Smithsonian
Institution
National Museum of Natural History
Research
Training Program
Department
of Invertebrate Zoology
About
the Department of INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
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The
Department of Invertebrate Zoology is dedicated
to the study of invertebrate animals and enhancing
the scientific value of the National Collection
to understand the natural environment.
Research:
The Department of Invertebrate Zoology supports
original research on all 30 major invertebrate animal
groups (phyla) of the world (except insects). Research
efforts focus on systematic studies, phylogeny,
morphology, distribution and ecology. Most research
topics are collections oriented and often include
a field component with established sites in the
Caribbean Sea off Belize and in the Indian River
Lagoon in Florida. Traditionally, research programs
have dealt with invertebrates from terrestrial,
freshwater and marine environments, including caves,
with a major emphasis on marine forms. Several scientists
are studying material caught by the deep submersibles,
especially from the dives of the ALVIN. Of special
interest are studies showing how the distribution
of spring snails in the US and Mexican deserts can
be used to track current and past water-courses.
Recent studies by visiting scientists and post doctoral
fellows have focused efforts on such diverse groups
as corals and gorgonians, tardigrades, nematodes,
nemerteans, polychaetes and oligochaetes, ostracods
(both free living and parasitic copepods), various
crab groups, gastropod mollusks, nudibranchs, cephalopods,
and members of the various echinoderm groups.
Invertebrate Zoology Collection
Profile
- Specimen Count: 34 million
- Types: 327,000
- New Acquisitions: 22,500
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Collections:
The 34 million specimens of the U.S. National Invertebrate
Collection are organized into collections of bryozoans,
cnidarians, crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks,
protozoans, sponges, tunicates, worms, and plankton.
Included are representatives from all currently
recognized non-parasitic invertebrate phyla. The
collections are housed on over 6.5 miles of shelving
and include many valuable types, counting over 60,000
lots - specimens of the same species collected at
the same time and place - or about 327,000 individual
type specimens. Each year approximately 100,000
specimens are loaned to students and researchers
around the world and 22,500 new specimens are added
to the collection. About 75% of the specimens in
the collection are fluid-stored and 25% dry.
Incorporated
into the general reference collections are significant
holdings originating from federally funded programmatic
studies including more than 92,000 lots from the
US Department of Commerce fishery surveys (NOAA/NMFS
and its precursors) and 192,000 lots from the US
Department of the Interior oil and gas lease site
surveys (MMS and USGS). Also included are more than
40,000 lots of polar invertebrates, the majority
collected in conjunction with NSF's US Antarctic
Program (USAP). The collections also feature specimens
collected from surveys of hydrothermal vents.
Crustacea:
The Crustacean collection is the world's largest,
with more than 600,000 lots, including about 25,250
lots of types. Of the approximately 5,200 known
genera of Crustacea, 4,800, or 91%, are represented
in the collection. The crayfish collection is one
of the most extensive in the world.
Echinoderms
and Lower Invertebrates:
The collections include over 100,000 lots of Coelenterates
including 3,680 types; 70,000 lots of Porifera/Protozoa
with 7,312 types; and 30,000 lots of Tunicates including
305 types. Approximately 98% of the known echinoderm
families are represented in the collections. These
collections are steadily growing, especially as
a result of scientific investigation using submersibles
to the hot vents and ocean depths. Among important
older collections are the freshwater sponges collected
by N. Gist Gee; cnidarians obtained by the U.S.
Fish Commission and studied by E. Deichmann, C.C.
Nutting, T. Wayland Vaughan and A.E. Verrill; reef
corals studied by J.W. Wells, crinoids monographed
by A.H. Clark, Pacific asteroids studied by W.K.
Fisher and many echinoids reported by Th. Mortensen.
Mollusks:
The mollusk collection holds more than 900,000 lots,
including over 13,800 types. Special strengths include
gastropods and bivalves of North America; Indo-Pacific
marine fauna; world-wide Cephalopoda; and Antarctic
Ocean fauna.
Worms:
The worm collections (including polychaetes, nematodes,
nemerteans and sipunculids) total over 92,000 lots
and are considered world class in size and coverage,
with more than 90% of the known families represented.
There are more than 9,350 lots of types in the collection.
Especially noteworthy, the collection includes the
largest and most comprehensive collection of polychaetes
(including vestimentiferans) associated with the
marine hot vents anywhere in the world. The extensive
J. Percy Moore Collection of leeches is available
for study, but most of the parasitic worms are located
in the Helminth collections maintained by USDA.
Facilities:
The Department of Invertebrate Zoology has a histology
laboratory for traditional anatomical preparations
as well as preparing specimens for scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy
(TEM). In addition to warming trays and rotary microtomes,
an automatic tissue processor and embedding center
are available for use. Standard compound and dissecting
microscopes are available for examining prepared
specimens. Specialized equipment includes two ultramicrotomes
(RMC and MT-2) for thin sectioning and a JOEL-1200
TEM. Researchers are given access to centralized
laboratory facilities, Laboratories of Analytical
Biology (LAB), which provides state-of-the-art facilities
for high through-put molecular systematics and genetics
studies. Two large thermocyclers, each with 4 independent,
gradient temperature 96-well heads, are available
for researchers' use and DNA sequencing reactions
are performed for researchers by a technician using
a robotic DNA sequencer. Autoclaves and incubators
are available for bacteriological work involved
in molecular cloning.
Field
Work:
Field studies are underway, primarily in the marine
environment, in locations such as the Caribbean,
Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda, Hawaii, Panama, Mexico,
Japan, Belize, and Sweden as well in terrestrial
sites in western North America and Mexico.
Education
and Outreach:
The Department of Invertebrate Zoology participates
in several cooperative graduate education programs
including formal affiliations with George Washington
University, American University, George Mason University,
and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric
Sciences at the University of Miami. Department
staff serve on graduate committees for a variety
of Universities, from South Carolina to New South
Wales in Australia.
Libraries:
The invertebrate zoology library currently holds
over 5,000 volumes and maintains 27 journal subscriptions,
focusing on systematics and taxonomy; morphology,
anatomy and physiology; ecology and distribution;
genetics and evolution; and paleobiology of invertebrates.
The Copepods section features approximately 80 monographs.
The Crustacea section has approximately 2,100 items,
including 6 journal subscriptions. The Mollusks
collection incorporates the gift of the William
Healy Dall Library and contains about 7,000 volumes
and 56 journal subscriptions on recent and fossil
malacology, including Bivalvia, Gastopoda and Cephalopoda.
There are also comprehensive speciality libraries
covering the Echinodermata, Coelenterata, Porifera
and Annelida.
Programs
& Affiliates
Caribbean
Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE) Program: The Caribbean
Coral Reef Ecosystems (CCRE) Program was formally
established in 1985 although the program has its
roots in a collaborative mangrove and reef research
project begun in 1972. CCRE is dedicated to field
and laboratory research in all science disciplines
contributing to our knowledge of Caribbean coral
reef and related ecological systems, present and
past. Carrie Bow Cay, a 0.4 hectare (1 acre) sand
island on top of the southern Belize barrier reef
serves as a field laboratory for scientific investigators
from NMNH and co-investigators from other Smithsonian
units. Outside collaborators may join, by invitation
of a Smithsonian staff member, and after an annual
project review by the CCRE Steering Committee. In
2004, a CCRE Postdoctoral Fellowship was established
that supports program-related field research on
the Belize barrier reef as well as data processing
at the fellowship-sponsor's home laboratory. Contact:
Klaus Ruetzler.
National
Systematics Laboratory, Department of Commerce:
The National Systematics Laboratory is administered
by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center but serves
as the taxonomic research arm of NOAA Fisheries
as a whole. The Laboratory describes and names new
species, and revises existing descriptions and names
based on new information of fishes, squids, crustaceans,
and corals of economic or ecological importance
to the United States. Because some important species
are highly migratory and many exotic species are
introduced into U.S. waters or markets, the Laboratory's
research is worldwide. Major products of this research
are worldwide and regional taxonomic publications
and identification guides. Contact: Michael Vecchione
For more information about the NMNH Invertebrate
Zoology, including a complete staff listing and
research initiatives, visit the Invertebrate Zoology website.
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