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Research based on natural history collections benefits science and society
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Biodiversity and society are heavily entangled, and people rely on biodiversity as biodiversity depends on people; biodiversity also impacts human health in many ways. Suarez and Tsutsui (2004) noted how natural history collections in museums make “innumerable contributions to science and society in areas as divergent as homeland security, public health and safety, monitoring of environmental change, and traditional taxonomy and systematics.” Museum collections make key contributions to understanding the origin and spread of human diseases. For example, the Spanish Flu of 1918 killed 20–40 million people worldwide. Analysis of bird specimens from 1918 in the Smithsonian Institution showed that the virus responsible for the Spanish Flu was more similar to the strain that affects pigs than birds. Other studies have helped reconstruct the evolution of the virus over time, helping support the development of a vaccine. “Using museum specimens in this way safeguards society by allowing researchers to define natural reservoirs of disease and focus containment measures on appropriate populations”.
Environmental contamination represents a serious health and ecological problem. Analysis of preserved birds in the Swedish Museum of Natural History has shown that mercury pollution increased during the 1940s and 50s, probably due to industry. Eggshells of birds in museums in the UK and US demonstrated poisoning from agricultural chemicals in the second half of the twentieth century, and museum collections showed that sexual abnormalities in frogs in the US increased after use of a particular herbicide.
reference: Suarez, av and Nd Tsutsui (2004). The value of museum collections for research and society. BioScience 54(1): 66–74.
