Between the past and the future

A glimpse into worlds long gone

We need to travel back in time if we want to interpret current developments and predict global changes for the future.

A look at our scientific collections will shed light on the factors responsible for changes in species diversity. Our collections provide clues on what climate and ecosystem conditions used to look like. They tell us which species are part of the local fauna or have become established as a result of our actions.

The LIB’s collection numbers nearly 16 million objects from zoology, mineralogy, geology, and palaeontology. The specimens serve as time capsules from the near past and from distant geological epochs alike. Amongst them are hundreds of thousands of samples from the biobank, a kind of “frozen zoo” that preserves genetic material, animal tissue, and cells as well as environmental samples ultra-cold to keep them viable for the future.

The collections serve as a reference database for our researchers. They can compare finds from living populations to historical specimens and analyse characteristics of both external appearances and DNA codes to understand changes in individual species as well as in entire ecosystems. This helps us learn whether and how environmental changes affect the genomes of species over time.

Talking about biodiversity requires us to turn back time all the way to the very formation of our planet. Development of biodiversity on our water planet was characterised by interaction between the diversity of minerals and rocks and the diversity of organisms from the outset. While many minerals would never have come to exist without life, plenty of life forms would not have been able to develop without minerals either.

Our impact on nature has increased tremendously since the era of industrialisation. We lose biodiversity as we alter or destroy wildlife habitats and increasing trade in wild animals or products derived from them, such as tusks, causes the extinction of many species. Close contact between humankind and wild animals increases the likelihood of new pandemics as well.

Different methods in interaction

Our scientists use a number of methods, such as barcoding and data modelling, in their research of biodiversity. Zoologists recognise changes in species and ecosystems based on morphological, molecular, and genetic studies.

Palaeontologists studying early ecosystems can gain further insights from fossils. All of these different methods and disciplines must work together to create a substantiated sketch of bygone eras and allow us a few glimpses into the future.

People have been systematically collecting natural objects here, e.g., in Bonn and in Hamburg, for about two centuries. The collections not only reflect the state of nature but also show how the collectors viewed it and what answers they were seeking.

Digital information is collected in public databases around the world today. The focus is and remains on the object as our scientists are working intensely on solving the challenge of how to best collect data today in order to be able to turn it into a valuable resource ten or twenty years from now. The goal is obtaining the greatest possible amount of information from a plethora of biological samples – also by using methods and techniques that we cannot even imagine today.

Simply put:

Shifting baseline syndrome

The "shifting baseline syndrome" is a phenomenon in environmental research. Basically, it describes the tendency for a community's ideas and expectations in relation to nature to change constantly. What is considered normal and acceptable today may be seen in a completely different context tomorrow.