​[Animals] Lost Worlds wrapping up: dead birds, island hopping and the value of museum collections

[Wolf.17]

 

espite all the splendid fossils we have covered here on Lost Worlds Revisited, nothing lasts forever (apart from the cold November rain here in Norway). In my time on here, I have covered a range of topics, from Darwin’s finches, the peculiar nature of island faunas, and penguin feet, to chickens, the evolution of feathers, and Club Med. Although they may seem rather arbitrary at first, they reflect my main interests in island paleobiogeography and avian evolution.

Lost Worlds Revisited allowed me to rave on about research and fossils I felt the world needed to hear more about. For instance, dodos were not dumb sitting ducks, but exquisitely well adapted to their environment (a hill I’m willing to die on), Komodo dragons may be dwarfs instead of giants, and precious baby birds in amber. But it also gave me the opportunity to delve into topics and ideas that I felt I needed to learn more about, such as the evolution of feathers, how bird eggs get their colours, and even frogs.

It is easy to think that in this modern age, we know pretty much all there is to know, especially about a group of animals as ubiquitous as birds. But once you dig a little deeper, you’ll be surprised to see how little we actually know. I was recently reminded of that, yet again, when I was looking into what, I thought, was a rather straight-forward question: “What is the densest bone in the avian skeleton?”. After my literature search kept hitting dead ends, I enlisted my twitter hive-mind. But even experts in the field of avian anatomy agreed that there really was no straight-forward answer.

For every fossil that I wrote about, there are hundreds more that are equally deserving of the digital limelight. And as the science of palaeontology seems to be moving faster than ever, the future looks bright with many more shiny new and fascinating fossils coming our way.

For example, I can’t wait to see the next fascinating early bird fossils that will come out of the rich fossil beds in Liaoning province in China, and what they will tell us about the early evolution of birds. Will we ever find more Archaeopteryx specimens? Can we reconstruct how birds bounced back, and flourished, after the extinction event that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs? How many bird species did we lose when we, as a species, reached even the remotest corners of the world? I am particularly excited about the rise of high-resolution imaging techniques that will allow an even more in-depth look into the tiniest of details, such as feather microstructure, and even blood vessels. Structures that only a decade or two ago we never imagined we would be able to see. Now, with 3D imaging techniques, we can step inside one. This is the closest we will ever get to seeing our beloved fossil creatures alive.

And then there is wonderful Southeast Asia. After Africa having been the focus of human evolution research for decades, interest is now shifting back again (after all, the first fossil hominin remains were found on Java by Eugène Dubois) to this vast island region. With so many islands, each with their own unique faunas, this area is certain to hold many more surprises in store for us. Particularly the use of molecular techniques is giving us unprecedented ways of testing old ideas regarding the spread of animals, including humans, across this vast island archipelagoes. I like to think that Wallace would have marveled at this.

But underneath the glossy veneer that is often applied to science news in the media, lays a far less glamorous daily reality. Most, if not all, of the research that we here at Lost Worlds Revisited got to write about, is the culmination of years and years of hard work that often goes unseen and rarely gets the public esteem it deserves.

As a museum curator, I particularly relate to this. A wise man once told me (yes, in caps lock) “YOU WILL ALWAYS EXCAVATE MORE THAN YOU CAN STUDY”. Scientific expeditions often generate more material than you can shake a stick at. Especially in the current academic climate, much of this material often takes a backseat to the key players, the specimens that are more sexy or grant-friendly. As a result, many museum storages are filled with boxes full of specimens waiting to be studied. So much science to be done, so little time. It is easy to think that for the “Next Big Discovery”, we need to venture out into unknown territory and start anew. But it is here, amidst the specimens in waiting, that discovery awaits.

But despite the incredible scientific value and potential that museum collections hold, many museum collections struggle financially and are under threat. The latest example of that (and sadly, unlikely to be the last) is the museum of Te Papa in Wellington, New Zealand. The collections at Te Papa are a treasure trove of fossils, skins and skeletons that has proven to be vital for our understanding of New Zealand’s unique evolutionary history, as well as its conservation for future generations.Dr Nic Rawlence, a lecturer in ancient DNA in the department of zoology at the University of Otago and director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, works closely with the Te Papa collections. In a heartfelt blog post, he fears the consequences that a restructuring of the already understaffed collections will have for the future of this immensely valuable collection. With staff positions being cut and remaining staff being stretched even further, how much hope is there for the future of these collections?The story of the Te Papa collection is another reminder that, too often, museums are seen as fun parks rather than collection-based research institutions. It is precisely this perspective that leads to a chronic underevalution of the science it proclaims to celebrate. If there was ever a take-home message in my posts, let it be this one.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/22/lost-worlds-wrapping-up-dead-birds-island-hopping-and-the-value-of-museum-collections