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Research Collections in Germany: Modern Trends in Methods of Sorting, Preserving, and Research

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Zoological Collections of Germany

Part of the book series: Natural History Collections ((NHC))

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Abstract

Research methods applied in zoological collections are reviewed. Collection management and data processing are briefly introduced referring to the most integrative database systems. In the section on conservation techniques, the new task of preserving tissues for molecular research is emphasized.

The main focus of this overview is to provide some insight into modern imaging techniques like 3D and CT scanning, as well as into the expanding wealth of molecular techniques which have made museum collections extremely valuable sources for phylogenetics and population genetics, as well as for applications in monitoring biodiversity, such as DNA bar coding.

Modern techniques may be increasingly sophisticated and costly, yet there is no reason why they should not be applied even to smaller collections, as a research cooperation with universities and other large research institutions is always possible.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For about 75 years (1870–1945), the Berlin Museum für Naturkunde was kind of a central German natural history museum and thus acquired the largest zoological collection of all German museums, but time was too short to dominate the others, and as it was located in Eastern Germany, it suffered from a delayed development during the time of the German Democratic Republic (1949–1990).

  2. 2.

    Special cases are collections linked to an aquarium, e.g., the Löbbecke Museum and Aquazoo at Düsseldorf and the Deutsches Meeresmuseum with its Ozeaneum at Stralsund. Their live animal displays clearly dominate over their museum collections, providing very attractive sources of income.

  3. 3.

    Genotyping is the measurement of general genetic variation in the genome.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum Braunschweig, Pockelsstraße 10, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany

    Ulrich Joger

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  1. Ulrich Joger
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Correspondence to Ulrich Joger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Zoological Collection, Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Lothar A. Beck

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Joger, U. (2018). Research Collections in Germany: Modern Trends in Methods of Sorting, Preserving, and Research. In: Beck, L. (eds) Zoological Collections of Germany. Natural History Collections. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44321-8_3

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