Zoology - Vertebrates

The main objective of this project is the re-determination, the re-labelling and the digitization of all vertebrates in our collection. As a small museum we need some help by specialists (coming from other institutions) for the re-determination of the animals. All other parts can be done by ourselves.
The project is important because it makes an essential part of our collection accessible to scientists and the general public. By rising the collection standard, the collection becomes important for national and international databases.

Documenting biodiversity through space and time is one of the main tasks of natural history museums, and archiving samples collected for genetic analyses form an important part of this. Securing long-term storage and documentation of such samples achieved in scientific projects is usually not a priority because of time constraints, lack of expertise and infrastructure. However, their long-term storage is crucial not at least to guarantee reproducibility of scientific studies, and given the continuing advance in DNA sequence technologies, they might comprise an important resource for future projects to increase gain of knowledge. In times when collection of samples is severely limited especially in vertebrates due to increasing restrictions, integrating such samples into natural history collections is an important source for securing genetic material from a wide variety of species. This is now increasingly recognized by researchers, and for this reason the Natural History Museum Bern has been offered thousands of samples collected for genetic research from different researchers and institutions. Conditioning, conserving, and databasing genetic samples is time consuming and costly, but a prerequisite for their subsequent scientific use. Through the financial support of SwissCollNet, this can now be achieved for tissue samples of 10’000 fishes, 10’200 amphibians and of 11’050 birds.

La collection de vertébrés du Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Neuchâtel (MHNN) trouve son origine il y a plus de 200 ans. Depuis, elle n’a cessé de s’enrichir pour atteindre aujourd’hui plus de 21'600 exemplaires. Elle contient de nombreux spécimens à haute valeur scientifique et historique.

Les conditions de stockage avec notamment de trop grandes variations climatiques, des attaques d’insectes ravageurs récurrentes et l’accumulation de poussière ont mis à mal ces spécimens. Un travail de dépoussiérage, de désinsectisation, de restauration d’urgence (consolidation, dégraissage, collage) et de conditionnement va être mené. Les collections préservées en alcool (collections en fluide) vont également être révisées en appliquant les protocoles en vigueurs dans le domaine.

Le récolement de la collection complète va être réalisé afin de vérifier la présence du spécimen, sa localisation et également de remettre à jour son taxon et son statut de conservation (UICN).

Tous les spécimens vont être photographiés en haute résolution et intégrés dans la base de données. A terme cela permettra l’amélioration de la visibilité de la collection auprès de la communauté internationale.

Natural history collections and databases document the diversity of life on Earth and serve as an important basis for our understanding of evolution. Correctly dated and preserved museum specimens are therefore indispensable sources of data for biological and applied research. Consequently, natural history museums must constantly expand their collections in a targeted manner based on scientific standards. In this context, the conservation of objects is a time-consuming and cost-intensive process, which is, however, a prerequisite for any subsequent scientific use of natural history collections. The project at the Museum of Natural History Bern, funded by SwissCollNet, will lead to a significant expansion and better cataloguing of the vertebrate collection. A total of 3000 newly collected specimens as well as 350 historical skeletons in poor condition will be prepared, sampled and digitally recorded for the collection. The newly collected data will be made available to superordinate databases and thus made accessible to researchers all over the world. In this model project, standards for the processing of newly collected material but also for the preservation of historical objects in vertebrate collections in general will be further developed. In the context of a workshop, best practices in extension and curation of vertebrate collections will be shared with other institutions as a contribution to maintaining high standards in Switzerland's natural history collections.

The main objective of this project is the re-determination, the re-labelling and the digitization of all exotic animals in our vertebrate collection. As a small museum we need some help by specialists (coming from other institutions) for the re-determination of the exotic animals. All other parts of the project we can do ourselves.

The project is important because it makes an essential part of our collection accessible to researchers and scientists. A digitization/inventory also is important for long term preservation. Only if we can guarantee a link between object and data we can conserve its scientific value. By rising the collection standard, the collection becomes important for national and international databases.

Parmi les spécimens qui se trouvent dans les collections d'histoire naturelle, les spécimens types revêtent une importance particulière car ils sont les seuls spécimens qui peuvent être consultés pour évaluer l'application correcte d'un nom scientifique. En tant que tels, ils sont indispensables à la recherche taxonomique et systématique. Les institutions détentrices de spécimens types doivent donc s'assurer que ce matériel est à la fois visible et accessible à la communauté scientifique internationale. L'objectif de ce projet est d'améliorer les conditions de stockage et la visibilité du matériel type zoologique conservé dans les institutions du canton de Neuchâtel, à savoir le Musée d'histoire naturelle de Neuchâtel et le MUZOO de La Chaux-de-Fonds. Nous avons l'intention de reconditionner les spécimens de type, de numériser les informations des étiquettes, de photographier les spécimens et de publier en ligne toutes les données et métadonnées relatives à nos collections de type. Les données seront publiées sur des plateformes telles que la Collection virtuelle suisse d'histoire naturelle (SVNHC) et la plateforme GBIF selon les Fair Principles et le schéma ABCD-EFG pour l'échange de données sur la biodiversité. Les résultats de ce projet faciliteront la recherche scientifique dans les domaines de la taxonomie et de la systématique ; ils favoriseront aussi une meilleure compréhension des collections types du canton de Neuchâtel et sensibiliseront le public au contenu de nos collections.