Behind the public galleries are one of the Australian Museum's greatest resources, the research collections. These collections are immense and include more than 4 million insects, 600,000 fishes and 500,000 larvae, 200,000 archaeological and anthropological items and 60,000 rocks and minerals.
The collections are irreplaceable and were valued at $530 million in 2002. They are more than 100 years old, with one fish specimen dating back to 1854. Unfortunately, the majority of visitors don't get the opportunity to see them.
One of the major parts of the research collections are the biological collections. The biological collections have a number of uses. Firstly, they represent a part of our natural world, in a form that is accessible and easy to study. Much of the Museum's research is based on these collections, with specimens being used repeatedly. Re-using collection specimens helps conserve biodiversity because it means that researchers don't have to catch new specimens in order to study them.
Secondly, the biological collections serve as a library. Each year, thousands of specimens are borrowed for research, both in Australia and overseas. Many of the taxonomic problems of Australian species are being solved by the international scientific community. Other specimens are used on the premises by staff and visiting researchers. Unlike a library, the collections become more valuable after specimens have been studied and returned because more is known about them and they are used in scientific publications.
Thirdly, the Museum's biological collections provide records of past and present distributions of species. They also store specimens that have been used for many scientific projects, so if questions arise about a species used in a particular study, the relevant specimens in the Museum collections can answer these questions. A small proportion of these specimens, known as 'types', are used to define new species.
Old specimens provide important historic information about things for which we can no longer gather information. For example, there is the potential to use Museum specimens of extinct species like the Thylacine for DNA studies.
As the collections are increasingly used to deal with issues of biodiversity, endangered species and human impact on the environment, they will continue to grow in both size and value.
M A McGrouther & J R Paxton
Ichthyology
Australian Museum
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
This page: http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/collections.htm
