Changes in the biodiversity of various ecosystems around the world often happen slowly, imperceptibly, and it can be difficult to know what’s even been lost over years and decades-there’s simply no baseline to compare against. But tucked away in a small liberal arts college in Eagle Rock, California is a scientific collection that’s helping to make this type of assessment possible. The Moore Laboratory of Zoology houses the largest collection of Mexican birds in the world-more than 65,000 specimens, most of which were collected by one man, Chester Lamb, between 1920 and 1960. In essence, the collection provides a snapshot of Mexico’s bird biodiversity from a time prior to the country’s industrial revolution and the significant habitat loss and degradation that ensued during that period. Using this one-of-a-kind tool, Moore Lab curator, John McCormack, and colleagues are retracing Lamb's footsteps and conducting their own surveys to learn how and why Mexico’s bird fauna has changed over time-as well as how some species might be adapting to ecosystem-scale transformations.
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15 сен 2024
