Spring meeting of the specialist group: Ornithological Collections
14–16 February 2025 in Dresden
From 14 to 16 February 2025, this year's spring meeting of the specialist group took place in Dresden at the invitation of our colleagues at the Senckenberg Natural History Collections, Martin Päckert and Frederik Albrecht. The meeting covered both current collection management topics and collection-based research.
Sylke Frahnert and Pascal Eckhoff reported on progress in the renovation of the wing of the Berlin Natural History Museum that also houses the bird collection. In addition to the demanding logistics of relocating and temporarily storing the collection, especially the mounted specimens, the two speakers presented the methods and results of a biocide analysis carried out in parallel. They also presented the concept for the temporary relocation of library and archive holdings, which will remain accessible during the construction work. The talk also provided many starting points for discussing the restoration of specimens (in line with occupational safety requirements) and the digitisation of object data.
In her excellent overview, Tamara Emmenegger not only introduced the bird collection of the Museum Luzern but also gave us insights into the current composition of the zoological collection. The bird collection was established at the beginning of the 19th century around historically important core collections that represent the local avifauna in particular and accordingly still shape the current exhibitions. There are also interesting specimens from Greenland and a pair of the now extinct Australian Paradise Parrot.
Till Töpfer presented plans for a joint European project for a bird type portal. The project, currently in its conceptual phase, aims to mobilise existing data from type catalogues and make them digitally available, to document the current repositories of type specimens and to enable the virtual reunification of type series.
In his talk on the macroevolution of tits, Thomas Tietze gave an overview of findings from his own work and that of other researchers, resulting among other things from combining biogeographical, bioacoustic and molecular genetic studies. He placed particular emphasis on possible scenarios for the origin of individual lineages, for which artificial intelligence methods were also used. The effects of different climate scenarios on various groups of tits were also examined using niche modelling. The family Paridae is evidently an excellent model group for analysing interwoven patterns of traits, which is why further phylogenomic and functional findings on tits can be expected in the future.
Frederik Albrecht and Martin Päckert gave exciting insights into current collection-based research at the Dresden museum with their talks on the phylogeography of the Eurasian Wren and the population genetics of Grey Partridges in Saxony. While the first talk dealt with patterns of geographical differentiation on a continental scale, the second focused on possible temporal differences in the genetic composition of a regional bird population that has probably undergone considerable changes due to ongoing population declines and poorly documented releases. Both studies have in common that they include a substantial proportion of samples from specimens in various bird collections, which once again demonstrates the relevance of ornithological collections as a starting point and resource for contemporary scientific research. Not least, the speakers were able to show that collection-based studies can indeed be important for current conservation work on threatened bird species.
Thanks to a relaxed schedule, the participants were able to discuss the talks in a depth that is rarely possible at other working meetings. This led to very lively conversations in which specific experiences and solutions in collection management could be discussed intensively. We therefore warmly thank the organisers for their hospitality and for the informal design of the varied programme!
Report by:
Till Töpfer