The Museum of Natural History in Foster Hall has many interesting exhibits in the front room, but what’s behind the scenes can be more astounding.
The museum houses more than 169,000 bird specimens, making it the fourth largest university-based collection in the world, after Harvard, Berkeley and Michigan, according to the museum website.
Glenn Seeholzer, biological sciences doctoral candidate and researcher at the museum, said the ornithological research they conduct on the specimens has two major goals: determining which bird species exist and where they are distributed.
“Everything we know about the natural world comes from collections like this,” Seeholzer said.
Seeholzer said museums like the University’s collect and preserve specimens for years not knowing how they will be used in the future.
Michael Harvey, biological sciences doctoral candidate and museum researcher, said while many of the same 19th century methods are used to collect specimens, new technology has become available for specimen analysis.
Today, researchers like Seeholzer and Harvey can use specimen tissue collected decades ago and supercomputers to collect data to learn about anything from dietary habits to genetic composition.
Using such data allows them to create phylogenetic trees, which are like maps of a given specimen’s origin, Seeholzer said.
“We use DNA sequences to understand relationships between bird species and history of populations,” Harvey said.
Harvey said gathering genetic data is less expensive now than it was a decade ago.
“LSU is at the forefront of using these techniques,” Harvey said. “We’ve had people from other universities come here to learn.”
New technology allows them to dig deeper than ever before. The department is still planning expeditions and processing specimens that were collected in the 1980s in new ways.
Daniel Lane, research associate at the museum, said a type of brown bird specimen was collected in 1961 and labeled as a Hauxwell’s Thrush.
It was not until 2011, through genetic research and using phylogenetic trees, that the department was able to classify the brown bird specimen as a Varzea Thrush, rather than a Hauxwell’s Thrush, Lane said.
Currently, they are studying a new group of specimens from Brazil. Like their ongoing work in Bolivia and Peru, the data could lead to conservation recommendations, Harvey said.
“This is the best collection in about 100 years to come out of Brazil,” Harvey said.
The department has a long history of research and conservation in South America, including the discovery of two new birds in the 1970s, according to the website.
Expanding upon their South American success, the museum’s researchers are planning a “big day” event in Peru this October to raise money for the department and to learn more about native birds.
“A big day is when a team of birders sees how many species they can see in 24 hours,” said Mike Harvey, biological sciences Ph.D candidate. “It usually goes from midnight to midnight.”
Harvey said Ted Parker, former University researcher, also called a young birding phenomenon, was a part of the team that set the record for most species seen during a bid day event for 331 species in one day.
“He could go into a rainforest and basically just stand there and tell you the bird species by their songs,” said Robb Brumfield, professor of biological sciences.
Harvey said he is looking forward to the department attempting to beat a world record, set by another LSU researcher.
“Everyone knows about LSU for football, but LSU’s also known for having one of the best museum programs in the world,” Harvey said.