Finnish Museum of Natural History
(+35) 891 912 8804 (+35) 0294 1911
Prof. Leif Schulman, Director of FMNH +358(0)505487692, leif.schulman@helsinki.fi Tropical Botany, taxonomy, living collections, conservation biology
Prof. Olof Biström, (Zool. Unit), Systematics incl. taxonomy, Coleoptera: Dytiscidaae+358(0)503182326, olof.bistrom@helsinki.fi
Ms. Hanna Koivula (ICT Team), hanna.koivula@helsinki.fi
Prof. Leif Schulman +358(0)505487692 leif.schulman@helsinki.fi Tropical botany, taxonomy, living collections, conservation biology
The Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus is an independent institution functioning under the University of Helsinki. It is constituted by law to preserve, augment, and display the national natural history collections and to conduct research and provide teaching based on them. Luomus is one of the three central national museums in Finland, the other being in the fields of Cultural Heritage and in Fine Arts. The collections of Luomus include preserved and live botanical collections, and zoological, geological and paleontological specimens from all over the world.
| Permanent (P) | Non – Permanent (NP) | |
|---|---|---|
| a) TOTAL scientific staff | 27 | 5 |
| b) Scientific staff linked to Collections | 0 | 0 |
| c) Post-docs / PhD students | 0 | 11 |
| d) Others (Associates, etc.) | 0 | 10 |
| TOTAL (a+b+c+d) | 27 | 17 |
| Permanent (P) | Non – Permanent (NP) | |
|---|---|---|
| e) Exhibitions | 6 | 0 |
| f) Collection Managers / technicians | 40 | 8 |
| g) Others | 32 | 6 |
| TOTAL (e+f+g) | 78 | 14 |
Exhibition department hires additional 10-15 free-lance guides (Non-Permanent) Division of scientific staff in two categories (1 a and b above) is not applicable for Luomus. Numbers of non-permanent staff vary considerably from year to year. C. 8% of the staff is of non-Finnish origin.
- Botany Unit Laboratory
- DNA Laboratory
- Laboratory of Chronology provides radiocarbon, stable isotopic measurements and luminesence dating for environmental, geological and archaeological/anthropological research,
- Geological laboratory
- Bot. Unit. Lab. TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography), Cryostat, Rotary Microtome
- DNA laboratory Facilities and equipment: The Finnish Museum of Natural History has a DNA laboratory facility with necessary equipment for standard molecular work as DNA extraction and PCR amplification. The laboratory is supervised and run by a laboratory manager and has no other permanent staff. The lab provides basics labware like buffer solutions, measuring glasses and gloves for common use. The main lab has 10 bench places, allocated to members of Luomus-based research groups at the Botanical and Zoological units. The research groups independently plan their DNA work processes and purchase all laboratory chemicals and kits necessary to carry out their planned research. The laboratory has three 96-well PCR machines, several agarose gel running apparatuses of different capacities, a spectrophotometer, hotblocks, fume hoods, ice machine, incubators, ultrapure water and lab dishwasher. Sequencing is outsourced to sequencing service laboratories at the University of Helsinki or international commercial companies offering DNA sequencing service, independently managed and paid for by each research team. Sequence chromatogram editing program is available on PC computer.
- Laboratory of Chronology, key tools are Three mass spectrometers for stable isotope measurements Two elemental analyzers, one connected into semiautomatic sample pretreatment line (HASE) Luminescence equipment and beta activity counter for luminescence dating Access to Accelerator Mass Spectrometer of Department of Physics
- Geological laboratory equipment: polarizing microscope, digital camera and imaging software.
The facilities available for Luomus Earth science research include jointly funded and maintained laboratories at 1) Department of Geosciences and Geography (SEM, X-ray powder diffractometer, electron microprobe with WDS), 2) SIGL (Finnish Isotope Geosciences Laboratory; Nu Attom High-resolution mass spectrometer, Nu multicollector laser ablation mass spectrometer, Jeol JSM 7100F Field emission microscope) and 3) NORDSIM (Nordic facility, funded jointly by Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark; secondary ion mass spectrometer) Luomus is one of the national research infrastructures listed by the Finnish Ministry of Culture and Education. In addition, Luomus in general and its Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (under construction) and Laboratory of Chronology belong to the present University of Helsinki infrastructure programme.
The research profile, which is based on collections and large datasets, is nationally unique. Emerging research fields are conservation biology and multidisciplinary biodiversity research. Altogether, the research has a strong fundamental character, but it is often directly and increasingly societally relevant. The strongest research groups work on the following topics: fungal systematics, entomology, boreal phylogeography, bird community trends, global geological development, palaeoclimate reconstruction, and plant conservation methods.
Sahlbergia (twice a year). http://www.luomus.fi/fi/sahlbergia
Lutukka. http://www.luomus.fi/fi/lutukka
Norrlinia: http://www.luomus.fi/fi/norrlinia Ulmus Delectus seminum: http://www.luomus.fi/en/delectus-seminum Pimpinella: http://www.luomus.fi/fi/pimpinella Atlas Florae Europaeae: http://www.luomus.fi/en/atlas-florae-europaeae-afe-distribution-vascular... Other publications (books, etc): 60
| Typology | Primary types | Individual specimens/objects | % registered cards | % recorded cards in database | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Palaeontology | 19000 | 99 | 95 | |
| 1.2 | Mineralogy | 15000 | 85 | 75 | |
| 1.3 | Geology | 10800 | 80 | 50 |
| Typology | Primary types | Individual specimens/objects | % registered cards | % recorded cards in database | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Botany | 2284000 | |||
| 2.2 | Mycology | 960000 | |||
| 2.3 | Zoology | 9783000 |
(Numbers in the first filled column of Earth Sciences refer to the quantity of individual sample identity codes. For example in paleontology the number of individual objects, i.e. pieces of bones etc., is 44000) Botany: Herbarium includes 120 000 specimens of vascular plant, donated by Christian Steven (1781–1863) in 1860. It is exceptionally rich in types either collected and described by Steven or acquired through exchange with leading botanists of the 1800s, have been extracted from the general collections for GPI Helsinki. Acharius Herbarium (H-ACH) includes 5 500 specimens of lichens, brought together by the Swedish lichenologist Erik Acharius (1757–1819), "Father of Lichenology". The collection is one of the most significant biological collections in our university. It contains hundreds of type specimens. The material primarily derives from Sweden, but also from other countries. The collection was bought from Sweden in 1834. Nylander Herbarium (H-NYL) comprises 52 000 specimens of lichens (and some other fungi) from all over the world and includes an abundance of type specimens. The collection was received from the Finnish (-French) lichenologist William Nylander (1822–1899). Nylander's lichenological publications comprise over 300 titles and 4 000 pages and he described approximately 3 000 lichen taxa. Brotherus Herbarium (H-BR) – extra-European collection of V. F. Brotherus (1849–1929) includes 83 000 moss specimens of 15 500 species and thousands of type specimens. Strong in Australia, Brazil, Caucasia, China, India, New Zealand, Patagonia. Herbarium Lindberg (H-SOL) – collection of S.O. Lindberg (1835–1889) includes 48 000 specimens of 5 000 moss and liverwort species and hundreds of type specimens. Worldwide. Zoology: The Mannerheim Coleoptera collection contains in excess of 100.000 specimens. The beetles are arranged in the original cabinets the way they were left when Mannerheim passed away and all labels are hand-written by him. The collection includes a large number of syntypes, especially from Northwestern North America, Europe and South America. Mannerheim exchanged beetles with scores of people and bought many collections or parts of them. Because of this activity, his collection contains syntypes of species described by several other prominent early 1900th century scientists, e.g. Dejean and Fischer von Waldheim. In addition to the scientific importance, the collection has considerable interest as an intact example of the cultural history of its time.
Yes. Delectus Seminum: http://www.luomus.fi/en/delectus-seminum
Type(s) of objects Old books, periodicals, maps, No. of objects (of each type) 4700, 1700, 83
Others:
- photographs in archives (paper and digital) o Finnish Museum of Natural history 2 300 000 digital photos and 15 300 paper photos o Zoology unit’s photographs in archives 10 shelf m unsorted photos and slides, 73 000 digital photos o Botanical unit, photographs in archives About 30 000 slides of slime-fungus and lichens. digital photos of Global Plants Initiative project (about 18 000 digital photos of type sepcimens of lichens, vascular plants and bryophytes) in JSTOR Global Plants: http://www.luomus.fi/en/global-plants-initiative-digitization-type-speci... Linné samples of Bot. Mus.: http://www.luomus.fi/english/botany/linne/
- About 30 000 pteridophytes of the herbarium collections: http://www.digitarium.fi/content/statistics/ Geology and Paleontology: • 10 500 digital photos of fossile samples Zoological archives including
- faunistic information, primary data, correspondence and remains of former zoologists about 460 shelf m.
- notebooks 7,5 shelf m also in http://digit.luomus.fi/ Botanical archives including floristic information, correspondence and not inventoried remains of former botanist about 200 shelf m.
Botanical Gardens consist of two separate gardens, Kaisaniemi (4,9 ha) and Kumpula (6,1 ha). The latter and the greenhouses in Kaisaniemi are arranged on the basis of biogeographical origin of known seed sources. Kaisaniemi was opened to public in 1829. In 2010 there were about 4100 taxa, of 6300 origins.
No regular exchange of DNA samples, but occasional requests are met. Seeds are exchanged with the Millenium Seed Bank.
Year 2012:
- 63 press releases from witch 35 told about research, collections and monitoring and the others (28) were marketing public attractions.
- 1153 guided tours in public attractions
- Events organized for public: 19 in the Botanic Gardens, 12 in the Natural History Museum and 24 lectures for the public.
Communications and marketing: PR Officer Laura Hiisivuori and Marketing Coordinator Leena Gustavsson, email: first name.last name@helsinki.fi. http://www.luomus.fi/en/node/30
Natural History Museum 150,000
Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden 50,000
Kumpula Botanic Garden 10,000
Natural history museum doubled after renovation and re-opening in 2008. Botanic gardens fairly stable.
2012
Staff-members are sometimes invited to participate as experts/lecturers in various non-University education programs. Students work as trainees in the botanic gardens. Taxidermists are trained by apprenticeship.
Luomus is involved with the Helsinki University Department of Biosciences and Department of Geology and Geography teaching programs. Staff-members participate in teaching systematics and geology for undergraduate level and give special courses for higher-level students. Staff-members also supervise MSc and PhD thesis.
Luomus has no such activities.
The taxidermy team of the Zoology Unit is having a training program for taxidermy. The training program is certified by the Finnish National Board of education. Link: http://www.oph.fi/english The program is individually planned for each trainee, and takes approximately three years. Contact: See above.
Luomus has an extensive program of guided tours, school programs etc organized by the Public Outreach Team and directed to different sectors of the public.
University-level teaching: Prof. Jyrki Muona; jyrki.muona@helsinki.fi Taxidermy: Mr. Ari Puolakoski; ari.puolakoski@helsinki.fi Public Outreach Team: Mr. Markku Liinamaa; markku.liinamaa@helsinki.fi; Horticulture: Mr. Pertti Pehkonen; pertti.pehkonen@helsinki.fi
1. Collection digitisation
2. Development of biodiversity information systems
3. Systematic research
1. Collection digitisation
2. Systematic research
3. Conservation biology