Muzeul nostru este un păstrător a numeroase specii de animale, plante, fosile, minerale şi roci ce au fost „martorii” ai schimbărilor petrecute de-a lungul timpului în natură, în principal din zona Transilvaniei. Cercetarea acestor specimene oferă multe informaţii importante, ele reprezentănd o importantă bază de date. Cercetători din întreaga lume consultă an de an colecţiile Muzeului de Istorie Naturală din Sibiu, pentru studii de taxonomie, proiecte de cercetare, etc.
De curând Jörg Albrecht, cercetător postdoctoral la Institutul de Conservare a Naturii din Polonia, a analizat şi specimenele de urs brun prezente în colecţii noastre în cadrul unui studiu cu privire la schimbările climatice ce afectează dieta urşilor bruni din Europa.
În urma vizitei sale, Jörg Albrecht a descris pe scurt proiectul de cercetare în care este implicat şi activitatea care a desfăşurat-o în colecţile muzeului pe specimenele de urs brun, descriere redată mai în jos:
International research team visits the Natural History Museum in Sibiu to investigate how climate change affects the diet of European brown bears
Climate change is one of the main global threats to biodiversity. Understanding how species respond to climate change is pivotal for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Boreal and alpine regions are likely to be strongly affected by climate change.
Large carnivores, such as the brown bear Ursus arctos, inhabiting these regions may be good indicators of on-going climate and environmental changes. Similarly to the polar bear Ursus maritimus in the Arctic, the brown bear may, therefore, be a model species in climate change research. Recent observations suggest a shortening of the bear winter denning period and, thus, potential mismatches with their primary food resources. Climate-induced changes in denning, foraging patterns or potential range shifts into new areas may affect the occurrence of human-bear conflicts and how bears are perceived and valued.
In the framework of the GLOBE project a team of Polish and Scandinavian researchers assesses the current and future effects of climate change on two European brown bear populations (Scandinavian and Carpathian). Their aim is to disentangle how climate-related factors in interaction with human-driven habitat changes are affecting brown bear wintering patterns, physiological state, foraging ecology and human-bear relations.
To investigate changes in the foraging behaviour of the Carpathian brown bears during the last few hundred years the team was taking bone samples from recent and historic brown bear specimens in the Natural History Museum in Sibiu. Bones are a precious material, which preserves valuable information, such as on an animal’s diet. The researchers will extract the collagen from small bone fragments and analyse its stable isotope composition. Thanks to the bone material classified in the museum collections, it is possible to go back in time and get information on the diet that bears had hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
For more information about the Scandinavian and Carpathian brown bear populations and the GLOBE project visit:http://www.globeproject.pl or contact:
Institute of Nature Conservation
Polish Academy of Sciences
Mickiewicza 33
31-120 Krakow, Poland
www.carpathianbear.pl
The GLOBE project “Global climate change and its impact on brown bear populations: predicting trends and identifying management priorities” is funded by the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme (Norway grants, POL-NOR/198352/85/2013).
Polish Academy of Sciences
MUZEUL DE ISTORIE NATURALĂ SIBIU 