RE: MUSEUM COLLECTIONS AND CLIMATIC CHANGE (posted for G. Rosenberg)

[N.MacLeod@xxxxxxxxx (N. MacLeod)]

From: ROSENBERG@say.acnatsci.org
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 10:24:25 -0500 (EST)
To: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk
CC: ROSENBERG@say.acnatsci.org
Subject: RE: MUSEUM COLLECTIONS AND CLIMATIC CHANGE
Status: O


I know of three examples from our collections:

Fish specimens collected in New Jersey 100 years ago saved the state and
businesses of New Jersey millions of dollars by showing that mercury levels
were naturally high and that mitigation would not be cost efffective.

Seashells from Antarctica and subantarctic islands have been used to document
change in carbon isotope ratios pre- and post- atomic bomb testing in the
Pacific.

Feathers from ducks and gulls have been used to show how pesticides have
concentrated in the food web in the Great Lakes since the early settlement
of the midwest United States.

Gary Rosenberg
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
rosenberg@say.acnatsci.org