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The National Collections of Natural History at Tel Aviv University

The National Collections of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. There is no national museum of natural history in Israel, but two university collections – Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – are recognized as the national collections. Paleontology.

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The National Collections of Natural History at Tel Aviv University

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  1. The National Collections of Natural History at Tel Aviv University

  2. There is no national museum of natural history in Israel, but two university collections – Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – are recognized as the national collections

  3. Paleontology Curators: Drs. Yuri Katz and Olga Orlov-Labkovsky

  4. Physical anthropology • Human evolution • Human history and evolution (Israeli dig sites) Curators: Profs. YoelRak and Israel Hershkovitz

  5. Fishes(ca. 150,000 specimens in 14,400 lots) • Mediterranean • Red Sea • Freshwater Curator: Dr. Menachem Goren, Assoc. curator: Dr. RoiHolzman Collections manager: Dr. RevitalZaslow, Nir Stern

  6. Land vertebrates • Mammals (ca. 12,000 specimens) • Birds (ca. 16,000 specimens) • Reptiles (ca. 16,000 specimens) • Amphibians (ca. 2000 specimens) Curator: Dr. Shai Meiri Taxidermists: Igor Gavrilov, Dr. Stas Volinchik Collections managers: Daniel Berkowic, Arieh Landsman, Erez Maza

  7. Mollusca(55000 specimens) • Mediterranean • Red Sea • Freshwater • Terrestrial Curator: Dr. Frida Ben Ami Collections manager: HenkMienis, Oz Ritner

  8. Invertebrates (except mollusks & insects, hundreds of thousands of specimens) • Mediterranean • Red Sea • Freshwater • Terrestrial Curator: Prof. Yehuda Benayahu Assoc. Curators: Profs. Yossi Loya, BelaGalil, MichaIlan Collections managers: Dr. RevitalZaslow, Alex Shlagman, Dr. SigalShefer, Dr. Tamar Feldstein

  9. Entomology (ca. 2-3 million specimens) Curators: Drs. AmnonFreidberg, Vladimir Chikatunov, VassilyKravchenko, Sergei Zonstein, NettaDorchin Assoc. curators: Drs. Dani Simon, Yael Mandelik, Profs. AvrahamHefez, Dan Gerling Collections managers: Leonid Friedman, Alex Shlagman, Tirza Stern, and Drs. Moshe Guershon, ErminEunesco, Wolf Koslitzky, Tatiana Novoselsky.

  10. Herbarium • Fungi • Lichens • Algae Curator: Dr. Silvia Blumenfeld Curators emeriti: Profs. MargalitGalun, Jacob Garty, Nissan Binyamini, and Yaakov Lipkin

  11. Molecular collection Curator: Dr. Dorothee Huchon Collection manager: Dr. Tamar Feldstein Tissues for DNA extraction are now routinely collected from all land vertebrates and some invertebrates

  12. The collections together with the Zoological and the Botanical Gardens are open to the public through a variety of Nature Campus activities

  13. Support to agricultural, conservation, and environmental research and decision-making • Setting conservation priorities • Agriculture (pests & Biological control, Pollinators) • Air traffic (civilian & military)

  14. + + + Mammal presence maps Climatic and environmental data layers BAU- business as usual Green – adhering to the Kyoto protocol climate models MaxEnt model software Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions Steven J. Phillips, Robert P. Anderson, Robert E. Schapire Ecological Modelling, Vol 190/3-4 pp 231-259, 2006. http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~schapire/maxent/

  15. Developing a comprehensive database • Database is centralized, developed and managed by Dr. Menachem Goren aided by Tirza Stern

  16. Developing a comprehensive database • Database is centralized, developed and managed by Dr. Menachem Goren aided by Tirza Stern • It is based upon ACCESS software

  17. Why Access? • Cheap to use and run • Stable (and so is Microsoft) • Compatible with just about everything • Easy to customize to the needs of particular collections (different data are relevant for different taxa)

  18. Developing a comprehensive database • Database is centralized, developed and managed by Dr. Menachem Goren aided by Tirza Stern • It is based upon ACCESS software • It involves all ‘regular’ museum data fields

  19. Developing a comprehensive database • Database is centralized, developed and managed by Dr. Menachem Goren aided by Tirza Stern • It is based upon ACCESS software • It involves all ‘regular’ museum data fields • Already ca. 250,000 entries representing ca. 2,000,000 specimens

  20. Developing a comprehensive database • Database is centralized, developed and managed by Dr. Menachem Goren aided by Tirza Stern • It is based upon ACCESS software • It involves all ‘regular’ museum data fields • Already ca. 250,000 entries representing ca. 2,000,000 specimens • Entemological collections are lagging behind

  21. Developing a comprehensive database • Database is centralized, developed and managed by Dr. Menachem Goren aided by Tirza Stern • It is based upon ACCESS software • It involves all ‘regular’ museum data fields • Already ca. 250,000 entries representing ca. 2,000,000 specimens • Entemological collections are lagging behind • Database is not web-based but data are freely available upon request

  22. Why not have an open-access database online? • Some summary of available data appears on the museum website • Ownership of data issues • Some technological challenges • Need to repot to funding agencies • We will get there someday

  23. Most importantly (I think): • Everything now entering the collection is immediately computerized and databased • We are computerizing older material • Data are made freely available to those who ask for them • We are moving forward in making sure everybody can easily learn which data are available

  24. What can a good database give us? Reptile species collected since 1980 • We can access any specimen and the data associated with it • We can identify deficiencies in our holdings (taxonomic, temporal, geographic, nature of specimens) • We can use the data themselves to do science

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