also provides methodologies for the collection of heritage timber test materials.

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The Death of Brazil’s National Museum

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

What “unexplored” means: Mapping undersampled regions in natural history collections

What “unexplored” means: Mapping undersampled regions in natural history collections

The nature of science: The fundamental role of natural history in ecology, evolution, conservation, and education

The effects of radial cracks on the fire performance of heritage timber

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