Zoological Museum > Research > Invertebrates > Description
Invertebrate Department (research profile)
The department covers all invertebrates except hexapods, myriapods and millipedes. Most of these organisms are marine, but both annelids and molluscs comprise numerous limnic and terrestrial species. Our research has traditionally concentrated on marine organisms and several of the curators have previously collected material while participating in marine expeditions such as Ingolf (1895–96), Dana Expeditions (1928–30), Atlantide (1945–46), Galathea’s Circumnavigation (1950-52), and Dr Th. Mortensen’s many travels to especially the Indo-Pacific region (1899–1930). More recent expeditions and programs include BIOFAR (Benthic Investigations of the Faeroe Islands) (1987–91), BIOICE (Benthic Investigations of Iceland, 1989–98), BIOSHELF (Biodiversity of the Andaman Sea Shelf) (1996–2000), and Galathea 3 (2006–2007). The department also has a long tradition for research in Greenland, especially connected with the Arctic Station on Disko Island.
Our research covers all aspects of evolution, systematics and taxonomy in the animal kingdom, with special emphasis on marine invertebrates. The basis of most of our research is the collections, to which new material is constantly being added. One important aspect of ongoing collecting efforts is to broaden our knowledge of the marine fauna and the distribution of species. Furthermore, new species, in several cases representing new families, classes or even phyla, are constantly being discovered and described. Another aspect important for research in systematics is the need to observe the behaviour of living animals, for example in connection with feeding and reproduction, and to follow their reproduction and development. Finally, it is necessary to collect fresh material for use with the new methods which are now available for systematists and which require special fixation or other treatment. Our research involves lively collaboration with colleagues at other biological institutes of the Faculty of Science, at the Faculties of Health Sciences and Life Sciences, and at other Danish universities. Master's students, Ph.D.-students, and postdocs are involved in various projects. Modern systematic research is becoming more and more concentrated on global studies of systematic groups rather than studies of local faunas, and the department has a wide net of international connections with colleagues all over the world. Inter-institutional loans of specimens and visits by research colleagues are important aspects in this net.
The systematic research in the Invertebrate Department has a number of foci:
Origin and Phylogeny of the Animal Kingdom drawing on characters from new studies of embryology and larval development of many groups, on information from recent as well as “classical” studies on embryology and morphology, and on the new molecular data.
Diversity, Systematics, Phylogeny of Invertebrate Taxa such as the Porifera, Polychaeta, and Crustacea covering most systematic levels. The main focus is on morphology but many workers in the department are involved in molecular based systematics via collaboration with students, postdocs, or colleagues from other Danish or foreign institutions.
Meiofauna Diversity with special emphasis on Tardigrada, Loricifera, and on discovering and describing new high-rank taxa (up to and including phyla).
Faunistics in the North Atlantic based on material obtained during the extensive Internordic collecting programs BIOFAR and BIOICE, as well as samples from Norway and Greenland.
The Role of Heterochrony (Neoteny, Progenesis) in Evolution is the focus of the department’s study of many meiofauna taxa and Crustacea.
History of Science with focus on elucidating the life and scientific achievements of previous Danish researchers in natural history.
