NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560

Cristián Samper, Director

Established in 1910, the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) has grown to become the Smithsonian’s largest museum and research unit, and today it is one of the world’s premier scientific institutions as well as one of the most visited museums in the world–attracting more than seven million visitors a year, with millions more visiting online. The Museum’s mission is to increase knowledge and inspire curiosity, discovery, and learning about nature and culture through outstanding research, collections, exhibitions, and education, in support of a sustainable future.

Steward of the largest natural history collections in the world, NMNH holds more than 126 million specimens and cultural objects that document the history and formation of Earth, the diversity and evolution of life on the planet, and our shared human heritage. These collections are an unparalleled resource for the study and understanding of the natural world and our place in it. Every year, we welcome thousands of national and international researchers to our headquarters in Washington, DC and to our satellite facility– the Museum Support Center –in Suitland, MD, who use the collections to address a variety of research questions pertaining to geology, paleontology, biology, and anthropology, as well as other interdisciplinary fields. And at any given time, over two million specimens are on loan to universities and research centers worldwide. Cited in more than 1,200 scientific publications annually, the Museum’s collections are the foundation of our research and educational programs, and their relevance to science and society continues to grow as new technologies are applied to their study and analysis. Broadening access to the collections is a key priority for the Museum, and several digitization efforts are underway to make them more readily available online to the international science community, policy-makers and the public at large.

The Museum’s research activities focus on three broad themes: (i) the Formation and Evolution of the Earth and Similar Planets, (ii) the Discovery and Understanding of Life's Diversity, and (iii) Human Diversity and Cultural Change. Within these themes, described below, the scope of our work is as varied as the interests of our scientists, whose explorations and inquiries take place on every continent, in more than 80 countries, and range from the depths of the ocean to the outer regions of space. The Museum is currently organized into seven departments: anthropology, botany, entomology, invertebrate zoology, mineral sciences, paleobiology and vertebrate zoology. We work on questions and issues often too complex for any one institution to solve alone and therefore collaborate with museums, universities and research centers across the United States and the world, as well as with national government agencies such as the United States Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Commerce, the Interior, and other federal and state agencies. We also support a large and vibrant academic community, including scientists from affiliated government agencies based at the Museum, external researchers, interns and fellows. The results of our research – as well as that of others using our collections – are made available not only through scholarly papers and books, but also through exhibitions, symposia, courses, lectures, workshops, and numerous Web sites.

In addition to advancing its core research themes, the Museum is also working to advance the six priority initiatives, which integrate our research, collections and outreach activities. Each of the six represents an area that has special relevance and urgency to society, where the Museum has a comparative advantage, and where we are poised to make substantial progress over the next decade. Designed to be long-term and transformational for the Museum, they build on our strengths and will expand our partnerships within the Smithsonian and with external collaborators.

Aligned with our efforts to expand and preserve our natural history collections and make them more broadly accessible, and to continue making fundamental contributions to our knowledge and understanding of nature and culture, is our commitment to the training of future generations of scientists and museum professionals. Every year we offer several professional development and training opportunities for national and international students and researchers–from internships for high school and undergraduate students to conduct research under the mentorship of Museum scientists, to fellowships for pre-and postdoctoral students, as well as other professionals, to pursue independent research topics. By cultivating and supporting a vibrant, diverse and inclusive academic community we aim to play a critical role in building scientific capacity to deepen our understanding of Earth processes, biodiversity and evolution, as well as our origins and cultural diversity, and to advance knowledge that can help us to make more informed decisions about the management of our planet.

Science Collection Profile

Total Specimen Count:  126.9 million
Number of Types: 874,878
Annual New Acquisitions:  280,619
Specimens Loaned:  2.6 million

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

RESEARCH STAFF

CODDINGTON, Jonathan A., Senior Research Entomologist and Curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda. B.A. (1975) Yale; M.A. (1978), Ph.D. (1984) Harvard University. Research specialties: Systematics and behavior of spiders; species richness estimation; theory and design of biological inventories.

HAYEK, Lee-Ann, Chief Mathematical Statistician and Senior Research Scientist. A.B. (1965) Emmanuel College; Ph.D. (1978) University of Maryland. Research specialties: Mathematical statistical modeling and scientific problem solution for complex biological and environmental systems. Subspecialties in quantitative and statistical field ecology/paleoecology/biological diversity, especially marine.

KNOWLTON, Nancy, Sant Chair in Marine Sciences. A.B. (1971) Harvard University; Ph.D. (1978) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Systematics, evolution, ecology and behavior of marine invertebrates, particularly shrimps and corals, marine biodiversity, systematics, evolution, conservation.

SAMPER, Cristian K., Director. B.S. (1987) Universidad de los Andes; M.A. (1989), Ph.D. (1992) Harvard University. Research specialties: Tropical forest ecology.

PRIORITY INITIATIVES

Ocean Initiative
Understanding and Preserving the Diversity of Life in the Ocean
(http://www.mnh.si.edu/ocean/)

The Ocean Initiative is a multi-faceted endeavor to build upon the distinguished history of marine science research at the Museum. The initiative works on several fronts: to engage, educate, and  inspire visitors through state of the art displays in the Museum's new Ocean Hall and through an education program that includes family events and lectures; to communicate ocean issues to the broader public and educators via the  Museum's Ocean Portal (http://ocean.si.edu/); and to expand understanding of our oceans through a diverse array of research efforts including a global ocean observatory network and genetic barcoding of the ocean’s vast diversity of marine life at ocean observatory sites. Contact: Nancy Knowlton.

Human Origins Initiative
What Does It Mean to be Human?
(http://humanorigins.si.edu/)

Our origin and evolution as humans is a compelling scientific question. Where did we come from and how have we changed over time? What are the main characteristics that make us human? The Human Origins Initiative addresses these and other challenging questions, and expands our understanding of human evolution.  Our researchers are investigating the evolution of human ancestors in Africa and Asia, focusing particularly on how human adaptations relate to environmental change over millions of years. The initiative has strengthened the human origins research program in collaboration with institutions and scientists from developing countries, established the Peter Buck Chair in Human Origins, and designed and completed the renovations for the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins.  Contact: Richard Potts.

Encyclopedia of Life
A Web Page for Every Species
(http://www.eol.org/)

Launched in 2007, the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is an online biodiversity resource that seeks to provide global access to knowledge about life on Earth, offering ‘one-stop shopping’ for authoritative information on all known and named species. EOL engages a wide audience of educators, citizen scientists, academics and the general public and serves as a vital tool to increasing our collective understanding of life on this planet, and to safeguarding the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.  The project brings together several of the world’s leading natural history institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum of Natural History, Harvard University, the Marine Biological Laboratory, Missouri Botanical Garden and the Biodiversity Heritage Library consortium. Other institutions from around the world continue to be invited as collaborators. The EOL Secretariat is hosted at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.  Contact: Erick Mata.

Global Genome Initiative
Preserving the Diversity of the Tree of Life

The Global Genome Initiative aims to preserve the planet’s genetic diversity by sustaining the next generation of biodiversity collections and helping to solve many of humanity’s biological challenges and, in the process, transform the Museum into a 21st century institution.  The diversity of genomes holds great potential for explaining the evolutionary relationships of organisms and supporting advancements in agriculture, medicine, environmental stewardship, and even national security.  Contact: Jonathan Coddington.

Recovering Voices Initiative
Preserving Endangered Languages and Traditional Knowledge

An estimated 90 percent of the world’s more than 6,000 languages will disappear or be threatened with extinction by 2100. The loss of languages in small indigenous communities—and the associated loss of traditional knowledge embodied in those languages—is universally regarded as one of the 21st century’s key global societal challenges.  The Museum hosts the National Anthropological Archives and the Human Studies Film Archives and holds vast ethnological and natural history collections from many parts of the world. These resources support the documentation of many of the world’s extinct and endangered languages and assist global efforts to preserve indigenous languages and knowledge systems. In collaboration with other units of the Smithsonian and external partners, this new initiative will assist community-based efforts to document, preserve, and revitalize language and knowledge. Contact: Joshua Bell.

Deep Time Initiative
Understanding Impacts of Environmental Change on the Evolution of Life on Earth

Humans are now altering the life-support systems of the entire planet, marking a unique moment in Earth’s 4.56-billion-year history.  It is essential that we understand how global systems change over time and develop sustainable strategies for the management of natural systems.  The Museum has the largest fossil collection in the world with 40 million specimens and a team of expert scientists studying the evolution of the Earth and its biological communities over time. However, our Paleobiology exhibitions are outdated and in urgent need of a complete overhaul, and our online resources dedicated to this critical topic are limited. At a time when the public is increasingly aware of the impact of climate change on our planet and our own livelihoods, we want to encourage society to learn from the past and how humans are changing the future. We aim to establish the Smithsonian as the world leader in understanding global change over time. Contact: Kay Behrensmeyer.

CENTRAL PROGRAMS

Consortium for the Barcode of Life
(http://barcoding.si.edu/index.htm)

The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) is an international initiative devoted to developing DNA barcoding as: an accurate and reliable tool for scientific research on the taxonomy of plant and animal species; a practical, cost-effective tool for assigning unidentified specimens to their correct species; and a system for expanding interest and activity in taxonomy. Established in 2004 with the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, CBOL is an alliance of more than 170 institutions (e.g. natural history museums and herbaria), research organizations (e.g. genetic sequencing labs and bioinformatics groups) and private sector partners (e.g. technology developers) representing over 50 countries who are involved in building specimen-based DNA barcoding resources. The group also includes government agencies that will benefit from the application of rapid species identification.. The CBOL Secretariat is hosted by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Contact: David Schindel.

Integrated Taxonomic Information System
(http://www.itis.gov/)

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) provides authoritative taxonomic information on more than 632,000 accepted scientific names, synonyms, and common names for terrestrial, marine, and freshwater species from all biological kingdoms. It presents the names in a standard classification that contains author, date, geographic (native vs. non-native), and bibliographic information related to the names. The system focuses on global species, with an emphasis on North America, and is accessible via the World Wide Web in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.  Through ITIS, users can access the current scientific names of organisms and synonyms.  ITIS is a standard reference for taxonomic information that facilitates biological data sharing and biological inventory, monitoring, and research. The ITIS database is made available for broad, continual use by government agencies, scientists, and the public by linking an advanced relational database to Web technology, tools, and services. Contact: Thomas Orrell.

CENTRAL FACILITIES

Laboratories of Analytical Biology

The Laboratories of Analytical Biology (LAB) serve the research community of the NMNH in the pursuit of focused, first class science with an experienced staff, shared instrumentation, support and training. The aim of LAB is to enhance the research environment and contribute to general scientific literacy by providing current technological resources in the areas of molecular biology and scientific computing.  The LAB genomics facilities include an 8,000 square-foot laboratory and office complex at MSC and a 400 square-foot satellite facility in NMNH (with the renovated 10,000 square-foot LAB spaces at NMNH slated for occupation in 2011). Lab space and equipment provide the capability of performing a full range of comparative modern molecular methods and include separate pre- and post-PCR facilities. Automated DNA extractors, staffed capillary DNA sequencing instruments, dozens of PCR machines, including a real-time PCR capability, microfluidic separation technology for DNA, RNA and proteins, automated robotic liquid handlers, and cloning areas are housed within the genomics core. Computer facilities include Macintosh and PC compatible computers and a new, expanded parallel computing cluster connected in a network to facilitate the collection and analysis of molecular data. LAB also provides access to key-served molecular analytical software.  All NMNH researchers and affiliated staff, with the approval of their department chair, can request bench space as well as use of computer facilities and equipment. Contact: Lee Weigt.

Imaging
Imaging is comprised of two units in three photographic studios and two laboratories located at the Natural History Building and the Museum Support Center.  Working together in direct support of the research interests of NMNH scientists, affiliates and other SI staff are the Center for Scientific Imaging and Photography (CSIP) and the Scanning Electron Microscopy Lab (SEM Lab).

-  Center for Scientific Imaging and Photography (CSIP).  Responsible for creating images of the Museum’s exhibits, collections, personnel, scientific events, research , and public programs for publication, research, documentary, and technical purposes in conventional film and digital formats. Studios are well equipped with the latest technology and staffed with exceptionally skilled, world renowned photographers who produce only the finest images. Working under a variety of conditions from the studio to the field they are here in support of first class research providing stunning and scientifically accurate photography and printing. Contact Donald Hurlbert.

-  Scanning Electron Microscopy Laboratory.  The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Lab provides for the examination and photography of microscopic specimens.  The SEM Lab supports the research interests and conservation efforts of NMNH scientists by providing state-of-the-art instrumentation, training in its use, and assistance in preparing samples for study. The SEM Lab is equipped for conventional preparation, whole mount replicas, whole mount preparations and high resolution scanning electron microscopy. The laboratory has two conventional SEM's plus an environmental SEM enabling research on difficult, uncoated, or hydrated materials. A high quality stereo microscope allows researchers to overcome the lack of depth of field typically encountered in light optics. The SEM Lab also includes a vacuum evaporator, high-resolution sputter coater, critical point dryer, freeze dryer and all other ancillary support equipment for specimen preparation and examination.  Any NMNH researcher, with the approval of their department chair, can use the facility, instrumentation and all equipment for which they have received training. Contact: Scott Whittaker.

Natural History Libraries
(http://www.sil.si.edu/libraries/nmnh-hp.htm)

The NMNH Library was formed as an administrative entity in 1981 and is one of 20 libraries within the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. It consists of a main location plus 15 specialized collections. The library features scholarly, highly technical and research-oriented materials in cross-disciplinary topics within the general areas of interest to the NMNH. It contains about 120,000 items on general science, biology, ecology, evolution, biodiversity, geology, paleontology, conservation and other subjects. There are over 500 journal subscriptions and a large number of journals received on exchange. The NMNH Main Library and its satellite locations all have strong collections of 19th- and 20th-century literature. In addition, the National Agricultural Library, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the Geological Survey Library make the Washington area one of the best in the country for bibliographic research. Contact: Ann Juneau.

Natural History Libraries - Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History
(http://www.sil.si.edu/Libraries/cullman/)

The Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History holds a world-class collection of rare materials in the history of anthropology and the natural sciences, with over 12,000 rare books dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Opened in 2002, the facility brings together subject-specific collections previously scattered across twelve separate locations in three buildings. The collections span the range of research interests in NMNH: physical and cultural anthropology, ethnology, Native American linguistics, and archeology; botany and horticulture; ornithology, mammalogy, herpetology, ichthyology, entomology, malacology, and other zoological fields; vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology, and paleobotany; and geology and mineralogy. The Library provides cross-disciplinary strengths in the narratives and reports of early voyages of exploration and scientific expeditions (including 19th-century archival material in the Russell E. Train Africana collection), catalogues of natural-history collections from the Renaissance into the modern era, and publications on field-collecting and museum preservation techniques in the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition, the Cullman Library holds the personal library of founder James Smithson, the Deshayes card file on molluscan taxonomy, the Wheldon & Wesley (natural-history booksellers) card index 1950-2000, and a collection of decorated 19th-century bindings from the Institution's former Horticulture Library.  Contact: Leslie Overstreet.

Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce
701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida 34949
(http://www.sms.si.edu/)

The Smithsonian Marine Station (SMS), located in Fort Pierce on the east coast of central Florida, is a center for research and education in the marine sciences. SMS is a facility of the NMNH and serves as a field station that draws more than 100 top scientists and students each year from the Smithsonian and collaborating institutions around the world. The facility is situated in a biogeographical transitional zone where there is access to both tropical and temperate biota, and the Gulf Stream is easily accessible with its abundance of long-distance larvae and rich plankton. A diverse fauna is found in the variety of habitats from the mangroves, seagrass beds, and mud flats of the Indian River Lagoon to the sandy beaches and worm reefs of the oceanic coast and the various substrata of the offshore continental shelf including coquinoid limestone ledges, oculinid coral reefs, and shell hash plains. The SMS specializes in studies of marine biodiversity and ecosystems of Florida.

Research focuses on the Indian River Lagoon and the offshore waters of Florida's east central coast, with comparative studies throughout coastal Florida. Ongoing research programs include the systematics, ecology, and functional morphology of algae; life histories of meiofaunal organisms, sipunculans, polychaetes, and gastropods; ecology of foraminiferans; systematics, reproduction, and ecology of several groups of echinoderms and crustacea; and studies of mangrove ecosystems. The resident science program concentrates on life histories of marine invertebrates, benthic ecology of the Indian River Lagoon and near shore reefs, marine plant-animal interactions, and chemical ecology of seaweeds and invertebrates. 

The facilities at the SMS include an 8,000 square-foot laboratory/office building and a residence for visiting scientists on an 8-acre campus. Available for use by visiting scientists are laboratories for histology, confocal and electron microscopy, electrophoresis, DNA studies, biochemistry, a small industrial shop, and offices and laboratories for individual scientists. Specialized equipment includes recirculating sea water systems, equipment for preparing tissues for light and electron microscopy, a scanning/ transmission electron microscope (STEM), confocal microscope, centrifuges, an ultra-cold freezer, equipment for electrophoresis studies, a thermocycler for DNA analyses, high-performance liquid chromatographs, a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, and a UV-visual spectrophotometer. There is also a wide variety of light microscopes and photographic, video and computer equipment. The SMS owns four boats for use in field studies: a 17-foot Boston Whaler and 21-foot Carolina Skiff for research within the Indian River lagoon, a 21-foot center-console boat to access near-shore waters, and a 39-foot boat, the R/V SUNBURST, for work on the nearby continental shelf. Contact: Valerie Paul.

Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE) Program
Carrie Bow Cay Field Station, Belize
(http://www.ccre.si.edu)

The Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE) Program was formally established in 1985 although the program has its roots in a collaborative mangrove and reef research project begun in 1972. CCRE is dedicated to field and laboratory research in all science disciplines contributing to our knowledge of Caribbean coral reef and related ecological systems, present and past. Carrie Bow Cay, a 0.4 hectare (1 acre) sand island on top of the southern Belize barrier reef serves as a field laboratory for scientific investigators from NMNH and co-investigators from other Smithsonian units. The facilities at Carrie Bow Cay can accommodate up to 6 scientists and staff for 1-3 weeks at a time.  The laboratory building houses a wet lab with flow-through seawater and dry lab spaces with stereo and compound microscopes and limited lab supplies. Three outboard skiffs (15-25 ft.) are available for use as well as full SCUBA amenities.  A station manager and a cook are always on duty. Contact: Valerie Paul

RESEARCH STAFF

PAUL, Valerie, Head Scientist. B.A. (1979), Ph.D. (1985) University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Research specialties: Marine chemical ecology, marine plant-herbivore interactions, coral reef ecology, and marine natural products.

TUNBERG, Bjorn, Marine Ecologist. B.S. (1978) University of Stockholm; M.S. (1980) University of Bergen; Ph.D. (1984) University of Goteborg. Research specialties: Marine benthic ecology, crustacean ecology, impacts on marine communities from climatic change and oscillations, ecosystem trophodynamics.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

RICE, Mary E., Emeritus Senior Scientist. B.A. (1947) Drew University; M.A. (1949) Oberlin College; Ph.D. (1966) University of Washington. Research specialties: Systematics and development of the Sipuncula; research on reproductive biology and comparative developmental patterns, larval biology and metamorphosis of marine invertebrates; biology of rock-boring organisms; development and distribution of oceanic larvae.

THEME I: The Formation and Evolution of the Earth and Similar Planets

Our Earth and planetary scientists endeavor to understand the cosmic origins and continuing evolution of Earth and similar planets. Our world-renowned collections of minerals, gems, rocks, ores, and meteorites, and our unprecedented database of volcanic activity, reveal the history of our dynamic planet.  Research strategies include: Planetary Formation and Evolution; Evolution of Earth-like Planets; and Planetary Habitability to increase our knowledge and understanding of what makes planets suitable for life.

DEPARTMENT OF MINERAL SCIENCES (http://mineralsciences.si.edu/ )

The mission of the Department of Mineral Sciences is to seek answers to questions about the origin of the solar system, planetary differentiation, the debate about possible traces of ancient extraterrestrial life, insights into crustal and mantle processes that are linked to understanding volcanism, earthquakes and plate tectonics, and improved knowledge of interactions of minerals with the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.

Research

Broad, long-term research now underway in the Department of Mineral Sciences includes studies of rocks dredged and drilled from the deep oceans; field and laboratory investigations of active volcanoes; systematic investigations of major mineral groups, including crystallographic and structural examination; analysis of global volcanic patterns for the past 10,000 years; chemical and mineralogical analysis of meteorites; geochemistry of metamorphic rocks and fluids; the tectonic evolution of high pressure low temperature metamorphic terrains; fluid-mineral-microbe interaction and biomineralization. Research strengths include meteoritics, mineralogy, petrology, and volcanology.

Collections

Mineral Sciences Collection Profile

- Number of Specimens:  742,051
- Types: 1,056

The Department of Mineral Sciences curates collections of minerals, gems, rocks, ores, meteorites, tektites, and volcanologic data/images that are among the largest and most complete in the world. The ever-expanding collections constitute large reservoirs of source material for a great variety of research questions in meteoritics, mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, and economic geology.

National Meteorite Collection

The U.S. National Meteorite Collection is one the largest and among the best museum-based collections of meteorites in the world, particularly strong in iron meteorites. The collection includes over 45,000 samples representing about 17,000 different meteorites, including meteorites collected in Antarctica as part of the U.S. Antarctica Meteorite Program, as well as meteorites from the Moon and Mars, including 10 of the approximately 50 known Martian meteorites. The collection has over 12,000 polished thin sections and contains pieces of every type of meteorite.

National Gem and Mineral Collection

The National Gem and Mineral Collection is one of the greatest collections of its kind in the world with highly prized objects as well as comprehensive mineralogical reference material. The collection traces its origins to the minerals that were bequeathed by James Smithson, along with the money to establish the Smithsonian Institution, over 150 years ago. The collection adds specimens through gifts, purchases using private endowments established for that purpose, field collection, and exchange.  In particular, the gem collection has been built almost entirely by gifts from individuals.  There are approximately 380,000 mineral specimens and 10,000 gems, making it one of the largest of its kind in the world including such famous pieces as the Hope Diamond and the Star of Asia Sapphire.

National Rock and Ore Collection

The National Rock and Ore Collection is divided into over forty sub-collections for ease of research use. These collections together number about 265,000 catalogued and computer inventoried specimens with an additional 70,000 specimens awaiting curation. Large and very well documented collections of mantle xenoliths, ocean basin lavas, ores and edifice and eruption keyed volcanic rocks have worldwide coverage. Additional highlights include historically significant collections, especially of the United States Geological Survey specimens, island rocks, petrologic features, petrographic and lithological reference collections, building stones, and impactites. Important collections available for study but not yet catalogued include the Shoemaker impactites, Boyd and Wilshire xenoliths, Chao and Cameron ore deposits, Bateman granites, the Buddington teaching Collection and the Princeton Theses Collection.

Most of the rocks and ores are part of the Locality Collection. This collection is organized into small suites of rocks from the same locality, such as a particular quadrangle or geological setting. These are typically petrogenetically related and usually described in at least one reference. The Volcanological Reference Collection includes specimens from approximately 300 different volcanoes or volcanic fields. Many are from dated eruptions. This collection, organized by eruption year, includes a large suite from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory of eruptive material from Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes. The collection also includes drill cores from the Kilauea Iki and Makaopuhi lava lakes. The Ore Collection is a systematic collection of metallic ores and mineral commodities. The collection includes metal-bearing minerals and massive ore-bearing material (primarily from major U.S. mines opened prior to 1930), as well as some non-metallic minerals and commodities such as pigments, abrasives, salts, clays, and hydrocarbons. The Sea Floor Rock Collection includes dredged and cored specimens from mid-ocean ridges, seamounts, and fracture zones, as well as a large manganese nodule collection. The Impactite Collection includes shocked rocks from impact structures around the world. Often the corresponding meteoritic material is also represented in the National Meteorite Collection.  The Building Stones Collection features rocks utilized for building and ornamentation, and is composed primarily of material received from the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 and from the Tenth Census at the close of an investigation into the quarrying industries of the U.S. in 1880. Most specimens are from domestic quarries, with some foreign varieties represented.

Facilities

The Department of Mineral Sciences is well equipped for the study of rocks and minerals. In addition to a capability for classical gravimetric analysis in the wet-chemistry laboratory, the instrumentation includes an electron microprobe and an analytical scanning electron microscope, and X-ray diffraction facilities. Also available are an infrared spectrometer, CCD imaging and spectroscopy with a cathodoluminescence microscope, and numerous optical microscopes. The Department has a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer, which can analyze the elemental compositions of minerals on the nanoscale, and a microdiffractometer, which can non-destructively obtain an X-ray diffraction pattern from a small area on a polished sample. A well-equipped shop for preparation of thin and polished sections provides supporting services to the scientific staff. The facilities include a room-size rock saw to section exceptionally large rocks as well as meteorites. At the Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland, the Department maintains a clean room modeled on the facility used for Moon rocks at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Fieldwork
Geologists from the Department conduct fieldwork at sites around the world. Recent research areas have included: the famous jade mines of Burma (Myanmar) and Mesoamerican jade quarries in Guatemala; emerald deposits of North Carolina; gem pegmatite deposits in the United States; deep submersible study of a large submarine caldera south of Japan, where active ore forming processes are occurring; young lava flows from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii and acid-mine drainage sites in Appalachia.

Publications

The Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network is published monthly by the Department's Global Volcanism Program. The departmental newsletter, NMNH Geoscience, is published quarterly and is accessible on our website.

Education and Outreach

Members of the Department are actively involved in a number of education-related and outreach programs within and outside of the Institution such as public lectures, traveling exhibits, hosting of interns and fellows, and collaborating with a variety of university and other agency partners.

Libraries

The Mineral Sciences library contains about 15,000 volumes and 100 journal titles and focuses on mineralogy, gemology, volcanology, meteorites, petrology, and geochemistry.

Programs and Partnerships

The Global Volcanism Program (http://www.volcano.si.edu/)

The Global Volcanism Program (GVP) is the hub of an international network for monitoring, reporting, and maintaining data related to volcanic activity around the world. The GVP plays a leadership role in global volcano information - tracking events as they happen, building the database of critical information, and using these resources both for NMNH research projects and for answering questions about volcanology from other scientists, the media, and the public. The large and growing database contains information for more than 1,500 active volcanoes from around the world and more than 10,000 of their known eruptions in the last 10,000 years. Most of these data are now available on our website, along with our systematic monthly and weekly volcanic activity reports, the latter in collaboration with the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The GVP also maintains extensive collections of maps, images, and other resources for Earth's active volcanoes. The GVP collaborates with non-Smithsonian scientists and organizations concerned with volcano hazards, airline safety, geothermal energy, and global climate change, including the USGS, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Federal Aviation Administration. Contact: Paul Kimberly.

The Antarctic Meteorite Program

The Antarctic Meteorite Program was established in 1976.  Cooperatively administered by the Smithsonian Institution, the National Science Foundation, and NASA, the focus of the Program is the collection, curation, and long-term storage of meteorites recovered from the Antarctic ice sheets. Curators in the Department of Mineral Sciences classify each of the meteorites returned and publish these results in the Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, issued twice a year by NASA's Johnson Space Center. The Smithsonian also curates Antarctic meteorites, where the entire collection will eventually reside. Of the 17,000 distinct meteorites in the Smithsonian's National Meteorite Collection, more than 15,000 come from Antarctica. Contact: Cari Corrigan.

RESEARCH STAFF

COTTRELL, Elizabeth, Research Geologist and Associate Curator. B.S. (1997) Brown University, Ph.D. (2004) Columbia University. Research specialties: experimental geochemistry and petrology, volcanology,.

MACPHERSON, Glenn J., Geologist. B.S. (1972) University of California, Santa Cruz; Ph.D. (1981) Princeton University. Research specialties: Origin of the solar system, through geochemical studies of meteorites and comets; origin of the continental margin of North America, through geochemical studies of ancient volcanic rocks.

McCOY, Timothy J., Geologist, Associate Curator. B.S. (1986) Eastern Illinois University; M.S. (1990) University of New Mexico; Ph.D. (1994) University of Hawaii, Manoa. Research specialties: Meteorites, igneous evolution of small bodies in the early solar system, martian volcanological history derived from meteorites.

POST, Jeffrey E., Mineralogist; Curator, gems and minerals. B.S. (1976) University of Wisconsin, Platteville; Ph.D. (1981) Arizona State University. Research specialties: Environmental mineralogy, single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction; electron microscopy; manganese oxide minerals; clay minerals; computer modeling of mineral structures, rietveld analysis; gemology.

SANTELLI, Cara, Geologist. B.S. (2000) University of Wisconsin, Madison; Ph.D. (2007) Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Research specialties: Biologically induced mineral precipitation and dissolution; microbiologically mediated metal redox.

SORENSEN, Sorena S., Geologist and Chair of Mineral Sciences. B.A. (1978), Pomona College; Ph.D. (1984) University of California, Los Angeles. Research specialties: Metamorphic petrology; major, minor, and trace element geochemistry of metamorphic and igneous rocks; field studies of metasomatic fluid/rock interactions; petrotectonic evolution of high P/T and arc-related metamorphic terranes.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

BULLOCK, Emma, Geochemist. B.S. (2001) University of Manchester; Ph.D. (2006) The Open University. Research specialties: Chronology of the early solar system; formation of calcium-aluminum rich inclusions; isotopic systems; petrology of primitive carbonaceous chondrites, cometary samples; aqueous alteration to primitive carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies, alteration to sulfide minerals, sulfur isotopes.

CORRIGAN, Catherine, Geologist. B.S. (1995), M.S. (1998) Michigan State University; Ph.D. (2004) Case Western Reserve University. Research specialties: Meteorites.

FISKE, Richard, Geologist Emeritus. B.S. (1954), M.S. (1955) Princeton University; Ph.D. (1960) Johns Hopkins University. Research specialties: Structure of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii; explosivity of Kilauea Volcano; submarine pyroclastic volcanism along the Izu Bonin arc, Japan; mesozoic volcanic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada, California.

THEME II: Discovering and Understanding Life’s Diversity

Our biologists and paleontologists are interested in the diversity and evolution of life on Earth. They play a major role in the discovery and classification of species, as well as in the study of the patterns and processes that explain the distribution of life in the past and present.  As the scientific research focus of five Departments (Paleobiology, Botany, Entomology, Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology), our researchers draw on our unparalleled collections of animals, plants, and other organisms present and past. Research strategies include: Encyclopedia of Life to discover and describe the diversity of species; Forces of Change to understand the evolutionary and ecological forces that affect diversity; and Biology of Extinction to understand the extinction of species and loss of habitats, whether past or present, and provide strategies for reversing human impacts and restoring and protecting species and habitats.

DEPARTMENT OF PALEOBIOLOGY

(http://paleobiology.si.edu/)

The mission of the Department of Paleobiology is the discovery, description, and interpretation of the past history of life on Earth and its context within the surrounding environment. Research efforts of the Department are driven by important evolutionary and ecological questions that require the charting of the patterns and processes of past life. These endeavors are accomplished by active field work, examination of collections, archiving of resulting data, publication of research results, and sponsoring a variety of education and outreach activities.

Research

The Department of Paleobiology is a center for interdisciplinary research on the history of the Earth and its biota, and their interactions through time. Research programs in paleontology encompass the systematics of specific fossil animal and plant groups and their associations, the evolutionary processes underlying phylogenetic patterns, paleoecology, the responses of ecosystems to abiotic and biotic change, and the relationships of ecological patterns to evolving lineages. Studies of environmental history emphasize the responses of shallow-water depositional systems to changing climates and rates of subsidence, reef dynamics, and the history of ocean basins.

Collections

Paleobiology Collection Profile

- Number of Specimens: 42.6 million
- Types: 297,000

The Collection counts more than 42 million fossils including over 290,000 type specimens, and 50,000 sediment samples with representative material collected within and outside the United States and spans geologic time from the Precambrian to the Recent. To facilitate access, accountability, and curation, the Collection is divided into four sub-collections: invertebrates, vertebrates, plant fossils, and sediment samples. There is a general organizational scheme used for most of the sub-collections. Published specimens are grouped by geologic age and taxon (e.g., Mesozoic Gastropoda Type, Paleozoic Anthozoa Type). Identified but unpublished specimens are stored either as a unit (e.g., Brachiopoda Biological Collection) or by geologic age and taxon (e.g., Mesozoic Gastropoda Biologic). Stratigraphic collections are organized by geologic age then locality. Although they contain a variety of taxa, some unique collections (e.g. Burgess Shale Types, Burgess Shale Biologics) are kept together as sub-collections. The collections also include outstanding archival documentation relating to collections and specimens such as illustrations, paintings, field notebooks, annotated maps, correspondence, photographs, specimen ledgers, and card files.

Each year, thousands of specimens are loaned to students and researchers around the world for scientific investigation as well as for exhibit. Specimens are added through staff collecting, donations from private individuals and educational/public institutions, and transfers from other government agencies.

Invertebrate Paleontology

The collections include outstanding invertebrate paleontology collections, including the Trilobite Type Collection; Cenozoic Marine Mollusk Type Collection; Burgess Shale Collection; Echinodermata including the Springer Collection; Glass Mountain Collection (Brachiopoda); Green River Insect Collection; Forminifera Collection; Solnhofen Collection; and the Micropaleontological Reference Center Collection housing more than 10,000 microfossil samples of foraminifera in specimen containers, as well as calcareous nannofossils, radiolarians and diatoms on slides.

The holdings of the Burgess Shale total over 65,000 specimens and represent the largest collection of these fossils in the world. Most invertebrate type and non-type collections, published and unpublished specimens, are kept within their distinct collections and  grouped by class and age.

The Springer Collection of echinoderms, donated by Frank Springer in 1911, is the largest repository of fossil crinoids in the world. It consists of nearly 4,500 primary types, including 1,678 holotypes, mostly from Paleozoic sequences in North America and Europe. In addition to the primary types there are more than 100,000 secondary types derived from all parts of the world.

The Foraminifera Collection is the largest repository in the world of foraminiferal type specimens including over 16,000 primary types (holotypes and paratypes) and over 200,000 secondary types. This assemblage represents about 75% of all the type specimens of the American smaller foraminifera and 90% of the larger American Mesozoic and Cenozoic foraminifera. The collection includes the Cushman Collection of Foraminifera, willed to the Smithsonian by Dr. Joseph A Cushman, of approximately 150,000 mounted slides, 25,000 type slides and figured specimens.

Vertebrate Paleontology

Outstanding collections include the Hagerman Horse Collection; Teleoceras Collection; Marsh Dinosaur Collection; and Fossil Marine Mammal Collection. Vertebrate collections of fish, amphibians, and reptiles are arranged taxonomically; mammals are organized first by stage and then taxonomy.

The first significant dinosaur fossils added to the museum's collections was the type specimen of the sauropod Dystrophaeus viaemalae, collected by J. S. Newberry and donated in 1859, and the Lower Jurassic dinosaur footprints from the Connecticut Valley, donated in 1861. The collections currently include over 1,500 catalogued specimens of dinosaurs, 30 of which are on display. The Marsh Collection, the largest single dinosaur collection at the Smithsonian, includes some of the most important dinosaurs known to science including exhibit specimens of Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Camptosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Triceratops, and Edmontosaurus.

Paleobotany

The paleobotany type collection, considered among the best collections of its kind in the world, is arranged by publication date and author whereas the rest of the paleobotany collections are organized by stratigraphy, collector, or age. The fossil plant collections are complemented by two collections of modern cleared and stained leaf samples of flowering plants, preserved on more than 20,000 glass slides, the best of their kind for comparison with fossil material.

Sedimentology

The Sediment Collection includes a reference collection of over 120,000 stratigraphic and sediment samples as well as representative material collected during historic cruises such as the Albatross and Coastal Survey Studies conducted in the late 1800's. In addition, cores collected from coral reefs to study their Holocene history include cores from Galeta Reef, Panama, Nonsuch Bay, Antigua, Stocking Island, Bahamas, and Holandes Cay, Panama. Also included are surface samples from Cobbler’s reef, Barbados, and stromatolite samples from both north Belize and Shark Bay, Australia.

Facilities

Laboratories of the Department include the Paleontology Preparation Lab, Sedimentology Lab, Acid Room, and several specialized preparation areas for invertebrates and fossil plants. These laboratories are well equipped for paleontological, sedimentological, and marine geological research. The Department maintains a darkroom, facilities for preparation of thin sections, petrographic equipment, X-ray apparatus, and several facilities for bulk maceration of matrix-bound fossil specimens ranging from arthropod cuticles to vertebrate bones.

Field Work

Active, on-going field research sites include the Western Interior of North America, and involves collections of paleobotanical, vertebrate, and invertebrate fossils from Late Paleozoic to Neogene deposits. Departmental staff also have major field programs in Africa, including southern Africa, where Permian to Triassic strata are examined for biotic turnover, eastern Africa, particularly the Pliocene to Recent record of hominids and co-occurring mammals in Kenya and the adjacent region, and the Nile Delta in northeastern Africa, where the sedimentological and human record of Dynastic to Roman Egypt is preserved. The Department also is actively involved in research of coral reefs at Carrie Bow Cay in Belize, as well as sites across the major oceans where sediment cores are examined for microfossil and physical material to detect major environmental and biological events during the past 100 million years.

Publications

The Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology is a monographic series dedicated to the publication of extensive systematic studies of fossil organisms. The Atoll Research Bulletin covers research on the biology, ecology, and environmental settings of present-day and fossil coral reefs. The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Newsletter informs colleagues of research, colloquia, and other events pertaining to the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems consortium at the NMNH. The Fossil Record is the quarterly Department newsletter and includes narrative updates of departmental activities and research.

Education and Outreach

The Department of Paleobiology organizes and participates in a variety of public outreach programs, both formally and informally. The most popular educational program is the Paleobiology Training Program, which consists of classes plus field trips covering an introduction to geology and paleontology and an overview of current departmental research. The FossiLab is a glass enclosed laboratory in the paleontology exhibits space where trained volunteers prepare fossils for scientific study, display, or storage, and speak with the public about their work. Through a variety of cooperative arrangements staff members act both formally and informally as advisors to graduate students and occasionally teach courses at universities both locally and nationally. Specimens are made available to students for thesis work through loans to their academic advisors and students and researchers are welcome to visit the collections and facilities to conduct their investigations on-site. 

Libraries

The Department of Paleobiology maintains 7 libraries. For some, oversight is jointly shared with the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (Kellogg, Vertebrate Paleontology, Cooper). For others (Todd, Paleobotany, Coral, Brachiopod) the responsibility for care and maintenance rests solely with Paleobiology staff. The libraries contain books of general interest to geology and paleontology, as well as volumes specific to the taxonomic focus. The Department houses a complete set of the Deep Sea Drilling Project-Ocean Drilling Program publications in the Micropaleontological Reference Center.

The Vertebrate Paleontology library collection holds over 1,800 volumes focusing on physical geography, stratigraphy and systematic paleontology and paleozoology of chordates and vertebrates of the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Tertiary, and Quaternary periods. The Cooper Reading Room contains about 250 volumes on general geology, invertebrate paleobiology, historical geology, paleontology and other subjects.

The Remington Kellogg Library of Marine Mammalogy contains about 1,800 books and bound journals on all aspects of fossil and living marine mammals, including paleontology, morphology and phylogeny.

Programs and Partnerships

The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program
(http://www.mnh.si.edu/ete/)

The Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program (ETE) is an interdisciplinary program whose mission is to document and interpret the history of terrestrial ecosystems from 420 million years ago to the present and to synergize interactions between paleoecologists and ecologists. ETE brings together scientists from around the world to study the patterns and causal process of animal and plant community assembly and disassembly over geological time and up to the present day. Information from the fossil and geological record provides a unique perspective on ecological change through comparisons of past ecosystems with those of today and helps us to understand how ecosystems could change in the future. Contacts: Anna K. Behrensmeyer and S. Kathleen Lyons.

The Paleobiology Training Program
(http://paleobiology.si.edu/join/ptp/paleoPTP.html)

The Paleobiology Training Program (PTP) is designed to give interested members of the public a 12-lecture introduction to geology, evolution, fossils, and the history of life. The course also includes two field trips. Graduates of the PTP can continue to volunteer for the Department, gaining more specialized knowledge relating to research, collections management, specimen conservation or other departmental activities.  A fee of $200 per participant is charged to cover the cost of the course. Each participant receives a certificate of completion. Classes are offered from 2-4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoons, and held in the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Class size is limited to 25 students.  Contact: Thomas Jorstad.

RESEARCH STAFF

BEHRENSMEYER, Anna K., Senior Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology. B.A. (1967) Washington University; M.A. (1968), Ph.D. (1973) Harvard University. Research specialties: Paleoecology of terrestrial environments, especially in the later Cenozoic of Africa and Pakistan, continental sedimentation, investigation of taphonomic processes affecting the fossil record, human paleoecology, evolution of terrestrial ecosystems.

BUZAS, Martin A., Senior Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Foraminifera. B.A. (1958) University of Connecticut; M.S. (1960) Brown University; Ph.D. (1963) Yale University. Research specialties: Foraminifera; quantitative ecology-paleoecology; biogeography; evolution.

CARRANO, Mathew T., Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Dinosauria. B.S. (1991) Brown University; M.S. (1995); Ph.D. (1998) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Large-scale evolutionary patterns within Dinosauria; systematics of basal Theropoda; vertebrate paleoecology of Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems; the dinosaur fossil record.

DIMICHELE, William A., Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Paleobotany. B.A. (1974) Drexel University; M.S. (1976), Ph.D. (1979) University of Illinois. Research specialties: Paleoecology, morphology, and systematics of late Paleozoic plants, particularly the structure of late Paleozoic ecosystems and the relationship between long-term ecological and evolutionary patterns.

ERWIN, Douglas, Senior Scientist and Curator of Paleozoic Invertebrates. A.B. (1980) Colgate University; Ph.D. (1985) University of California, Santa Barbara. Research specialties: Macroevolution and evolutionary innovations, particularly the Cambrian metazoan radiation and post-extinction biotic recoveries; the Permian mass extinction; and evolutionary history and systematics of Cambrian-Triassic gastropods.

HUBER, Brian T., Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Foraminifera. B.S. (1981) University of Akron; M.S. (1984); Ph.D. (1988) Ohio State University. Research specialties: Cretaceous climate and oceanography; biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography of Cretaceous and Paleogene foraminifera; evolution and extinction dynamics of Cretaceous and Paleogene planktonic foraminifera; Cretaceous strontium and light stable isotope stratigraphy.

HUNT, Eugene (Gene), Curator of Ostracoda. B.S. (1995) Duke University; M.S. (1999), Ph.D. (2003) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Deep-sea Ostracoda; macroevolution; quantitative approaches in paleontology.

LABANDEIRA, Conrad, Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Fossil Arthropods. B.A. (1980) California State University, Fresno; M.S. (1986) University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Ph.D. (1990) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Interactions between plants and insects in the fossil record; terrestrial fossil arthropods, particularly insects; evolution of insect mouthparts; fossil insect diversity.

PYENSON, Nicholas, Curator of Fossil Marine Mammals. B.S. (2002) Emory University; Ph.D. (2008) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Marine mammals; marine tetrapods.

SUES, Hans-Dieter, Senior Research Geologist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology. Cand. geol. (1975), Johannes Gutenberg-Universität; M.S. (1977), University of Alberta; M.A. (1978), Ph.D. (1984), Harvard University. Research specialties: Phylogeny and evolutionary morphology of late Paleozoic and Mesozoic non-mammalian synapsids and reptiles (especially non-avian archosaurs); patterns and causes of early Mesozoic biotic changes.

WAGNER, Peter, Curator of Paleozoic Mollusca. B.S. (1986) University of Michigan; B.S. (1989), M.S. (1990) Michigan State University; Ph.D. (1995) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Systematics of Paleozoic molluscs; phylogenetic methodology; rates and trends of morphological evolution; abundance distributions.

WING, Scott L., Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Paleobotany. B.A. (1976), Ph.D. (1981) Yale University. Research specialties: Paleoecology; Cenozoic and Mesozoic paleoclimate; angiosperm history and systematics; fossil plants of the Rocky Mountain region; plant taphonomy.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

BAMBACH, Richard, Research Associate. B.A. (1957) Johns Hopkins University; M.A. (1964) Yale University; Ph.D. (1969) Yale University. Research specialties: Community paleoecology, diversity, and diversity change through time; Paleozoic bivalva mollusks; paleogeography and paleobiogeography; interpretation of depositional environments; macroevolution.

EMRY, Robert J., Curator Emeritus. B.A. (1966) Colorado State University; Ph. D. (1970) Columbia University. Research specialties: Tertiary Mammalia of North America and Central Asia; mammalian evolution and dispersal; biostratigraphy; stratigraphy of Tertiary continental deposits of western North America.

FRENCH, Bevan M., Adjunct Scientist. A.B. (1958) Dartmouth College; M.S. (1960) California Institute of Technology; Ph.D. (1964) Johns Hopkins University. Research specialties: Geology of terrestrial meteorite craters: formation, identification, and geological and biological effects; identification of unique impact-produced shock-wave effects in minerals and rocks; impact debris in the terrestrial sedimentary record and at major extinction boundaries; nature and significance of carbonaceous material in impact craters.

JACKSON, Jeremy, Research Associate. B.A. (1965), M.A. (1968) George Washington University; Ph.D. (1971) Yale University. Research specialties: Ecology and evolution of marine invertebrates; human impacts on tropical marine communities.

LYONS, Kate, Research Paleontologist. B.S. (1991) Wayland Baptist University; M.S. (1994) Texas Tech University; Ph.D. (2001) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Species and community level responses to climate change; extinction risk; macroecological patterns across space and time; macroevolutionary dynamics of mammals; biases in the mammalian fossil record; latitudinal gradients in species richness.

MACINTYRE, Ian G., Research Geologist. B.S. (1957) Queen's University; Ph.D. (1967) McGill University. Research specialties: Carbonate petrography; geological aspects of tropical coral-reef ecosystems; Holocene reef history in the western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific; shallow-water marine geology of the U.S. continental shelf; problems in submarine cementation.

POJETA, JR., John, Research Associate (U.S. Geological Survey, retired). B.S. (1957) Capital University; M.S. (1961), Ph.D. (1963) University of Cincinnati. Research specialties: Lower Paleozoic pelecypods, and rostroconchs--biostratigraphy, systematics and phylogeny of Paleozoic chitons.

SANTIAGO-BLAY, Jorge, Research Associate. B.S. (1979) University of Puerto Rico; M.S. (1985) University of Puerto Rico; Ph.D. (1990) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Fossil Insects.

STANLEY, Jean-Daniel, Senior Scientist Emeritus. B.S. (1956) Cornell University; M.S. (1958) Brown University; D.Sc.(1961) Ecole Nationale Superieure du Petrole and Universite de Grenoble, France. Research specialties: Coastal and delta sedimentology and geoarchaeology; ancient cities submerged in the Mediterranean.

TOSCANO, Marguerite, Research Geologist. B.S. (1982) Long Island University; M.S. (1986), University of Delaware; Ph.D. (1996) University of South Florida.. Research specialties: Quaternary coastal stratigraphy (siliclastic and carbonate); multi-proxy reconstructions of late Quaternary sea-level change; Pleistocene and Holocene coral reef histories, geochronology, paleoclimate, and sea level interpretations; validation of geophysical modeled sea level curves with in situ coral reef data; Mangrove environment paleoecology, paleoclimate and stratigraphic response to sea level changes, stable isotopic profiles in mangrove environments..

TYLER, James C., Senior Scientist Emeritus. B.A. (1957) George Washington University; Ph.D. (1962) Stanford University. Research specialties: Systematic ichthyology, especially of the fishes of the Order Tetraodontiformes; community ecology of coral reef fishes.

WALLER, Thomas R., Curator Emeritus. B.A. (1959), M.S. (1961) University of Wisconsin; Ph.D. (1966) Columbia University. Research specialties: Marine Bivalvia, particularly evolution throughout the Phanerozoic, morphology, shell ultrastructure, larval development, biogeography, and biostratigraphy; monographic studies of living bivalves and their Mesozoic and Cenozoic fossil record.

DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY (http://botany.si.edu)

The Department of Botany's mission is to discover and describe plant life in marine and terrestrial environments, to interpret the evolutionary origin and processes responsible for this diversity, and to understand how humans are affected by and have altered plant diversity on the planet. The Department of Botany hosts events and activities throughout the year to explore and recognize achievements in the botanical community, including the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium.

Research

Research in the Department of Botany focuses on plant systematics in the broadest sense: taxonomy, nomenclature, investigations in comparative anatomy and morphology, molecular systematics, phylogenetics, phytogeography, cytology, ecology, evolutionary theory, and economic botany. Numerous floristic studies have been lead by the Department (floras of the Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the Washington-Baltimore Area, as well as, Burma [Myanmar], the Guianas, the Caribbean, and Venezuela), while other research projects are aimed at elucidating phylogeny, evolutionary development, and broad questions of classification. Both modern and fossil species of many plant groups, including the algae, mosses, and flowering plants, are currently being studied.

Collections

 Botany Collection Profile

- Number of Specimens: 5 million
- Types: 100,000

The United States National Herbarium is the major facility in the Department. The Herbarium was established in 1848, dating back almost to the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution (1846). Collections of plants resulting from various early government expeditions were first deposited in the National Institute, named originally in 1840 as the National Institution for the Promotion of Science. Later these plants were turned over to the newly founded Smithsonian. Of particular interest among these were the large collections (50,000 specimens representing 10,000 species) from the U.S. South Pacific Exploring Expedition, under the command of Lt. Charles Wilkes, U.S.N., which formed the basis for the U.S. National Herbarium. The earliest expeditions sponsored in part by the Smithsonian included the explorations of Charles Wright in Texas and New Mexico in 1848.

The U.S. National Herbarium has approximately 5 million specimens collected from worldwide locations. About 20% of these, from select families, have been inventoried and have data available through an online searchable database. The oldest specimen in the collection is a member of the Scrophulariaceae that was collected sometime between 1584 and 1589. The majority of the Herbarium is arranged phylogenetically by family and genus, and within each genus according to geographic region and further alphabetically by species. The collection includes all major plant groups and is among the ten largest in the world, representing about 8% of the plant collection resources of the United States. Most of the specimens in the collection are standard mounted herbarium sheets, although several small collection subsets of fluid preserved specimens are available for some groups, as well as, bulky parts - typically large specimens stored in boxes or trays. The herbarium includes over 100,000 inventoried type specimens from all areas of the world but is richest in North American and New World tropical species, with additional strengths in the Pacific Islands, the Philippines, and the Indian subcontinent. The Department maintains extremely active loan and acquisition programs. Over 25,000 specimens are lent annually around the world. About 20,000 specimens are acquired annually, primarily through exchange and fieldwork.

Many of the plant groups represented in the U.S. National Herbarium rank among the finest and/or largest in the world. The flowering plant families of Acanthaceae, Asteraceae, Bromeliaceae, Gesneriaceae, Melastomataceae, and Poaceae have especially benefited from a long history of departmental specialist research and study. Active world-class research is also underway in the Araliaceae, Commelinaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae, Onagraceae, Passifloraceae, Sapindaceae, Vitaceae, and Zingiberales.

The Herbarium maintains several important special collections including the DC Herbarium, featuring over 65,000 specimens from the Washington-Baltimore Area, including Plummers Island in the Potomac River. The Richard H. Eyde floral microslide collection includes over 21,500 serial sections representing 114 families of flowering plants, with special strengths in Cornaceae, Onagraceae, and Rubiaceae. Other important collection resources include the Wood Collection housed at the Museum Support Center (MSC), with over 42,500 specimens representing almost 3,000 genera with an additional 6,400 microslides of wood sections. The pollen and spore reference collection includes over 7,500 microslides representing a wide variety of plant families. The bamboo collection is especially diverse. In addition to over 37,000 inventoried herbarium specimens, the collection is supplemented with over 3,600 bulky specimens (including large culms, rhizomes, branch complements, and culm cross-sections); 3,000 fluid-stored specimens (mostly leaves); 1,300 floral dissection mounts; 250 dry fruit and seed specimens; 16,000 photographic slides; 600 black and white photo negatives; and 2,000 anatomical slides of bamboo serial sections, cross-sections, longitudinal sections and epidermal scrapes.

The cryptogamic collections all rank as premier collections, totaling over three-quarters of a million specimens. The lichen herbarium is one of the largest and best curated collections in the world, containing about 250,000 specimens. The collection is especially rich in type material with 2,500 type specimens currently registered. The emphasis of the collection is North American lichens, especially the Parmeliaceae. In addition to the specimens, the lichen collection contains associated research materials, including microscope slides,chemical extracts, chemical identification plates, and SEM photographs and negatives. The collection of bryophytes (250,000 specimens) and the ferns and fern allies (250,000 specimens) also rate as particularly significant, both in terms of size and scientific/historic value.

The Algal Collection of the U.S. National Herbarium is comprised of marine, estuarine, freshwater, terrestrial (including cave), and airborne algae. The collections of algae have increased dramatically over the past two decades and represent an important resource for the study of tropical and subtropical marine taxa. Numbering over 200,000 accessioned and inventoried specimens, it includes herbarium specimens (150,000), microslides (8,300), liquid preserved material (15,000), and bulky material (10,900). Among the collections are 4,700 type specimens. The collection recently acquired an additional 101,000 specimens, featuring crustose coralline algae. Also contained in this collection, but maintained at MSC, are the complete Francis Drouet collection (52,000 specimens) comprised of mainly, but not exclusively, blue-green algae, the non articulated coralline algae (22,000), as well as a separate diatom collection (37,000) of freshwater and marine materials from both recent and fossil samples. The collections include algae specimens from worldwide geographical regions, with major holdings from: Gulf of California, Pacific Mexico, southern and central California and the Channel Islands, the Galapagos Islands, Aldabra Atoll, and the Caribbean (especially Florida, Bahamas, Belize, and Panama).

Mycological specimens are maintained separately with the National Fungus Collections (http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/systematics/usfungu.htm), a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, located in Beltsville, Maryland. All the collection and publication information for types has been databased.

The Department maintains a Botanical Art Collection that serves to document the plant species discovered and described by Smithsonian botanists. The Collection includes over 5,500 works including 22 Margaret Mee paintings, 50 Frederick A. Walpole drawings and paintings, and 311 watercolors by M.E. Eaton from the four-volume work "The Cactaceae", by Britton and Rose. Nearly 2,700 pen and ink drawings, 550 watercolors, and 150 other graphic media are also represented in the collection. The plant images library has over 21,000 photographic images of plant species and their habitats.

The Department is located within easy reach of many other important reference collections in the Washington area, including the Smithsonian Orchid Collection maintained in the Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouses, the National Arboretum, and the United States Botanic Garden, where large living collections of plant species and horticultural varieties are maintained.

Facilities

The Department has a microtechnique laboratory, equipped for anatomy and cytology, that is staffed and maintained for use by researchers and visiting scientists. The Department has a Digital Imaging Studio equipped with scanners and medium-format digital cameras for high-resolution imaging of specimens, especially type collections. The Department maintains a scientific illustration facility and full-time in-residence staff scientific illustrator. At MSC are departmental molecular laboratories (associated with but separate from the Laboratories of Analytical Biology) that allow modern studies using genetic markers and isozymes, including DNA barcoding surveys. A large modern greenhouse complex at MSC with over 7,000 sq. ft. of growing area houses a diversity of living research plants, including rich collections of Commelinaceae, Zingiberales, and blooming corms of the titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum. The greenhouse facility is available for use by staff and associates in cultivating and studying field-collected plants.

Fieldwork

Throughout its history, the Department of Botany has maintained an active field research program in the American tropics but has also undertaken numerous collecting trips on the North American continent and in the Old World tropics. Currently the Department is actively engaged in a multinational effort to produce a flora of the Guianas region, which involves fieldwork and preparation of a written flora. The Department is an Editorial Center for the Flora of China Project. Other areas of concerted fieldwork include Mexico, the Andes, the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, East Africa (including Kenya), and across Asia. It is often possible to arrange to receive genetic resources, anatomical, cytological, or other materials from these expeditions.

Collaborative fieldwork can be arranged with a number of tropical institutions, such as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the Organization for Tropical Studies in Costa Rica, and the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii. Research in marine botany, with emphasis on studies of systematics and functional morphology of selected plants, can be undertaken at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida, and through the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program (CCRE) at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize.

Publications

The Smithsonian Contributions to Botany is an externally peer-reviewed periodical produced by the Department. The journal provides a vehicle for disseminating the results of the scientific research at the U.S. National Herbarium, such as longer taxonomic papers, checklists, floras, and monographs. The Index Nominum Genericorum, a listing of generic names in all plant groups, housed and produced in the Department, is corrected and updated on a continual basis. An inventory and online images of type specimens has been prepared under the auspices of the Type Specimen Register and serves as a convenient source of information concerning collection locality, bibliographic citation, and relevant field data. The Plant Conservation Unit generates and compiles data on endangered and threatened plant species and their habitats. It produces a monthly Biological Conservation Newsletter as well as other publications on plant conservation. The Plant Press, the quarterly newsletter from the Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium, provides information about the activities of the Department including articles about staff research and travel, visitors, new publications, and plant conservation highlights.

Education and Outreach

Graduate studies are available in conjunction with local universities especially George Washington University, Duke University, and the University of Maryland. Through cooperative arrangements with many universities, staff members act both formally and informally as advisors to graduate students and occasionally teach courses in plant systematics. Specimens are made available to students for thesis work through loans to their academic advisors. Students are also encouraged to visit the U.S. National Herbarium, to use the collections and facilities onsite, and to seek advice and help from Department staff members.

Since 2001, the Department has hosted the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, which brings together the national and international plant systematics community to address a botanical topic of current significance. The presentation of the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany, an honor bestowed on a botanist and scholar of international stature who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany, takes place during the annual symposium.

Library

The Botany Branch Library was established in the winter of 1965-1966 and in 2002 the Botany and Smithsonian Horticulture Libraries were combined into one unit housed in the Department. The combined library holdings total over 60,000 volumes and 300 journal subscriptions. The Botany Library includes one of the outstanding resources for the family Poaceae, the Hitchcock Chase Agrostological Library. The John A. Stevenson Mycological Library, probably the most complete collection of its kind in the United States, is housed with the National Fungus Collections in Beltsville, Maryland, but remains part of the Smithsonian library holdings. The Botany Library, including the John Donnell Smith Botanical Library and the E. Yale Dawson Phycological Library, is especially rich in original editions of classical botanical works. Much of the Department's fine collection of rare books is now separately housed in the Cullman Library. The Botany Library also contains many archival materials including field books, field notes, and/or specimen lists made by Smithsonian botanists and colleagues who collected plant specimens for the U.S. National Herbarium. The Department also has large reprint collections, including the Richard H. Eyde collection rich in titles on plant anatomy and morphology.

The Horticulture Branch Library was established in 1984 as a research support resource for the Horticulture Services Division (now Smithsonian Gardens), which is responsible for the management of the gardens, grounds, greenhouses, and interior plantscaping at the Smithsonian. The Horticulture Library evolved from a small office collection that was begun in the early 1970s. Since that time, this collection has been enhanced by the donation of several large gifts. An acquisition in 1984 of more than 150 American titles on landscape design dating from the 19th- and early 20th-centuries became the foundation of a growing collection on the subject.

The Historia Plantarum Collection, the personal library of Alain Touwaide comprised of monographs, journals, and microfilms documenting the history of botany with a particular focus on Old World and medicinal plants, is currently housed in the Department. It represents an exemplary resource for understanding the history of botany and the transmission of plant knowledge from antiquity to the present time.

Programs and Partnerships

Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield
(http://botany.si.edu/BDG/index.html)

The Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Program (BDG) is a field-oriented program initiated in 1983. The goal of the BDG is to study, document, and preserve the biological diversity of the Guiana Shield area of northeastern South America. Among BDG's accomplishments is a feasibility study to determine the extent of existing plant and animal collections for use by the government of Guyana in establishing parks and reserves, as well as lists of all known plants in the Kaieteur National Park (Guyana), the "Checklist of the Plants of the Guianas", and checklists of birds, mammals, fish, and herpetofauna for use by the Government of Guyana, UNESCO, and conservation groups seeking to enlarge the park area. BDG has completed a plant survey for Iwokrama International Rainforest Reserve (Guyana) for use in their conservation efforts. In June 1992, the BDG inaugurated the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity on the campus of the University of Guyana, as a repository for collections and an educational facility for training the next generation of Guyanese systematists. Contact: Vicki Funk.

Plant Conservation Unit

The Plant Conservation Unit promotes and coordinates activities and research that focus on plant conservation and endangered plant species. To document and understand the changes and decline in plant biodiversity, the Unit gathers and maintains data on the survival prospects of plant taxa. Information is shared with the international botanical, conservation and development communities. The Unit manages an information service by responding to requests from a variety of sources and providing information on world plant conservation, threatened species, habitats, and literature. Contact: Gary Krupnick.

United States Botanic Garden
(http://www.usbg.gov/)

RESEARCH STAFF

ACEVEDO, Pedro, Curator, Botany. B.A. (1977) University of Puerto Rico; Ph.D. (1989) City University of New York. Research specialties: Systematics of Neotropical Sapindaceae, especially of climbing genera of Paullinieae; floristics of the Caribbean Islands (Greater Antilles); taxonomy of climbing plants.

ADEY, Walter H., Research Scientist and Curator. B.S. (1955) Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ph.D. (1963) University of Michigan. Research specialties: Algal ecology, systematics and biogeography; water quality control and bioenergy; microcosm modeling of aquatic systems; Holocene geology as related to coastal ecosystems.

DORR, Laurence J., Associate Curator, Botany. B.A. (1976) Washington University; M.A. (1980) University of North Carolina; Ph.D. (1983) University of Texas. Research specialties: Systematics of Malvaceae s.l. (including Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae) and tropical African and Malagasy Ericaceae; flora of the northern Andes; botanical history and bibliography.

FADEN, Robert B., Associate Curator, Botany. B.A. (1962) City College of New York; M.S. (1964) University of Michigan; Ph.D. (1975) Washington University. Research specialties: Systematics of Commelinaceae (worldwide); systematic anatomy; African floristics and biogeography; reproductive biology of angiosperms; pteridophytes.

FUNK, Vicki A., Senior Research Botanist and Head, Biological Diversity of the Guianas (BDG) Program. B.S. (1969), M.S. (1975) Murray State University; Ph.D. (1980) Ohio State University. Research specialties: Systematics of the Compositae, theoretical cladistics and biogeography, and methods for estimating biodiversity.

KRESS, W. John, Curator, Botany. B.A. (1975) Harvard University; Ph.D. (1981) Duke University. Research specialties: Systematics of tropical monocots, esp.gingers, bananas, and heliconias (Zingiberales); pollination biology, molecular variation, and phylogenetic relationships; Asian botany; DNA barcoding; conservation biology; using museum collections and data for assessing conservation priorities.

PETERSON, Paul M., Curator of Grasses. B.A. (1977) Humboldt State University; M.S. (1984) University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Ph.D. (1988) Washington State University. Research specialties: Systematics and floristics of New World grasses; phylogeny of the grass family.

WAGNER, Warren L., Curator and Chair of Botany. B.A. (1973), M.S. (1977) University of New Mexico; Ph.D. (1981) Washington University. Research specialties: Pacific Basin angiosperm floristics, systematics, phylogeny and biogeography; systematics and evolution of Oenothera (Onagraceae); phylogeny of Caryophyllaceae.

WEN, Jun, Associate Curator. B.S. (1984) Central China Agricultural University; Ph.D. (1991) Ohio State University. Research specialties: Systematics of flowering plants, especially Araliaceae; biogeography of the Northern Hemisphere; biogeography of Asia; economic botany.

WURDACK, Kenneth, Assistant Curator. B.S. (1990) University of Maryland; M.S. (1994), Ph.D. (2002) University of North Carolina. Research specialties: Systematics and evolution of Euphorbiaceae and Malpighiales; molecular and genome evolution.

ZIMMER, Elizabeth Anne, Curator, Botany. B.A. (1973) Cornell University; Ph.D. (1981) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Molecular systematics of flowering plants; development of molecular markers across a range of species divergence.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

NORRIS, James N., Research Scientist and Curator, Botany. B.A. (1968), M.A. (1971) San Francisco State University; Ph.D. (1975) University of California, Santa Barbara. Research specialties: Systematics and ecology of benthic marine algae, especially tropical and subtropical species.

ROBINSON, Harold E., Curator, Botany. B.A. (1955) Ohio University; M.S. (1957) University of Tennessee; Ph.D. (1960) Duke University. Research specialties: Taxonomy of Bryophyta, with emphasis on exotic forms and Neotropical species, taxonomy and anatomy of Compositae.

DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY (http://entomology.si.edu/)

The mission of the Department of Entomology is to describe and understand the phylogenetic and biological diversity of insects and other terrestrial arthropods through global field and laboratory research; to care for and improve the world's largest accessible and most comprehensive terrestrial arthropod collection; and to disseminate these discoveries through scholarly and popular publication, databases of systematic and collection information, training at the graduate and post-graduate level, lectures, teaching and consulting, outreach, and through museum exhibition. The Department consists of staff from three government agencies: the Smithsonian Institution; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Plant Sciences Institute, Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL); and the U.S. Department of Defense, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU). This combined community represents, by far, the greatest concentration of entomological expertise in the world.

Research

Research in the Department of Entomology is primarily collection-based and focuses on systematics in the broadest sense, including basic taxonomy, comparative morphology, and life history of insects, as well as evolutionary and population biology, phylogenetics, biogeography, biodiversity, ecology, behavior, and molecular genetic studies. Of particular current interest are studies on the Classes Insecta and Arachnida.

Collections

Entomology Collection Profile

- Number of Specimens: 32.8 million
- Types: 120,000

The U.S. National Entomological Collection  at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) ranks as probably the largest accessible insect collection in the world with approximately 33 million specimens including over 120,000 primary types plus secondary types. With specimens from worldwide locations, the collections are second to none in coverage for the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. Specimens from the Old World are also well represented, especially from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China, and Papua New Guinea. Although the bulk of the collection is kept dry, various groups-such as spiders, adult aquatics insects, and insect larvae- are stored in ethanol. The collections are typically arranged by taxon; lower categories (at least genus, species) are arranged alphabetically, and for select taxa, for example Lepidoptera, within each species they are further organized by country of origin. For some groups, collections are currently being housed off-site as part of the collaborative Off-Site Enhancement Program with other institutions (see mites, Coleoptera, Diptera below).  All families have been recently profiled by storage unit (drawer, jar, slide box) as to their curatorial health.  There is an ever expanding image library being built for many groups, especially for the primary type specimens.  The collections are supplemented by the Entomological Illustration Archive, totaling over 5,000 illustrations created to support the research publications of Department entomologists and to be available to the external scientific and public communities.  

Although the U.S. National Museum (USNM) was established in 1842, the first record of an insect collection stored in the museum does not appear until 1858. In the 1860's most of the Smithsonian's USNM insect collection was sent to collaborating specialists with the stipulation that the material could be reclaimed at any time. In the early 1870's the USDA was made the official repository for the Smithsonian insect collection, and then in 1881 the combined insect collection was formally transferred to the Smithsonian where it resides today.

The collections include a very large ectoparasite collection, worldwide in coverage and with important medical and veterinary entomology components; the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) collections of Anoplura and Siphonaptera; the Carriker collection of Mallophaga (containing 650 type specimens of Neotropical species); the K.C. Emerson collection of Mallophaga; the Jellison collection of ectoparasites; and projects sampling mammals in Panama, Venezuela, and Africa have produced large additions to the ectoparasite collections.

Arachnid Collections - mites, ticks, spiders

Among the arachnid collections, the largest and most significant is the Acari (mite) Collection, currently housed at the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Maryland. It is the finest in existence for mites parasitizing humans, animals, and plants. The collection includes over 332,000 slides, 14,000 vials and 1,925 primary types. Some of the most important type components include: the collection of H.E. Ewing and I. M. Newell; nearly complete collection of E.W. Baker, C. E. Yunker and A.P. Jacot; important specimens of N. Banks; and type specimens representing all of the new species described by A. Fain from the Congo. The myriapod holdings rate second only to the Acarina, with special strength in New World specimens. The collection contains nearly all of the types of C.H. Bollman, R.V. Chamberlin, O.F. Cook, R.E. Crabill, R.L. Hoffman, H.F. Loomis, and J. McNeill. The Tick Collection (one million) was acquired by F.C. Bishopp and later combined with the collection of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory of the National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MO, and contains 222 holotypes (26% of the know species in the world). Both the Tick and the Phytoseiid mite collections are housed off-site (Georgia Southern University and Florida Department of Agriculture in Gainesville, respectively) through cooperative Off-site Enhancement Program agreements. The Spider Collection counts over 200,000 specimens, mostly from the New World, and has over 300 types. Notable collectors include: N. Banks, R.V. Chamberlin, H. Exline, I. Fox, E.V. Keyserling, G. Marx, A. Petrunkevitch, and E. Simon.

Coleoptera Collections - beetles, weevils

The Coleoptera Collection, numbering about 12 million specimens including 26,000 types, includes adult and immature beetles and is the largest accessible beetle collection in the New World. The NMNH Coleoptera holdings include the historic T.L. Casey Collection, comprised of almost 117,000 specimens representing over 20,000 species, including 9,200 types. Other important material comes from the historic collections of G.H. Dieke and R. Korschefsky (Coccinellidae); F. Monros, D. Blake, I. Lopatin (Chrysomelidae); J.D. Sherman (aquatic Coleoptera); F.F. Tippman (Cerambycidae); O.L. Cartwright (Scarabaeidae and Cicindelinae); and P. Spangler (aquatic Coleoptera). SI and USDA-SEL staff  have added significant, modern, well-curated specimens, including well over five million specimens collected from the canopy of  Neotropical rainforests by T. L. Erwin.  The collection of beetle larvae and pupae, acquired through the efforts of A.G. Boving, is worldwide in representation and one of the largest in existence. Most Scarabaeidae are housed at the University of Nebraska, State Museum through a cooperative Off-site Enhancement Program.  In 2009 the S. L. Wood Bark Beetle collection of over 80,000 specimens, including about 1,200 primary types was added making the NMNH collection the best in the world for this group.

Diptera Collections - flies, mosquitoes

The collections of Diptera rank among the most extensive in the world, with more than 8,059 drawers of pinned material, 8,538 boxes of slide-mounted specimens, 3238 jars of vials of specimens in alcohol and including about 20,500 primary types. Several large acquisitions, such as the collections of Charles P. Alexander (1.6 million crane flies), P. Arnaud (700,000), S.W. Bromley (35,000), A.L. Melander (250,000), John N. Belkin (92,000), and A.E. Pritchard (27,000), have greatly expanded coverage. Among the families particularly well represented are the Asilidae, Tachinidae, Cecidomyiidae, Culicidae, Ephydroidea, and Tipulidae. The Department serves as the world center for mosquito research, hosting the Mosquitoes of Southeast Asia study and the Medical Entomology Project who have described over 100 new species of mosquitoes. The Mosquito Collection counts more than 300,000 specimens including 1,200 primary types located at the Museum Support Center (MSC) in Suitland, Maryland.  The Lauxanoidea are  at the California Department of Food and Agriculture under an Off-site Enhancement Program.

Hemiptera Collections - true bugs, cicadas, aphids, whiteflies, psyllids

The Hemiptera Collection (Heteroptera plus Homoptera) is the largest in the world and is located at the NMNH and at BARC (USDA). Although New World holdings predominate, the Old World holdings are rapidly expanding. The collection incorporates many important private collections including: A.C. Baker, H.G. Barber, C.K. Brian, T.D.A. Cockerell, C.J. Drake (including the H. Hacker, M.S. Pennington, C.E. Reed collections), A. Fitch, W.D. Funkhouser, F.W. Goding, H.M. Harris, F.C. Hottes, H.H. Knight, N.A. Kormilev, W.L. McAtee, T. Pergande, P.R. Uhler, R. A. Poisson, and, more recently, the J.T. Polhemus collection of aquatic and semi-aquatic Heteroptera, the J. Moldonado collection of Reduviidae, and the W. Ullrich collection. The Whitefly Collection (Aleyrodidae) is one of the world's best collections, with over 32,500 microscope slide-mounts representing more than 1,100 species, and an extensive collection of dry preserved material. The collection includes more than 300 primary types. The Psyllid Collection includes both pinned (more than 20,000) and slide-mounted (more than 5,000) specimens which include more than 300 primary types.  The Aphidoidea Collection is one of the largest collections of aphidoids in the world. The collection contains more than 90,000 slides representing over 2,400 species. The subset Aphid Collection contains primary type material for 747 species which includes 1380 primary type slides. The Coccoidea Collection (scale insects) consists of over 146,000 slides and has more than 280 primary types as well as a large collection of unmounted dry material containing several million specimens.

Hymenoptera Collections - ants, bees, wasps

The Hymenoptera Collection consists of about 3 million specimens including pinned specimens stored in more than 7,000 drawers, approximately 700 jars of vials of larvae and adults in alcohol, and includes over 15,000 primary types. The collection represents about 15 percent of the total entomological collections, and is especially rich in Symphyta, aculeates, and entomophagous parasites from worldwide locations. Outstanding holdings include the W.H. Ashmead, C.F. Baker, P.D. Hurd, Jr., K.V. Krombein, W.M. Mann, M.R. Smith, and A.W. Stelfox collections.  Currently the most actively researched groups are the ants and parasitica.

Isoptera, Orthoptera, Thysanoptera Collections – termites, grasshoppers & crickets, thrips

The Termite (Isoptera) Collection has 240,000 specimens and is the second largest in the world, including 1,150 of the known 2,000 species, and 943 types.  The Grasshoppers, Katydids, Crickets (Orthoptera) have about 400,000 specimens – perhaps the 3rd largest collection in the world, about 3,000 species, and with 793 types.  The Thrips (Thysanoptera) have 108,722 slides, probably 2nd largest collection in world, and 1,118 types. These collections are located at BARC in Maryland.

Lepidoptera Collections - butterflies, moths

The Lepidoptera Collection has 2.9 million pinned and labeled specimens in 27,000+ drawers, , including about 25,000 primary types. There are about 3,000 alcohol jars with immature stages.  The collection has the most complete representation of both larvae (123,000 specimens) and adults in the Western Hemisphere. Included are 131 slide cabinets containing about 100,000 microscope slides, mainly of moth genitalia. The collection is particularly rich in Nearctic and Neotropical species as well as Palearctic material for most families. The Microlepidoptera collection contains excellent coverage of Far Eastern species. Important holdings include: W. Barnes (450,000 pinned specimens), A. Blanchard (60,000), A.E. Brower (115,000), P. Dognin (50,000), D.C. Ferguson (50,000), M. Gentili (12,000), S. Issiki (16,000), E. Jackh (55,000), F. M. Jones (10,000), A. Kawabe (22,000), S. Nicolay (100,000), J. Robert (40,000), and G. B. Small (25,000).

Other important Insecta order holdings include Trichoptera, Plecoptera, Neuroptera, Mecoptera, Odonata.  The Collection also includes the classes Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Arachnida, Symphyla, and Pauropoda.  The Phthiraptera, Siphonaptera, Mantodea, Blattodea, Phasmatodea, Embioptera, Zoraptera, Psocoptera, and some Coleoptera families  are temporarily deactived due to insufficient collection staffing.

Facilities

The Department of Entomology currently has the most modern insect collection facility in the world. Both dry and wet collections are housed in new, airtight, pest-proof, metal specimen cabinets, about half of which are on electric compactors. The collections are enhanced by specially constructed alcohol (wet collection) storage rooms and facilities for housing reprint libraries. Modern chemical storage facilities, equipment and supplies are stored in compactor systems, walk-in and reach-in freezers, critical point dryers, and ventilated sorting center all support state-of-the-art collections care. The Department has state-of-the-art digital photographic stations for use by staff, researchers and visitors. The Entomology Molecular Systematics Laboratory, a shared facility managed by WRBU at the Museum Support Center, is also available for research investigations, in addition to the facilities of the Smithsonian’s Laboratory of Analytical Biology.

Fieldwork

Field studies are conducted in many parts of the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, the Asia-Pacific region, and, to a lesser extent, in Europe, Africa, and Australia. Museum’s entomologists currently participate in long-term biodiversity survey projects in Costa Rica (Arthropods of La Selva), Dominican Republic, Leaf Litter Arthropods of Mesoamerica, Peru, Guyana, Papua New Guinea, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Kenya, among others. Past and present major projects in Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Peru, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea have yielded millions of specimens for research. A series of canopy-fogging projects in Central and South America, initiated in 1974, has produced nearly 9 million specimens.

Publications

The Department of Entomology produces dozens of scientific publications per year, including journal articles, monographs, and books. Members of the Department traditionally serve as officers of the Entomological Society of Washington, which publishes the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington and the Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington. Departmental staff also serve as editors of the Journal of the International Society of Hymenopterists, etc., as well as on editorial boards of other journals around the world.  The Department produces a monthly newsletter, Ent News, and a quarterly Bug Dispatch that are available electronically online through the Department’s website. 

Education and Outreach

The Department of Entomology has a proven history of training postdoctoral researchers as well as graduate and undergraduate students with special partnerships through the Smithsonian-USDA-University of Maryland MCSE (Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology) program. Through a variety of other cooperative arrangements staff members act both formally and informally as advisors to graduate students and occasionally teach courses at universities both locally and abroad. Department members also advise and oversee a variety of interns and volunteers.  Specimens are made available to students for thesis work through loans to their academic advisors and students and researchers are welcome to visit the entomology collections and facilities to conduct their investigations on-site. The Department sponsors an entomology-focused all day family festival, open to the general public called BugFest, and participates in other Museum family festivals.  Members of the Department participate in Bioblitzes locally and elsewhere in the country. 

Library

The Entomology Library contains over 23,000 volumes, including 120 journal subscriptions on insect systematics, ecology, behavior, and related areas. The collection is especially rich in the areas of taxonomy and anatomy of insects and related arthropods, especially arachnids.  It is one of the best entomological libraries in North America.

Volunteers and Interns

Programs and Partnerships

Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL), U.S. Department of Agriculture
(http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-75-41-00)

Research scientists in the Systematic Entomology Laboratory develop worldwide classification systems for insects and mites; provide diagnostic services to Federal, state, and private organizations involved in research and programs in quarantine, agriculture, and biology,  and as such are the first line of defense against invasive species; collaborate with the Smithsonian Institution to develop and maintain large portions of the U.S. National Entomological Collection; and develop digital archive systems for systematic and biological information.  Scientists are located at the National Museum of Natural History in D.C. and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland. Contact: M. Alma Solis (alma.solis@ars.usda.gov).

Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology (MCSE)
(http://www.mcse.umd.edu/)

Founded in 1981, the Maryland Center for Systematic Entomology (MCSE) is a consortium for research and training in the systematics of insects and allied groups. Graduate students are enrolled in the Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, with a Smithsonian or USDA-SEL scientist as co-advisor. Research focus includes tropical biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, behavior, molecular systematics, and systematic methods, in addition to the systematics and biogeography of virtually all the major groups of terrestrial arthropods.

Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit
(http://www.wrbu.org/)

RESEARCH STAFF

BRADY, Sean Gary, Curator of Hymenoptera. B.A. (1990) California Polytechnic University; M.A. (1993) California State University, Fullerton; Ph.D. (2002) University of California, Davis. Research specialties: Systematics, phylogenetics, and molecular evolution of aculeate Hymenoptera, especially bees and ants; phylogenetic methodology; social insect evolution.

CODDINGTON, Jonathan A., Senior Research Entomologist and Curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda. B.A. (1975) Yale; M.A. (1978), Ph.D. (1984) Harvard University. Research specialties: Systematics and behavior of spiders; species richness estimation; theory and design of biological inventories.

DAVIS, Donald R., Curator of Lepidoptera. B.A. (1956) University of Kansas; Ph.D. (1962) Cornell University. Research specialties: Systematics and phylogeny of the basal families of Lepidoptera including the superfamilies Tineoidea and Gracillarioidea; biology of leaf-mining and cave-dwelling moths.

ERWIN, Terry L., Curator of Coleoptera and Chair of Entomology. B.A. (1964), M.A. (1966) San Jose State College; Ph.D. (1969) University of Alberta. Research specialties: Research specialties: Systematics, natural history, and zoogeography of world ground beetles (Carabidae); biodiversity aspects of Neotropical forest canopy insects and their allies; conservation of tropical forests.

ROBBINS, Robert K., Curator of Lepidoptera and Co-Chair of Entomology. B.A. (1969) Brown University; Ph.D. (1978) Tufts University. Research specialties: Systematics of Lycaenidae, evolutionary biology of butterflies, patterns of butterfly diversity.

SCHULTZ, Ted R., Curator of Hymenoptera and Co-Chair of Entomology. B.A. (1988) University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. (1995) Cornell University. Research specialties: Evolution and systematics of ants, especially the fungus-growing ants (tribe Attini, subfamily Myrmicinae); historical ecology and evolution of the fungus-growing behavior; theory and method of phylogenetic analysis; quantitative methods for assessing ant biodiversity.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

BROWN, John W., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.S. (1983) San Diego State University; Ph.D. (1988) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Systematics and biogeography of the moth family Tortricidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera); biogeography of the peninsula of Baja California; conservation biology; and faunal inventories.

BUFFINGTON, Matthew, Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.S. (1997) University of California, Riverside; M.S. (2000) Texas A&M; Ph.D. (2005) University of California, Riverside. Research specialties: Systematics of parasitic Hymenoptera, specifically the Cynipoidea, Proctotrupoidea and Platygastroidea; molecular systematics; digital imaging techniques involving small insects.

BURNS, John M., Curator of Lepidoptera. A.B. (1954) Johns Hopkins University; M.A. (1957), Ph.D. (1961) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Systematics and evolutionary biology of butterflies (chiefly skippers, Hesperiidae) at and around the species level, with special attention to genitalia, foodplants, and DNA barcodes; biological poetry.

FOLEY, Desmond, Adjunct Scientist, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit. B.S.(1979) University of New England; M.S. (1984), Ph.D. (1997) University of Queensland. Research specialties: Molecular systematics, distribution modelling, biogeography, and spatial ecology of mosquitoes.

FURTH, David George, Collections Manager. B. A. (1967) Miami University; M. S. (1969) Ohio State University; Ph.D. (1976) Cornell University. Research specialties: Systematics and biology of Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae), especially Flea Beetles (Alticinae).

GATES, Michael W., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1992) Hendrix College; M.S. (1995) Oklahoma State University; Ph.D. (2000) University of California, Riverside. Research specialties: Taxonomy and systematics of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera), especially Eurytomidae and Eulophidae; collecting techniques, rearing and diversity of Chalcidoidea; digital imaging and image databasing.

HENRY, Thomas J., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1971) Purdue University; M.S. (1980) Pennsylvania State University; Ph.D. (1995) University of Maryland. Research specialties: Systematics of Heteroptera (Hemiptera), especially Berytidae and Miridae.

KONSTANTINOV, Alexander S., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. M.A. (1981) Belarusian State University; Ph.D. (1988) Zoological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia. Research specialties: Systematics, comparative morphology, biogeography, and host plants relationships of leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae) with particular emphasis on flea beetles, worldwide.

KULA, Robert, Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.S. (1998) Peru State College; M.S. (2001) Texas A&M University; Ph.D. (2006) Kansas State University. Research specialties: Systematics of Ichneumonoidea, particularly parasitoids of cyclorrhaphous flies.

LINGAFELTER, Steven W., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.S. (1989), M.S. (1991) Midwestern State University; Ph.D. (1996) University of Kansas. Research specialties: Systematics and taxonomy of Cerambycidae and Curculionidae (longhorned wood boring beetles and weevils); bionomics of Silphidae (carrion beetles).

MATHIS, Wayne N., Curator of Diptera. B.A. (1969) Brigham Young University; Ph.D. (1976) Oregon State University. Research specialties: Systematics, biology, and zoogeography of Canacidae, Tethrnidae, and Ephydroidea, with special emphasis on Ephydridae.

McKAMEY, Stuart H., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.S. (1985) University of California, Berkeley; M.S. (1989) North Carolina State University; Ph.D. (1994) University of Connecticut. Research specialties: Biosystematics of Auchenorrhyncha, principally Membracoidea (leafhoppers and treehoppers).

MILLER, Douglass R., Emeritus Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1964), M.S. (1965), Ph.D. (1969) University of California, Davis. Research specialties: Coccoidea.

MILLER, Gary, Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A.(1980) Millersville State College; M.S. (1982) University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Ph.D.(1991) Auburn University. Research specialties: Systematics and taxonomy of the Aphidoidea.

MILLER, Scott E., Deputy Under Secretary For Collections and Interdisciplinary Support; and Research Scientist, Lepidopetra. B.A. (1981) University of California, Santa Barbara; Ph.D. (1986) Harvard University. Research specialties: Systematics of Lepidoptera (moths); biogeography of Pacific Basin, New Guinea, and Africa; plant-insect community ecology.

NICKLE, David A., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1970) Temple University; M.S. (1973), Ph.D. (1976) University of Florida. Research specialties: Biosystematics of Orthoptera, especially Tettigoniidae and Gryllotalpidae (katydids, mole crickets), and Isoptera (termites).

NORRBOM, Allen L., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1980) Drexel University; M.S. (1983), Ph.D. (1985) Pennsylvania State University. Research specialties: Systematics (taxonomy, nomenclature, identification) and natural history of true fruit flies (Insecta: Diptera: Tephritidae) and related families.

OCHOA, Ronald, Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.S. (1983) University of Costa Rica, San Jose; B.S. (1985); University of Costa Rica; M.S. (1989) CATIE, Costa Rica; Ph.D. (1996) Brigham Young University. Research specialties: Systematics of plant feeding mites (ACARI: Prostigmata); Eriophyidae, Tarsonemidae, and Tenuipalpidae; mite-host-plant relationships; tools for identifying economically important phytoparasites.

POGUE, Michael G., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1974) University of Colorado; M.S. (1981) University of Wyoming; Ph.D. (1986) University of Minnesota. Research specialties: Systematics, phylogenetics, and biodiversity of Noctuidae (Lepidoptera); special interest in species of agricultural importance, worldwide.

RUEDA, Pollie M., Research Entomologist, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit. B.S. (1976), M.S. (1980) University of the Philippines; Ph.D. (1984) North Carolina State University. Research specialties: Mosquito Biosystematics (Culicidae, Diptera).

SCHEFFER, Sonya, Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1986) Oberlin College; MS (1990) University of Cincinnati; Ph.D. (1995) State University of New York, Stony Brook. Research specialties: Molecular systematics of plant-feeding insects, particularly agromyzid flies; host-use evolution and speciation.

SOLIS, M. Alma, Research Leader and Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1978), M.A. (1982) University of Texas, Austin; Ph.D. (1989) University of Maryland. Research specialties: Systematics of snout moths (Pyraloidea); Pyraloidea of Neotropical areas, particularly Costa Rica.

THOMPSON, F. Christian, Adjunct Scientist. B.A. (1966), Ph.D. (1969) University of Massachusetts. Research specialties: Systematics and zoogeography of Syrphidae and related groups; zoological nomenclature; biodiversity informatics.

VANDENBERG, Natalia J., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1978), Ph.D. (1987) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Taxonomy of larval and adult Coleoptera, especially systematics and zoogeography of Coccinellidae.

WILKERSON, Richard C., Research Entomologist, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit. B.A. (1968), University of North Carolina; M.S. (1973), Ph.D. (1978) University of Florida. Research specialties: Mosquito Systematics.

WOODLEY, Norman E., Research Entomologist, Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS-USDA. B.A. (1976) Washington State University; Ph.D. (1983) Harvard University. Research specialties: Taxonomy and phylogeny of Diptera (especially Brachycera, Orthorrhapa, and Oestroidea).

DEPARTMENT OF INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY (http://invertebrates.si.edu)

The Department of Invertebrate Zoology is dedicated to the study of invertebrate animals (exclusive of insects) and enhancing the scientific value of the National Collection to understand the natural environment.

Research

The Department of Invertebrate Zoology supports original research on all 30 major invertebrate animal groups (phyla) of the world (except insects). Research efforts focus on systematic studies, phylogeny, morphology, molecular analysis, distribution and ecology. Most research topics are collections oriented and often include a field component with established sites in the Caribbean Sea off Belize, Moorea in the South Pacific, and in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida. Traditionally, research programs have focused on invertebrates from terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, including caves, with a major emphasis on marine forms. Several scientists are studying material caught by the deep submersibles, especially from the dives of the Johnson-Sea-Link. Of special interest are studies showing how the distribution of spring snails in the US and Mexican deserts can be used to track current and past water-courses. Recent studies by visiting scientists and post doctoral fellows have focused efforts on such diverse groups as sponges, corals and gorgonians, tardigrades, nematodes, nemerteans, polychaetes and oligochaetes, ostracods, both free living and parasitic copepods, shrimps, lobsters, crabs, gastropod mollusks, nudibranchs, cephalopods, and members of the various echinoderm groups.

Collections

Invertebrate Collection Profile

- Number of Specimens: 33.6 million
- Types: 327,000

The 33.6 million specimens of the U.S. National Invertebrate Collection are organized into collections of bryozoans, cnidarians, crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks, protozoans, sponges, tunicates, worms, and plankton. Included are representatives from all currently recognized non-parasitic invertebrate phyla. The collections are housed on over 18 miles of shelving, in 16,500 drawers with a combined storage area of 2.3 acres and 70 steel tanks and include many valuable types, counting over 60,000 lots - specimens of the same species collected at the same time and place - or about 327,000 individual type specimens. Each year approximately 100,000 specimens are loaned to students and researchers around the world and about 15,000 new specimens are added to the collection. About 75% of the specimens in the collection are fluid-stored (alcohol) and 25% dry.  The entire alcohol collections of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology are located in an off-site collection storage facility in the Museum Support Center, Maryland, about 10 miles from downtown Washington DC. The facility offers state-of the-art environmental controls, life safety systems, storage for collections, and labs for Museum and visiting scientists. 

Incorporated into the general reference collections are significant holdings originating from federally funded programmatic studies including more than 92,000 lots from the US Department of Commerce fishery surveys (NOAA/NMFS and its precursors) and 192,000 lots from the US Department of the Interior oil and gas lease site surveys (BOEM, MMS and USGS) including more than 76,000 lots of invertebrate collected from the Gulf of Mexico. Also included are more than 40,000 lots of polar invertebrates, the majority collected in conjunction with NSF's US Antarctic Program (USAP). The collections also feature specimens collected from surveys of hydrothermal vents.

Crustacea

The Crustacean collection is the world's largest, with more than 600,000 lots, including about 25,250 lots of types. Of the approximately 5,200 known genera of Crustacea, 4,800, or 91%, are represented in the collection. The crayfish collection is one of the most extensive in the world.

Echinoderms and Lower Invertebrates

The collections include over 100,000 lots of Cnidaria including 3,680 types; 70,000 lots of Porifera/Protozoa with 7,312 types; and 30,000 lots of Tunicates including 305 types. Approximately 98% of the known echinoderm families are represented in the collections. These collections are steadily growing, especially as a result of scientific investigation using submersibles to the hot vents and ocean depths. Among important older collections are the freshwater sponges collected by N. Gist Gee; cnidarians obtained by the U.S. Fish Commission and studied by E. Deichmann, C.C. Nutting, T. Wayland Vaughan and A.E. Verrill; reef corals studied by J.W. Wells; crinoids monographed by A.H. Clark; Pacific asteroids studied by W.K. Fisher; and many echinoids reported by Th. Mortensen.

Mollusks

The mollusk collection holds more than 900,000 lots, including over 13,800 types. Special strengths include gastropods and bivalves of North America; Indo-Pacific marine fauna; world-wide Cephalopoda; and Antarctic Ocean fauna.

Worms

The worm collections (including polychaetes, nematodes, nemerteans and sipunculids) total over 92,000 lots and are considered world class in size and coverage, with more than 90% of the known families represented. There are more than 9,350 lots of types in the collection. Especially noteworthy, the collection includes the largest and most comprehensive collection of polychaetes (including vestimentiferans) associated with the marine hot vents anywhere in the world. The extensive J. Percy Moore Collection of leeches is available for study, but most of the parasitic worms are located in the Helminth collections maintained by USDA.

Facilities

The Department of Invertebrate Zoology has a histology laboratory for traditional anatomical preparations as well as preparing specimens for scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition to warming trays and rotary microtomes, an automatic tissue processor and embedding center are available for use. Standard compound and dissecting microscopes are available for examining prepared specimens. Specialized equipment includes two ultramicrotomes (RMC and MT-2) for thin sectioning.  

Field Work

Field studies are underway, primarily in the marine environment, in locations such as the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda, Philippines, Moorea, Hawaii, Panama, Mexico, Japan, Belize, and Sweden as well in terrestrial sites in western North America and Mexico.

Education and Outreach

The Department of Invertebrate Zoology participates in several cooperative graduate education programs including formal affiliations with George Washington University, American University, George Mason University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami. Department staff serve on graduate committees for a variety of Universities, from South Carolina to New South Wales in Australia.

Libraries

Programs and Partnerships

Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE) Program
(http://www.nmnh.si.edu/iz/ccre.htm)

The Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE) Program was formally established in 1985 although the program has its roots in a collaborative mangrove and reef research project begun in 1972. CCRE is dedicated to field and laboratory research in all science disciplines contributing to our knowledge of Caribbean coral reef and related ecological systems, present and past. The number of scientific publications produced through this program now approaches 800. Carrie Bow Cay, a 0.4 hectare (1 acre) sand island on top of the southern Belize barrier reef serves as a field laboratory for scientific investigators from NMNH and co-investigators from other Smithsonian units. Outside collaborators may join, by invitation of a Smithsonian staff member, and after an annual project review by the CCRE Steering Committee. In 2004, a CCRE Postdoctoral Fellowship was established that supports program-related field research on the Belize barrier reef as well as data processing at the fellowship-sponsor's home laboratory. Contact: Valerie Paul.

RESEARCH STAFF

CAIRNS, Stephen D., Research Zoologist, Curator of Cnidaria. B.A. (1971) University of New Orleans; M.S. (1973), Ph.D. (1976) University of Miami. Research specialties: Systematics, zoogeography, mineralogy, and phylogeny of Neogene to Recent Scleractinia (deep water and reef corals), Octocorallia and Stylasteridae (hydrocorals), worldwide.

FERRARI, Frank D., Research Zoologist, Curator of Crustacea. B.S. (1967) Hobart College; M.A. (1969) Boston University; Ph.D. (1973) Texas A&M University. Research specialties: copepod systematics; development of copepods; limb patterning of crustaceans.

HARASEWYCH, M.G., Research Zoologist, Curator of Mollusks. B.A. (1972) Drexel University; M.S. (1978), Ph.D. (1982) University of Delaware. Research specialties: Systematics, molecular evolution, biogeography and population genetics of gastropod mollusks, worldwide; Deep-sea Mollusca; Cerion, Pleurotomariidae, Neogastropoda.

HERSHLER, Robert, Research Zoologist, Curator of Mollusks. B.A. (1975) State University of New York, Stony Brook; M.A. (1980), Ph.D. (1983) Johns Hopkins University. Research specialties: Systematics, phylogenetics, and biogeography of freshwater mollusks.

LEMAITRE, Rafael, Research Zoologist, Curator of Crustacea. B.A. (1977) Universidad J. Tadeo Lozano; M.S. (1981) Florida International University; Ph.D. (1986) University of Miami. Research specialties: Systematics, biology, and zoogeography of decapod crustaceans, especially hermit crabs, worldwide.

MEYER, Christopher, Research Zoologist, Curator of Mollusks. B.A. (1988) Colgate University; M.A. (1992) University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. (1998) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Marine speciation, diversification, biogeography and phylogeography history, assembly and maintenance of tropical reef communities; DNA Barcoding; phylogeny and systematics of Cypraeidae, Conus, and other diverse, reef-associated gastropod groups.

NORENBURG, Jon, Research Zoologist, Curator of Nemertea, and Chair of Invertebrate Zoology. B.A. (1973), M.S. (1976) Acadia University; Ph.D. (1983) Northeastern University. Research specialties: Morphological and molecular phylogeny, phylogeography, biogeography and functional anatomy of nemertean worms, worldwide; biology and zoogeography of soft-bodied marine interstitial fauna, worldwide.

PAWSON, David L., Senior Scientist, Curator of Echinoderms. B.A. (1960), M.S. (1961), Ph.D. (1964) Victoria University, New Zealand. Research specialties: Systematics and ecology of echinoderms, especially sea cucumbers and sea urchins, worldwide; reproductive biology; hybridization.

RUETZLER, Klaus, Research Biologist. Matura (1955) Realgymnasium, Vienna; Ph.D. (1963) University of Vienna. Research specialties: Systematics and biology of sponges; marine ecology, especially of Caribbean coral reefs and mangroves.

STRONG, Ellen, Research Zoologist, Curator of Mollusks. B.A. (1991) University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. (2000) George Washington University. Research specialties: Phylogeny and systematics of the Caenogastropoda (Mollusca) based on morphological and molecular data; evolution of feeding biology in the Mollusca (Caenogastropoda; Bivalvia).

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

COLLINS, Allen Gilbert, Adjunct Scientist, Systematics Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Commerce. B.A. (1987) Amherst College; Ph.D. (1999) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Evolutionary history and systematics of cnidarians and sponges.

FAUCHALD, Kristian, Research Zoologist, Curator of Worms. Cand. Mag. (1959) Cand. Real. (1961) University of Bergen; Ph.D. (1969) University of Southern California. Research specialties: Systematics, anatomy, morphology, biogeography and phylogeny of marine polychaete worms, worldwide.

KORNICKER, Louis S., Research Zoologist Emeritus, Curator of Crustacea. B.S. (1941), University of Alabama; M.A. (1954), Ph.D. (1957) Columbia University. Research specialties: Systematics, zoogeography, and ecology of ostracode crustaceans, worldwide.

NIZINSKI, Martha, Adjunct Scientist, Systematics Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Commerce. B.S. (1983) West Virginia Wesleyan College; M.S. (1986) University of Maryland; Ph.D. (1998) College of William and Mary. Research specialties: Taxonomy, systematics and biodiversity of decapod crustaceans; biodiversity and community ecology of the invertebrate faunal assemblage associated with deepwater coral reefs off the southeastern U.S..

VECCHIONE, Michael, Adjunct Scientist, Systematics Zoologist and Director, National Marine Fisheries Service Systematics Laboratory. B.S. (1972) University of Miami; Ph.D. (1979) College of William and Mary. Research specialties: Systematics, development, biogeography, and ecology of cephalopods.

DEPARTMENT OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY (http://vertebrates.si.edu )

The mission of the Department of Vertebrate Zoology is to discover, describe and classify the world's species of vertebrates and interpret the evolutionary history of this high profile diversity to meet the needs of science and society.

Research

Research in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology is organized into four divisions: Amphibians and Reptiles, Birds, Fishes, and Mammals. Research studies extend across the spectrum of systematics, morphology, molecular biology, biogeography, life history, behavior, and ecology of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals with strengths in phylogeny and revisionary studies within these groups. Geographical areas of particular research interest include North, Central and South America; Africa; and the Indo-Pacific region and adjoining areas in southern Asia.

Collections

Vertebrate Zoology Collection Profile

- Number of Specimens:  9.5 million
- Primary Types: 15,796

Worldwide collections of preserved specimens and extensive osteological collections are the basis for monographic studies of vertebrate species and their higher taxa, and for related studies focused on the evolution and ecology of vertebrates. The vertebrate collections trace their origin to the two boxcars of specimens that Spencer Fullerton Baird, one of the first Secretaries of the Smithsonian, brought with him in 1850. Since that time, the Department of Vertebrate Zoology has grown with responsibility to maintain the foremost international collections of vertebrate animals, comprising the world's largest collections of fishes (approximately 4 million specimens), mammals (590,000 specimens), and amphibians and reptiles (570,000 specimens), plus the world's third largest collection of birds (600,000 specimens). The research value of each Division's holdings is amplified by many historically important series including 14,816 primary type specimens. Accordingly, the department is recognized internationally for the systematic and geographic comprehensiveness of its collections and for its influential, high profile research programs in systematic biology and associated fields.

Division of Amphibians and Reptiles
(http://vertebrates.si.edu/herps/)

Amphibians & Reptiles | Specimen Count: 570,000 - Primary Types: 2,278 - Types: 11,325

Research in the division covers a wide spectrum of biological topics and geographic areas. Most research is collections based and emphasizes the evolution, biogeography and systematics of selected groups of frogs, lizards, snakes and turtles from North America, tropical America, Oceania and adjacent western Pacific Rim countries. Staff scientists in the Division use a variety of approaches, including general morphology, morphometry, and molecular techniques. Biodiversity surveys and monitoring population and community structure are regular features of the staff's fieldwork.

The Amphibian and Reptile Collection is the largest and among the most important in the world, numbering over 570,000 specimens organized alphabetically by taxonomy, and then numerically within a species. Each year about 2,000 new specimens are added to the collection and about 1,200 specimens are sent on loan to other researchers. The oldest documented specimen dates back to 1834. The collection is comprised of over 146,000 frogs, 250,000 salamanders, 350 caecilians, 800 crocodilians, 16 tuatara, 110,000 lizards, 450 amphisbaenids, 52,000 snakes, and 18,000 turtles. Of these, 3,800 are type specimens, with highest representation of North and Latin American taxa. The majority of specimens, 538,000, in the Amphibian and Reptile collection are wet collections - specimens stored in 70% ethanol. The division also maintains 13,200 dry collections, mostly skeletal material but also including flat skins. The glycerin-stored cleared and stained collection - specimens resulting from a process that transparently clears the specimen tissues leaving bone stained red and cartilage blue - counts about 4,100 specimens and mainly includes preparations of small specimens that would be damaged or deformed during the process of making traditional skeletal preparations. The Division has 7,700 formalin-stored specimens, primarily consisting of amphibian larvae, particularly tadpoles. The histological slide collection of 1,500 features microscope slides from Ernest Wever's research on amphibian and reptile ears but also includes important representative slides from aging and reproductive studies. The Division has a sound archive that includes both the original and archival copies of audiotapes, primarily of frog vocalizations, as vouchers of published works and species reference. Most tapes have been digitized and transferred to CDs. Images, including print and digital photographs as well as x-rays are also included in the Division's collections. Tissue samples, although not considered part of the permanent collections because they are typically consumed by the analysis, are routinely collected and a sizable number representing a variety of taxa are available for research and study.

Division of Birds
(http://vertebrates.si.edu/birds/)

Birds | Specimen Count: 600,000 - Primary Types: 3,968

Research in the Division of Birds is oriented toward the evolution, biogeography, and systematics of birds. Particular interests include functional anatomy, structural adaptation, phylogeny, distribution and systematics of neotropical birds, conservation biology of North American migrants, forensic ornithology, and paleontology and evolution of birds and of island avifaunas. Recent field sites include southeastern United States, Texas, California, Jamaica, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Korea, Burma and Gabon. In cooperation with the U.S. Air Force, specialized research is currently underway in microscopic feather identification applying forensic methodologies to determine species of birds from fragmentary evidence, especially in relation to bird strikes on aircraft.

The Division of Birds maintains the third largest bird collection in the world, with approximately 600,000 specimens including many historical specimens, such as a Charles Darwin specimen that may be the only one in a North American museum - one of the few existing specimens to bear. There are also specimens collected by Alfred Russel Wallace, William Henry Hudson, and other notables. The National Collection, known in the ornithological literature by the acronym USNM (referring to the old name of United States National Museum), has representatives of about 80% of the approximately 9,600 known species in the world's avifauna. The first group of specimens originated from the private collection of Spencer Fullerton Baird, who collected in the Carlisle, Pennsylvania region in the early 1840's. Baird's collection also contained material from leading American naturalists of the early 1800's, such as J. J. Audubon, and J. K. Townsend. The bird collection served as the repository for many of the specimens from the U. S. Exploring Expedition and of the surveys in the 1800's to explore the western territories, railroad and telephone routes as well as international boundary surveys. Theodore Roosevelt collected birds as a young boy and also as a member of the Smithsonian African Expedition; his specimens are part of the USNM collection. A major portion of the bird collection came from the activities of the U.S. Biological Survey, which actively collected over much of North America from the 1890's to 1930's. The oldest known specimen in the Division was collected in Brazil in 1818.

While the majority of the specimens in the Bird Division consist of study skins (about 500,000), skeletal (59,800) and anatomical (ethanol-stored: 29,957) specimens are also maintained and these represent the largest and most diverse of these types of collections in the world. The skeletal collection includes representatives of over 5,100 different taxa. The fluid-stored collection has representatives of almost 4,200 different taxa as well as specialized subsets including a collection of fluid-preserved stomach contents, brains, syringes and a small cleared and stained collection. Additional collections include egg sets (33,012), nests (4,900), and mounted skins (ca. 2,200). The collection also includes approximately 18,000 frozen tissue samples.  About 1,100 specimens are added to the collections each year and 35-50 loans of specimens sent to qualified researchers, students and exhibitions. Tissues frozen in liquid nitrogen have also been preserved and are stored at the Laboratories of Analytical Biology. The bird collection includes 3,968 primary type specimens. Information and specimen data for the type specimens is available through an electronic database - the USNM Birds Type Catalog. Approximately 69% of the main collection is computerized in an internal specimen data base. The geographic coverage of the bird collection is worldwide including major holdings from North America, Central America, the West Indies, northern South America, eastern Africa, and Southeast Asia. Regions that are insufficiently represented include southern South America, western Africa, Europe, northern Asia, New Zealand and Australia and New Guinea. 

Division of Fishes
(http://vertebrates.si.edu/fishes/)

Fishes | Specimen Count: 4 million - Primary Types: 6,345 - Types: 12,701

Research in the Division of Fishes is directed primarily toward systematic revisions of species, genera, and families, and the interpretation of higher classification and biogeography. Staff research efforts are currently focused on the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific marine shore fishes, especially blennies and gobies; beloniform, scombroid, pleuronectiform fishes world wide; larval fish studies, ontogeny and reproductive morphology; and Southeast Asia, South American and African freshwater fishes, especially atherinoid characiforms and catfishes. Osteological, myological and other studies are being conducted as a basis for understanding the phylogeny and higher classification among a broad range of taxa.

The Division of Fishes maintains the largest collection of fishes in the world with over 540,000 lots - specimens of the same species collected at the same time and place - totaling over 4 million individual specimens. The collection is arranged phylogenetically by family and then alphabetically by genus and species within each family. Over 50% of the collection has been computer catalogued and is accessible through an online searchable database. Specimens include adult fish as well as egg, larval and juvenile stages. For some taxa, especially those who progress through varied morphologies, preserved representatives of the complete series of life stages are available. The majority of specimens are stored in ethanol but the collection also includes dry skeletons (4,830) and specially prepared (cleared and stained) articulated skeletons (5,330) stored in glycerin as well as histology slides and otoliths. The collections include many rare and important fish species, including a Coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae. About 24,800 or 78% of the almost 32,000 known fish species are represented in the collection, including 19,000 lots (about 94,500 specimens) of type specimens representing 8,500 nominal species; including 6,345 primary types making this the largest such collection in the world. The fish collections include specimens from many historical expeditions including marine fishes from the Wilkes Expedition (1838) and U.S. Bureau of Fisheries trawling expeditions conducted by the Blake, Albatross, Fish Hawk and other ships in the late 1800's and early 1900's as well as North American freshwater fishes collected during the Mississippi-Pacific Railroad and Mexican Boundary Surveys in the 1850's and by David Starr Jordan and his students and colleagues (1860 to 1920). The collection has the world's largest holdings of Indo-Pacific marine shore fishes and extensive coverage of Caribbean marine fishes as well as both North and South American freshwater fishes. In addition to the specimens, the collection includes illustrations and photographs (25,000 units) as well as radiographs (25,000) of fish.

Division of Mammals
(http://vertebrates.si.edu/mammals/)

Mammals | Specimen Count: 590,000 - Primary Types: 3,208

Research in the Division of Mammals is primarily concerned with systematic revisions, distribution and ecology, natural history, and functional anatomy. Staff research interests are concentrated on the mammals of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. Studies of the systematics and ecology of marine mammals, especially whales and porpoises, of rodents, of bats, and of primates are being actively pursued.

With roughly 590,000 voucher specimens, the Division of Mammals maintains, by far, the world's largest - nearly twice the size of the next largest - and one of the most important collections of mammals. The standard preparation is the skin and skull of which there are over 350,000 specimens. Other major holdings include 28,000 skeletons, 100,000 fluid-stored specimens, and 3,000 tanned skins. The collection includes 3,208 primary type specimens and many historically important specimens. The collections include several special subsets, among these are mammalian brains (857 specimens), male genitalia (1,700 specimens), fluid-preserved hearts (373), cleared-and-stained specimens (400) as well as karyotype slides (2,000), hair slides and bacula. Frozen tissue samples of vouchered specimens number about 4,000 with an additional 3,000 samples without vouchers.

The oldest specimens originated from the activities of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, dating from 1838-1842, and the personal collection of Spencer Fullerton Baird. A significant portion of the collection's North American specimens resulted from the Biological Survey program, initiated by C. Hart Merriam and conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in the 1890s-1930s. The Mammal collection includes specimens from William L. Abbott who made large collections of mammals from Central and Southeast Asia. The Smithsonian African Expedition acquired many specimens from east Africa (1909-1911), some of which were collected by former President Theodore Roosevelt, and during the 1960s, large field programs surveying mammals as disease vectors, such as the Smithsonian Venezuelan Project and the African Mammal Project, added more than 100,000 specimens to the collection.

Each year 1,500 specimens are loaned to qualified researchers. Data for over 546,000 specimens are electronically available through a searchable database. The taxonomic and geographic scope of the USNM mammal collection spans the globe, with especially strong representation from North America, Central America, northern South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Facilities

Specialized facilities including radiographic and light photography systems (both digital and film in each case), darkroom, digital imaging and histological facilities, and sound analysis equipment are available. A separate osteopreparatory and marine mammal necropsy laboratory is located at the Museum Support Center. These are supplemented by discipline specific libraries and archives of original illustrations, maps, and sound recordings.

Field Work

Staff in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology conduct field research on all continents with particular emphasis throughout the Americas, portions of Africa and Southeast Asia and adjoining regions and across many portions of the World Ocean. In recent years traditional forms of specimen preparation have been supplemented by photographic documentation of life coloration, more encompassing anatomical preparations, and preservation of materials for molecular studies.

Education and Outreach

Graduate Programs are available in conjunction with University of Maryland and George Washington University including formal affiliations through the Robert Weintraub Program in Systematics and Evolution (http://www.gwu.edu/~clade/). Through this program GWU faculty and graduate students work on a variety of organisms including bacteria, protists, angiosperms, cnidarians, mollusks, polychaete worms, arthropods, echinoderms, dinosaurs, fish, mammals and lizards.

Staffs in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology and affiliated agencies are also active as advisors to students throughout North America and in some countries in Central and South America and Europe. Students and researchers are welcome to conduct scientific investigations using the collections and facilities within the Department and may borrow certain materials for loan through their academic advisors and institutions.

Libraries

The library holdings in Vertebrate Zoology are divided among the four divisional libraries with references focusing on systematics, taxonomy, anatomy and physiology, ecology and distribution, and evolution of their respective subject groups. The Birds collection has over 10,000 volumes, including approximately 100 journal subscriptions. The Fishes library has over 8,000 volumes, including 106 journal subscriptions on fish biology, and over 120,000 reprints of scientific literature on fish taxonomy and systematics. The Mammals collection contains about 4,500 volumes, including 40 journal subscriptions. The Amphibian and Reptile Library has approximately 3,500 volumes, maintains 35 journal subscriptions, and includes over 70,000 herpetological reprints making it the largest such collection in the world.

Programs and Partnerships

Genetics Program
(http://www.mnh.si.edu/geneticslab/)

The Genetics Program, currently housed at the National Zoological Park, uses molecular genetic methods in support of studies in systematics, population and conservation genetics, and molecular ecology. Much of the research in this lab is directly applicable to concerns of conservation biology, and relevant to endangered species and biodiversity issues. The lab has specializations in the analysis of ancient DNA, often from extinct birds and mammals; the genetics of host vector parasite interactions; and DNA typing to determine identity and relatedness of individuals, often using sub-optimal materials such as scats or hair samples. Contact: Jesus Maldonado.

Marine Mammal Program
(http://vertebrates.si.edu/mammals/mammals_mmp.html)

Established in 1972, the Marine Mammal Program, which focuses on whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea cows, seals, and sea lions, is a cooperative research program whose principal goal is to extract all biological data possible from stranded and incidentally taken animals. Through a thorough examination of stranded and incidentally taken animals, valuable data is gained on many aspects of the normal life history of cetaceans. Scientists routinely collect data and specimens that relate to stomach contents, relative organ weights, parasite burden, reproductive condition and stage of physical maturity. Staff members also take external morphometrics and photographs of the external pigmentation pattern. The collection of marine mammals is the largest in the world, consisting of more than 6,400 specimens of cetaceans, 3,100 specimens of pinnipeds and 380 specimens of sirenians. Most of these are represented by osteological material although the collection also includes fluid and frozen specimens. Contact: Charles W. Potter.

National Systematics Laboratory, Department of Commerce
(http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/nefsc/systematics/)

The National Systematics Laboratory is administered by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center but serves as the taxonomic research arm of NOAA Fisheries as a whole. The Laboratory describes and names new species, and revises existing descriptions and names based on new information of fishes, squids, crustaceans, and corals of economic or ecological importance to the United States. Because some important species are highly migratory and many exotic species are introduced into U.S. waters or markets, the Laboratory's research is worldwide. Major products of this research are worldwide and regional taxonomic publications and identification guides. Contact: Michael Vecchione.

Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey
(http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/)

Staff scientists of the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey (Patuxent Wildlife Research Center) are presently based at the National Museum of Natural History in the Divisions of Amphibians and Reptiles, Birds and Mammals under terms of an interagency Memorandum of Understanding. A major role of the USGS scientists in each Division is to serve as collection curators alongside SI staff. A separately managed staff of curatorial technicians and museum specialists is deployed among the Divisions to assist curators in both routine and special curatorial projects as needed. The scientists conduct a wide variety of both basic and applied (and largely collections-based) research projects and technical assistance, including original taxonomic descriptions and analyses, major taxonomic treatises, biogeographic and ecological research, and production of manuals on standard methods of biodiversity inventory and monitoring. Contact: Robert P. Reynolds.

BALDWIN, Carole C., Curator of Fishes. B.S. (1981) James Madison University; M.S. (1986) College of Charleston; Ph.D. (1992) College of William and Mary. Research specialties: Diversity and evolution of tropical marine and deep-sea fishes; marine conservation; public communication of marine science.

BRAUN, Michael J., Research Zoologist. B.A. (1977) Cornell University; Ph.D. (1983) Louisiana State University. Research specialties: Molecular phylogenetics, molecular evolutionary genetics, avian hybridization and speciation, biogeography of Neotropical birds, conservation genetics.

CARLETON, Michael D., Curator of Mammals. B.A. (1966) University of Massachusetts; Ph.D. (1979) University of Michigan. Research specialties: Systematics and evolution of muroid rodents.

DE QUEIROZ, Kevin, Research Zoologist. B.S. (1978) University of California, Los Angeles; M.S. (1985) San Diego State University; Ph.D. (1989) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Systematics and evolutionary biology of amphibians and reptiles; principles and methods of systematic biology.

GRAVES, Gary R., Curator of Birds. B.A. (1976) University of Arkansas, Little Rock; M.S. (1980) Louisiana State University; Ph.D. (1983) Florida State University. Research specialties: Evolution, biogeography, and ecology of Neotropical birds, especially Andean taxa.

HELGEN, Kristofer M., Curator of Mammals. B.A. (2001) Harvard University; Ph.D. (2007) University of Adelaide. Research specialties: Systematics, biogeography, anatomy, and conservation of terrestrial mammals worldwide, especially Australasia.

HEYER, W. Ronald, Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles. B.A. (1963) Pacific Lutheran University; M.A. (1965), Ph.D. (1968) University of Southern California. Research specialties: Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of Neotropical amphibians.

JAMES, Helen F., Curator of Birds. B.A. (1977) University of Arkansas; D.Phil. (2000) Oxford University. Research specialties: Systematics, evolutionary morphology, and fossil record of birds; island biogeography and paleoecology; ecological affects of humans in island and marine ecosystems.

JOHNSON, G. David, Curator of Fishes. B.S. (1967) University of Texas, Austin; Ph.D. (1977) Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Research specialties: Systematics, comparative anatomy, ontogeny, phylogeny, and early life history of fishes, particularly acanthomorphs.

MALDONADO, Jesus, Research Zoologist. B.S. (1983), M.S. (1985) Shippensburg University; Ph.D. (2001) University of California, Los Angeles. Research specialties: Systematics and evolution of mammals, conservation genetics, molecular ecology.

PARENTI, Lynne R., Curator of Fishes. B.A. (1975) State University of New York, Stony Brook; Ph.D. (1980) City University of New York. Research specialties: Phylogenetic systematics and biogeography of tropical freshwater and coastal marine fishes, esp. atherinomorphs and gobioids; comparative biogeography theory and methods; reproductive and nerve characters in fish systematics.

THORINGTON, JR., Richard W., Curator of Mammals. B.A. (1959) Princeton University; M.A. (1963), Ph.D. (1964) Harvard University. Research specialties: Systematics, ecology, and anatomy of squirrels and New World monkeys; studies of form and function; allometry and morphometrics.

VARI, Richard P., Curator of Fishes and Chair of Vertebrate Zoology. B.A. (1971) New York University; Ph.D. (1976) City University of New York. Research specialties: Systematics, evolution, and zoogeography of South American and African characiforms and some South American and Asian siluriforms.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

CHESSER, Robert Terry, Adjunct Scientist, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey. B.A. Georgia State University; Ph.D. (1995) Louisiana State University. Research specialties: North American birds; seasonal distribution of South American austral migrant birds; biogeography and systematics of birds; modern molecular and cladistic techniques for reconstruction of phylogeny, character evolution, and biogeographic history.

COLLETTE, Bruce B., Adjunct Scientist, Systematics Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Commerce. B.S. (1956), Ph.D. (1960) Cornell University. Research specialties: Systematics, evolution, zoogeography, anatomy, and biology of marine fishes, especially Scombroidei (mackerels and tunas), Xiphioidei (billfishes), Beloniformes (needlefishes and halfbeaks), and Batrachoididae (toadfishes).

DOVE, Carla, Research Scientist. B.S. (1986) University of Montana; M.S. (1994), Ph.D (1998) George Mason University. Research specialties: Forensic ornithology; microscopic variation in downy feather structures; identification of feather samples retrieved from aircraft engines, wildlife cases, prey remains, and anthropological artifacts.

EMMONS, Louise, Adjunct Scientist. B.A. (1965) Sarah Lawrence College; Ph.D. (1975) Cornell University. Research specialties: Tropical rainforest mammals, especially rodents; Neotropical forest and southern savanna mammals.

FOSTER, Mercedes S., Adjunct Scientist, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey. B.A. (1963), M.A. (1965) University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D. (1974) University of South Florida. Research specialties: Evolution, ecology, and behavior of birds; tropical ecology; biodiversity methods; frugivorous birds, fruit nutrition, and seed dispersal.

GARDNER, Alfred L., Adjunct Scientist, Biological Resources Division, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey. B.S. (1962), M.S. (1965) University of Arizona, Tucson; Ph.D. (1970) Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Research specialties: Systematics and nomenclature of mammals of the Western Hemisphere.

McDIARMID, Roy W., Adjunct Scientist, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey. B.A. (1961), M.S. (1966), Ph.D. (1969) University of Southern California. Research specialties: Natural history and evolution of amphibians and reptiles, especially Neotropical forms; morphology and evolution of amphibian eggs and larvae (tadpoles); standard methods for inventory and monitoring species; world snake diversity; bibliographic history of herpetology.

MUNROE, Thomas, Adjunct Scientist, Systematics Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Commerce. B.A. (1973), M.S. (1976) Southeastern Massachusetts University; Ph.D. (1987) College of William and Mary. Research specialties: Systematics, evolution, biogeography, and biology of marine fishes, especially the flatfishes, Order Pleuronectiformes.

OLSON, Storrs L., Curator of Birds Emeritus. B.A. (1966), M.S. (1968) Florida State University; Sc.D. (1972) Johns Hopkins University. Research specialties: Paleontology and systematics of birds, with emphasis on island avifaunas, evolution of seabirds, and neotropical biogeography.

WILSON, Don E., Curator of Mammals. B.S. (1965) University of Arizona; M.S. (1967), Ph.D. (1970) University of New Mexico. Research specialties: Evolutionary biology of mammals, especially bats; Mammal Species of the world.

WOODMAN, Neal, Research Zoologist and Curator of Mammals, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey. B.A. (1980) Earlham College; M.S. (1982) University of Iowa; M.Phil. (1986), Ph.D. (1992) University of Kansas. Research specialties: Taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, morphology, and phylogenetics of mammals, especially the Soricidae (shrews); tropical mammal communities.

ZUG, George R., Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles Emeritus. B.A. (1960) Albright College; M.S. (1963) University of Florida; Ph.D. (1968) University of Michigan. Research specialties: Evolution and systematics of amphibians and reptiles, with emphasis on South Pacific species; biology and systematics of Recent turtles.

THEME III: Study of Human Diversity and Culture Change

Our anthropologists seek to understand humanity in all of its complexity, within a framework of broad cultural, social, linguistic, and biological theories, from the emergence of the human species to the present. They communicate their findings widely, and their insights address the problems of the modern world and promote cross-cultural understanding and dialogue. Research themes include: 1) human-environmental interactions, encompassing the emergence of agriculture and domestication, and the study of human impacts on the environment to advance understanding of how humans have shaped the planet in recent times; 2) human origins, adaptations and radiations into new environments, and 3) human cultural diversity, cultural contact, and globalization and its impacts on the transformation and loss of cultural and linguistic diversity.

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY (http://anthropology.si.edu)

The mission of the Department of Anthropology is to study the biological and cultural diversity of humankind around the globe. Staff record, study, collect and preserve artifacts representative of world societies and disseminate that knowledge widely through publications, exhibits, lectures, teaching, and by providing opportunities for research and study within the department.

Research

Research in the Department of Anthropology encompasses the entire range of human development, from the earliest traces of our distant ancestors, more than five million years ago, to today's complex societies. The fundamental premise of anthropology, as reflected in the department's research, is the conviction that understanding humankind requires a holistic perspective on the interconnected processes that operate on human biological evolution as well as cultural continuity and change.

Collections

Anthropology Collection Profile | Number of Objects: 2.5 million

The Department of Anthropology preserves diverse collections relating to world cultures and the history of anthropological study, and makes them accessible for a wide variety of research, education, and enrichment activities. The Anthropology collections are comprised of three main collections units: Archaeology, Ethnology and Physical Anthropology Collections; National Anthropological Archives; and Human Studies Film Archives.

Anthropology Collections - Archaeology

The archaeology collections consist of more than 2 million objects derived primarily from Smithsonian-sponsored excavations. From the mid-19th century survey of Mississippian mound sites to the massive mid-20th century River Basin Surveys Program to the current Paleo-Indian research program, much of this work has focused on North America. There are, however, significant collections from other world areas, including artifacts from the first excavations at many locations in Central and South America and rare materials from the Old World Paleolithic and Mesolithic.

Among the significant archaeology collections are the Division of Mound Explorations by Cyrus Thomas in the Eastern United States (1800s); the River Basin Survey collections (1946-1969) that include prehistoric and historical materials from the Missouri River Basin and WPA survey's from the Southeastern United States; as well as the southwest archaeological materials excavated by Neil Judd from Chaco Canyon.

Anthropology Collections - Ethnology

The ethnology collections are comprised of over 200,000 objects representing 19th and 20th century cultures from around the globe. Exploring expedition collections document periods of early contact worldwide, while the Bureau of American Ethnology materials represent the results of large-scale, systematic collecting as an integral part of in-depth research in Native American communities by scholars such as John Wesley Powell, James Stevenson, Jesse Fewkes, and James Mooney. The collections include Japanese material collected by Matthew Perry in the 1850s and several thousand items from the Pacific islands assembled by the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-42. The collection is particularly strong in materials from North America, but there are also significant collections from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Oceania, and South America.

Anthropology Collections - Physical Anthropology

The physical anthropology collections, which are primarily osteological, are used for studies in biological anthropology, with nearly 33,000 individuals representing populations throughout the world. The majority of the material was recovered during archaeological investigations and represents over a millennium of human experience. The department has been one of the major repositories for federally sponsored archaeological investigations in the United States and the largest portion of the archaeological series comes from North America (approximately 45%). The balance of the collection is from South America (20%), Asia (15%), Africa (10%), and Europe (5%). The most extensive South American samples come from Peru, Argentina and Ecuador. Representative Asian groups include Mongolia, Northern China, and Siberia. There are also samples from Japan and the Pacific Island regions. The African continent is mainly represented by small population groups from various countries, with the exception of an extensive collection of Egyptian skeletons from the Lisht and Kharga oases. Among the sample groups from Europe, the collection of skulls from Bavarian charnel houses is the largest along with an anatomical skull series from Berlin. There are also small representative samples from France, England, and Greece.

The collection includes one of the premier anatomical research collections, the Robert J. Terry collection, consisting of more than 1,700 complete human skeletons from known individuals assembled by Robert J. Terry between 1921 and 1946. Because of the completeness of the information and excellent preservation, it continues to be a fundamental resource for research on bone pathology, skeletal biology, and forensic anthropology. Another important anatomical collection in the Physical Anthropology Division was assembled by Dr. George Huntington (1861-1927) for his research in skeletal anatomy at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. The collection represents over 3,600 individuals of known age, sex, nationality, and cause of death. The collection consists of European immigrants and New York City residents who died in boroughs of the city between the years of 1892-1920. In addition to human skeletal collections, the Department houses over 3,000 face molds and busts made from living or dead individuals representing ethnic groups from around the world. Many of the living masks are of well-known Native Americans who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s; human paleoanthropology fossil casts, some of which are quite valuable because they are the only remaining representations of specimens that no longer exist; a number of human and animal mummies from various regions of the world; a small collection of wet tissue specimens and a fairly large collection of hair samples from populations throughout the world.

National Anthropological Archives
(http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/)

The National Anthropological Archives collects and preserves historical and contemporary anthropological materials that document the world's cultures and the history of the discipline. Its collections represent the four fields of anthropology - ethnology, linguistics, archaeology, and physical anthropology - and include manuscripts, field notes, correspondence, photographs, maps, sound recordings, film and video created by Smithsonian anthropologists and other preeminent scholars. The collections include the Smithsonian's earliest attempts to document North American Indian cultures and the research reports and records of the Bureau of American Ethnology (1879-1964), the U.S. National Museum's Division of Ethnology, its Division of Physical Anthropology, and River Basin Survey archaeology.

The NAA also maintains the records of the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology and of dozens of professional organizations, such as the American Anthropological Association, the American Ethnological Society, and the Society for American Archaeology.  Among the earliest ethnographic collections are the diaries of John Wesley Powell, which recount his exploration of the Colorado and study of the region's Indians, and the pictographic histories of Plains Indians collected by U.S. military officers and BAE ethnographers. Other significant manuscript collections include the ethnographic and linguistic research of Franz Boas, Frances Densmore, Albert S. Gatschet, John Peabody Harrington, and J.N.B. Hewitt, as well as the expedition logs, photographs, and film record produced on Matthew Stirling's explorations in New Guinea (1926-29). The Smithsonian's broad collection policy and support of anthropological research for over 150 years have made the NAA and HSFA unparalleled resources for scholars interested in the cultures of North America, Latin America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and Europe.  The NAA is the successor to the Archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology. In 1965, it joined the collections of the Department of Anthropology and in 1968 was renamed the National Anthropological Archives.  Although North American materials remain one of the collection's strengths, for the past 40 years the NAA has collected and preserved anthropological materials that document cultures from around the world.

All told, the archives curates 9,000 linear feet of manuscripts (about 17 million pages); 400,000 ethnological and archaeological photographs (including some of the earliest images of indigenous people worldwide); 21,000 works of native art (mainly North American, Asian, and Oceanic); and 3,700 sound recordings.

Human Studies Film Archives

The Human Studies Film Archives was established in 1981 to collect, preserve, and make available for research use anthropological film and video records. The collection includes historic and contemporary, edited and unedited, silent and sound, and black- and-white and color film and video documents from around the world. The growing collection totals almost 34,000 holdings including 15,000 rolls of original preserved film, 5,500 rolls of reference film, 3,100 5-inch sound tapes, 5,670 7-inch sound tapes, 608 snn tapes, 868 cassette tapes and 3,200 videocassettes representing over 8 million feet. These records were created by a diverse group of people including anthropologists, archaeologists, Peace Corps volunteers, missionaries, teachers, commercial and independent film-makers, and travelers. Supplementary materials such as annotations, sound recordings, field notes, photographs, and dissertations, accompany many of the film projects. An active preservation program ensures that the Film Archives' archival moving image records are not lost due to neglect and deterioration.

Facilities

The Department of Anthropology maintains well-equipped conservation laboratories, a collection processing laboratory, a section for scientific illustration, and a public information outreach office. The Department has advanced x-ray equipment including a Siemens Somatom CT scanner. The CT scanner is used extensively to study objects in a nondestructive and noninvasive manner. Recently studied objects and specimens include human skeletal remains, mummies, ethnographic objects, forensic objects, and archaeological items. The CT scanner is available to other departments and organizations within the Smithsonian and collaborations related to scanner use include institutions worldwide. Fieldwork equipment includes Ashtec/Magellan GPS (Global Positioning System), Topcom electronic total station, and Geonics electromagnetic equipment. Use of the CT scanner and surveying equipment may be offered to researchers and advanced students when available.

Fieldwork

Department of Anthropology scientific staff members conduct extensive field research throughout the world including archaeological, ethnological, linguistic, and physical anthropological research in Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Brazil, China, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Greenland, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Labrador, Mali, Burma (Myanmar), Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Polynesia, Peru, Syria, and Tanzania, as well as in various parts of the United States. Unique opportunities exist for research on the early inhabitants, paleofauna, and paleoclimatology of the Western Hemisphere; paleopathology and skeletal biology; ecological studies in the tropical forests and the Arctic; expressive culture and performance studies; and the aesthetics of arts, crafts, and household industries in various regions of the world.

Publications

Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, the encyclopedic Handbook of North American Indians (twenty volumes: 15 have been published to date), AnthroNotes (a periodical for teachers and anthropologists), the Arctic Studies Newsletter and Contribution to Circumpolar Anthropology.

Education and Outreach

Anthropology Department staff engage in outreach and education with community-based archaeology programs for at-risk indigenous students in Labrador, in working with Mayan cooperatives in Mexico, in providing forensic expertise to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, in hosting interns and fellows, in giving public lectures, and in working with Native American tribes in various parts of North America. The Anthropology Outreach Office promotes the public understanding of anthropology and the research conducted in the Department. Its outreach efforts include producing publications, including the award-winning AnthroNotes, the only pre-college publication in North America that covers the field in general and which is sent to 9,000 educators. The Outreach office also prepares and distributes bibliographies, leaflets, and resource packets; organizes teacher symposia; and responds to an average of 3,000 public inquiries a year.

Libraries

The Anthropology Library, officially known as the John Wesley Powell Library of Anthropology (http://www.sil.si.edu/libraries/anth-hp.htm), consists of approximately 85,000 volumes, including more than 400 serials, a large number of microfilm, and smaller collections of CDs, audiocassettes, etc. The core of the collection is the library of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) established by Congress in 1879 within the Smithsonian to conduct "anthropologic researches among the North American Indians". In 1965, when the BAE was abolished, its library was joined with those of the NMNH Anthropology divisions.

The coverage of today's library collection is broad, including all four sub-fields of American anthropology, and is research-oriented with an emphasis on material culture. Holdings are especially strong in Native American culture, history, and linguistics for all of North America and the Arctic Rim, with additional materials focusing on indigenous cultural development in Central and South America. The history of anthropology, especially during its early years in the United States, is also well represented. The last several decades have seen significant growth in Asian cultural history. A diverse body of literature supports research in physical anthropology, especially in skeletal biology, paleopathology, forensics, human origins, and human variation and biocultural adaptation. In addition, the Anthropology Library has research materials on the Near East, Oceania, Africa and the New World diaspora.

Programs and Partnerships

American Indian Program

The American Indian Program was established in 1986 to encourage participation of Native Americans in Smithsonian activities and to support research, exhibitions, and public programming as they relate to Native peoples. The program has hosted many fellows and welcomes inquiries from interested individuals, tribal and other museums, colleges, and other cultural and educational institutions. Internships and research grants are available from the American Indian Program. Contact: Joallyn Archambault.

Program in Human Ecology and Archaeobiology
(http://anthropology.si.edu/archaeobio/)

The Program in Human Ecology and Archaeobiology examines the biological and ecological impact of human exploitation on plants and animals, and the reciprocal impact of this relationship on the course of human cultural evolution. The program targets periods of human history beginning with early attempts to domesticate plants and animals, and explores the ecological and cultural implications of the development and intensification of agricultural economies up through the emergence of early urban societies. The geographical focus of the program is global, with special emphases in North, Central, and South America, Western Asia, and Europe. Contact: Torben Rick.

Arctic Studies Center
(http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/)

The Arctic Studies Center (ASC) was organized in 1988 to establish programs in Arctic and Subarctic anthropology, archaeology, and biology. The ASC explores cultures, history and environments of the northern part of the globe, and conducts research throughout the circumpolar region. ASC anthropologists specialize in archaeology, ethnology, ethnohistory and aspects of human-environmental interactions from the Ice Age to modern times. The ASC also investigates modern processes of culture contact and transformation from the perspectives of history, contemporary affairs, demography, geography and ecology. Contact: William W. Fitzhugh.

Arctic Studies Center - Alaska Office
(http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/alaska.htm)

In 1993 a branch office of the Arctic Studies Program was opened at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art in Anchorage, Alaska. The NMNH cares for many thousands of items that represent the cultural heritage of Alaska's diverse Native peoples, including clothing, tools, basketry, carvings and ceremonial art. The Alaska Office was opened to make these resources more accessible to Alaskan scholars, artists, educators, students and the general public. In addition to exhibitions and field studies, the Alaska office works with the University of Alaska and with Alaskan museums and culture centers to offer lectures, workshops and courses in cultural research and museum skills. Contact: Dr. Aron L. Crowell, Alaska Region Director, Arctic Studies Center, 121 W. 7th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501, Tel 907-343-6162, Fax 907-343-6130, E-mail acrowell@alaska.net

Asian Cultural History Program

Since 1985, the Asian Cultural History Program has carried out research on the cultural and ecological history of Asia's diverse peoples and has worked to preserve and make more accessible existing Smithsonian resources for the study and appreciation of Asian heritage. This program has been funded entirely through corporate and private donations, and its projects carried out in collaboration with Asian counterpart institutions. Contact: Paul M. Taylor.

Human Origins Program
(http://humanorigins.si.edu/)

The Human Origins Program was established in 1985 to investigate the evolution, paleoecology, and behavior of early humans. The program is based on field excavation of hominin sites in Africa and Asia, and seeks to test the effects of ancient environmental variation on hominin activities and geographic distribution. Through international collaboration, data on paleontological and archaeological sites worldwide are brought together to better understand the ecological factors involved in human evolution. An excellent collection of hominid fossil casts and Paleolithic artifacts are maintained for study. Contact: Richard Potts.

Latin American Archaeology Program

The Latin American Archaeology Program (LAAP) facilitates international collaboration on archeological investigations in Latin American countries by encouraging a holistic approach that includes recognition of general ecological, climatic, and adaptive constraints as well as external influences. During the past four decades, the LAAP has sponsored fieldwork in Brazil and Peru; multi-year seminars in the Caribbean area and Brazil; workshops in ceramic analysis in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Puerto Rico, and Cuba; international symposia in the US, Ecuador, and Chile; and hosted numerous archeologists. Ancillary activities include translation of articles, exchange of publications and publication subsidies. As a consequence of these activities, the Smithsonian is one of the world centers of collaboration in Latin American archeology where there is growing interest among climatologists, geneticists, and ecologists in the contribution of archaeology data to climatic reconstruction, transpacific introductions and other global concerns that offer great potential for multi-disciplinary research. Contact: Betty J. Meggers.

Paleo-Indian Program
( http://anthropology.si.edu/paleoindian/)

The PaleoIndian/Paleoecology Program investigates the arrival, dispersal and development of the earliest human groups in the Americas within the context of global and local environmental change. Established in 1972, the program is multi-disciplinary in scope, involving teams of scholars from institutions around the world. Internships, field training, and public programs are integral components of the research program. Current projects focus on the Rocky Mountains, northwestern Alaska, and northern Spain. The Paleo-Indian collections represent one of the premier education and research collections of Paleo-Indian artifacts, archival records and comparative study casts in North America. The collection includes approximately 10,000 objects of Paleo-Indian stone tools (those roughly older than 10,000 years), mainly from North America, used by ice age hunters. The tools include drills, scrapers, gravers, projectile points and atlatl from the Clovis and Folsom Period. Amid the most interesting and famous, the collection includes a cast set of pre-Clovis tools from the Miles Point and Jefferson Island sites from the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Contact: Dennis J. Stanford.

Repatriation Office
(http://anthropology.si.edu/repatriation/)

The Repatriation Office was established in 1991 in response to the National Museum of the American Indian Act. This legislation mandates that the Smithsonian inventory its Native American and Hawaiian collections for human remains, including certain categories of objects, and return them to culturally affiliated groups. Staff members document the physical remains and objects in order to assess their origin, identity and affiliation, and provide recommendations for action. An amendment to the NMAI Act in 1996 broadened the repatriation mandate to include sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony (as defined in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act passed in 1990). Much of the Native American material now held by the museum was collected as a part of archaeological excavations or anthropological expeditions around the U.S. Remains and objects were also transferred to the Smithsonian from other institutions, including the former U.S. Army Medical Museum. A small number of human remains were collected by private individuals, and large numbers of ethnographic objects were acquired from Native people throughout the 19th and 20th centuries by private collectors and Smithsonian anthropologists. To date, over 5,400 sets of remains have been offered for repatriation, and of these 3,652 have been repatriated. Contact: William T. Billeck.

RESEARCH STAFF

ARNOLDI, Mary Jo, Curator, African Art and Ethnologyand Chair of Anthropology. B.F.A. (1970) Bowling Green State University; M.A. (1975) Michigan State University; Ph.D. (1983) Indiana University. Research specialties: African ethnography with emphasis on visual, material, and performing arts; post-colonial public culture, museum history and museology.

BELL, Joshua A., Curator, Globalization. B.A. (1992) Brown University; M.Phil (1998), D.Phil (2006) Oxford University. Research specialties: shifting local and global network of relationships between persons, artifacts and the environment; materiality, transforming political economies and ecologies, cultural and intellectual property, indigenous knowledge systems, history and the role of objects in the experience of everyday life; Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific more widely.

BISHOP, Ronald, Curator, Mexican and Central American Archaeology. B.A. (1965) San Francisco State University; Ph.D. (1975) Southern Illinois University. Research specialties: Archaeology of Meso- and Central America; ancient materials characterization; exchange systems; quantitative methods.

BLACKMAN, James, Curator, Archaeology. B.A. (1965), M.S. (1971) Miami University; Ph.D. (1975) Ohio State University. Research specialties: Archaeological materials characterization; chemical characterization by INAA; exchange systems; production technology and organization, Old World, Middle East, Spanish Colonial Americas.

FITZHUGH, William W., Curator, North American Archaeology; Head, Arctic Studies Center. B.A. (1964) Dartmouth College; M.A. (1967), Ph.D. (1970) Harvard University. Research specialties: Archeology and ethnology of northern Canada and United States, circumpolar regions, and Mongolia; Arctic material culture; Arctic social science policy; cultural ecology of the North; ethnographic and prehistoric maritime adaptations; culture and climatology; European-Native contacts and transformations.

ISAAC, Gwyneira, Curator of North American Indigenous Culture. B.F.A (1990) University of Michigan; M.Phil (1995) Oxford University; Ph. D. (2000) Oxford University. Research specialties: Anthropology, Zuni and Southwest Pueblos, knowledge systems, material culture, photography.

KAEPPLER, Adrienne L., Curator, Oceanic Ethnology. B.A. (1959), M.A. (1961), Ph.D. (1967) University of Hawaii. Research specialties: Social anthropology, material culture, art, ethnohistory, ethnoscience of Polynesia and Micronesia, and aesthetics and systems of knowledge.

KRUPNIK, Igor I., Curator, Circumpolar Ethnology. M.A. (1973) University of Moscow; Ph.D. (1977) Institute of Ethnography, Moscow; Ph.D. (1990) Institute of Ecology and Morphology, Moscow. Research specialties: Arctic ethnology, indigenous knowledge, social systems, modern cultures; Arctic environment and climate change; cultural heritage and heritage preservation; history of Arctic/North Pacific ethnological research.

MERRILL, William L., Curator, North American Ethnology. B.A. (1972) University of North Carolina; M.A. (1975), Ph.D. (1981) University of Michigan. Research specialties: Ethnology with an emphasis on world view, religion, ethnobiology and ethnohistory of North American Indians, particularly Indian groups of western North America and the relationships between material and nonmaterial aspects of culture.

ORTNER, Donald J., Curator, Physical Anthropology. B.A. (1960) Columbia Union College; M.A. (1967) Syracuse University; Ph.D. (1970) University of Kansas. Research specialties: Biological anthropology; human biocultural adaptation; paleopathology; microevolution; health and disease in Medieval England; calcified tissue biology; Middle Eastern skeletal biology.

OWSLEY, Douglas W., Curator, Physical Anthropology. B.A. (1973) University of Wyoming; M.A. (1975), Ph.D. (1978) University of Tennessee. Research specialties: Skeletal biology; forensic anthropology; historic populations in North America; North American Plains Indians; Polynesia.

PEREZ BAEZ, Gabriela, Research Anthropologist, Linguistics. BFA, (1997) SUNY; M.A.(2005) SUNY; Ph.D. (2009) University of Buffalo. Research specialties: Zapotec languages, Mesoamerican languages, language documentation, lexicography, semantics, language maintenance, language endangerment.

PIPERNO, Dolores R., Curator, South American Archaeology. B.A. (1971) Rutgers University; M.A. (1979), Ph.D. (1983) Temple University. Research specialties: Tropical archaeology, archaeobotany, and paleoecology; agricultural origins; prehistoric human ecology.

POTTS, Richard, Peter Buck Chair of Human Origins. B.A. (1975) Temple University; Ph.D. (1982) Harvard University. Research specialties: Paleoecology and evolution of early hominids; excavation and analysis of hominid sites (late Miocene through Pleistocene).

RICK, Torben, Curator, North American Archaeology. B.A. (1997) University of California, Santa Barbara; M.S. (1999) University of Oregon; Ph.D. (2004) University of Oregon. Research specialties: Interactions of ancient people with coastal and terrestrial ecosystems.

ROGERS, J. Daniel, Curator. B.A. (1976); M.A. (1982) University of Oklahoma; Ph.D. (1987) University of Chicago. Research specialties: Great Plains, Southeastern U.S., Mexico, Mongolia archaeology and ethnohistory, development of empires, culture contact.

SMITH, Bruce D., Curator, North American Archaeology; Senior Scientist, Archaeobiology Program. B.A. (1968), M.A. (1971), Ph.D. (1973) University of Michigan. Research specialties: Origins of agriculture; plant and animal domestication; archaeology of North America; and the development of ranked societies.

STANFORD, Dennis J., Curator, Paleo-Indian Archaeology. B.A. (1965) University of Wyoming; Ph.D. (1972) University of New Mexico. Research specialties: Paleo-Indian paleo-ecology and New World origins, circumpolar Paleolithic archaeology.

TAYLOR, Paul Michael, Curator, Asian, Near Eastern, European Ethnology and Head, Asian Cultural History Program. B.A. (1975) University of California; M.Phil. (1977), Ph.D. (1980) Yale University. Research specialties: Cultural anthropology and linguistics of Southeast Asia; ethnobiology; kinship and social organization; art and material culture; ecological anthropology; ethnography and languages of Indonesia, especially Maluku and Irian Jaya; digital museums.

UBELAKER, Douglas H., Senior Scientist and Curator, Physical Anthropology. B.A. (1968), Ph.D. (1973) University of Kansas. Research specialties: New World human skeletal biology; and forensic anthropology.

ZEDER, Melinda A., Senior Scientist and Head, Archaeobiology Program. A.B. (1975), M.A. (1978), Ph.D. (1985) University of Michigan. Research specialties: Animal domestication; origins of food production, environmental impact of early agro-pastoral economies in the Near East, subsistence resources in emerging complex societies, Near Eastern archaeology, zooarchaeology.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH STAFF

ARCHAMBAULT, Joallyn, Head, American Indian Program. B.A. (1970), M.A. (1971), Ph.D. (1984) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: North American Indian ethnology with emphasis on the Plains and the Southwest; art and material culture; political clientelism; ethnic group relations; museological history of exhibits as relates to American Indians.

BILLECK, William, Program Manager, Repatriation Office. B.A. (1976) Queens College; M.S. (1980) University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Ph.D. (1993) University of Missouri. Research specialties: repatriation, North American archaeology, historic archaeology, glass trade bead studies.

CROWELL, Aron, Alaska Director, Arctic Studies Center. M.A. (1988) George Washington University; Ph.D. (1994) University of California, Berkeley. Research specialties: Arctic archaeology and anthropology, museum anthropology.

FROHLICH, Bruno, Statistician, Physical Anthropology. B.A. (1973) University of Copenhagen; M.S. (1976), Ph.D. (1979) University of Connecticut. Research specialties: Middle East, Central Asia, Sub-Arctic, New England; Skeletal biology, forensic sciences and medicine, remote sensing, medical imaging (CT), GIS, GPS, surveying, non-destructive analytical methods.

GODDARD, Ives, Senior Linguist Emeritus. A.B. (1963) Harvard College; Ph.D. (1969) Harvard University. Research specialties: Linguistics and North America; general linguistics including descriptive, historical, and theoretical; textual analysis, discourse, philology; Algonquian linguistics and ethnohistory.

GREENE, Candace S., Ethnologist. B.A. (1971) University of Texas; M.A. (1976) Brown University, Ph.D. (1985) University of Oklahoma. Research specialties: Native North American art, material culture, and ethnology, especially Plains Indian drawings; museum anthropology; issues in collection-based research.

HOMIAK, John P., Head, Anthropology Collections & Archives Program. B.A. (1969) Franklin and Marshall College; M.A. (1975) U.S. International University; Ph.D. (1985) Brandeis University. Research specialties: Caribbean ethnology, diaspora studies, Rastafari, visual anthropology and ethnographic film.

HUNT, David R., Physical Anthropology Collections Manager. B.A.(1980) University of Illinois; M.A. (1983), Ph.D. (1989) University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Research specialties: Human variation, skeletal biology, forensic anthropology, human mummies of the world.

LORING, Stephen, Arctic Archaeologist. B.A. (1973) Goddard College; M.A. (1984), Ph.D. (1991) University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Research specialties: Arctic and sub-Arctic ethnohistory and archaeology; Labrador; public policy in the circumpolar north; repatriation philosophy, community archaeology, indigenous property rights.

TOCHERI, Matthew, Research Scientist and Data Management Technician. H.B.A. (1999) Lakehead University; M.A. (2003), Ph.D. (2007) Arizona State University. Research specialties: Paleoanthropology, functional morphology, skeletal growth and development, statistical analysis.

WALSH, Jane M., Museum Specialist, MesoAmerican Archaeology. B.A. (1968), M.A. (1971) University of the Americas, Ph.D. (1993) Catholic University of America. Research specialties: Mesoamerican archaeology and ethnohistory, in particular the contact period in the Central Valley of Mexico; 19th century Mexican archaeological and ethnographic collections; U.S. Exploring Expedition collections.

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