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Danish Taxonomic Facility (DK-TAF)
DK-TAF
is a large infrastructure consisting of collections, expertise
and equipment for the advanced study of biosystematics and earth
sciences. DK-TAF comprises two departments of the University of Copenhagen
(Table 1).
DK-TAF Partner Institutions
The
departments are located close to each other in north-central Copenhagen
(max. distance: 3 km). There are excellent bus services between
them, but many staff and visitors prefer to use a bicycle.
NHMD
houses the Danish Centre for bird ringing and is a member of Geocentre
Copenhagen with formal and informal contacts with the other earth
science institutes in Copenhagen.
DB houses the Scandinavian Culture Centre for Algae and Protozoa.
The mollusc collections of the Mandahl-Barth Centre for Biodiversity and Health, DBL – Centre for Health Research and Development are also available through DK-TAF.
Collections & expertise
The collections of DK-TAF comprise
a total of about 20 million specimens
of preserved animals, preserved and living plants, tissues, fossils,
minerals and rocks. Particular strengths of the collections
are listed below.
The
collections are physically well arranged, so desired specimens can
easily be located and examined. A significant and ever-increasing
part of the collections is digitised.
The tenured scientists working at DK-TAF
possess expert knowledge in a vast array of zoological, botanical
and geological disciplines. In many cases they are world-leading
experts in their fields and/or represent unique or rare expertise
in Europe. These persons will act as mentors for visiting researchers
given access to DK-TAF.
Available hosts:
Natural History Museum of Denmark:
Botany: Knud Ib Christensen, Ib Friis, Ole
Hamann, Hans V. Hansen, Eric Steen Hansen, Henning Knudsen, Peter
Krogstrup, Ruth Nielsen, Henrik Ærenlund Pedersen, Olof Ryding.
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Geology including Palaeontology: Gilles Cuny, Svend Funder, David Harper, Henning
Haack, Erik Schou Jensen, Ole Johnsen, Arne Thorshøj Nielsen,
Asger Ken Pedersen, Jan Audun Rasmussen, Minik
Rosing.
Invertebrate Zoology: Danny Eibye-Jacobsen, Henrik Enghoff, Niels P. Kristensen, Reinhardt M. Kristensen, Claus Nielsen, Jørgen Olesen, Thomas Pape, Nikolaj Scharff, Aleksey Solodovnikov, Ole S. Tendal, Lars Vilhelmsen.
Vertebrate Zoology: Hans J. Baagøe, Jon Fjeldså, Peter Rask Møller, Kim Aaris-Sørensen
Molecular systematics laboratory: Gitte Petersen, Ole Seberg
Department of Biology:
Evolutionary Biology: Signe Frederiksen, Bo Johansen, Lise Bolt Jørgensen, Bo Vest Pedersen, Finn Rasmussen, Hans Siegismund
Mycology: Rasmus Kjøller,Thomas Læssøe, Søren Rosendal, Ulrik Søchting
Phycology: Niels Daugbjerg, Marianne Ellegaard, Øjvind Moestrup. Poul Møller Pedersen
Zoomorphology: Jens Høeg, Åse Jespersen, Andreas Wanninger
Mandahl-Barth Centre for Biodiversity and Health, DBL – Centre for Health Research and Development, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology :
Aslak Jørgensen, Thomas K. Kristensen
Supporting analytical
facilities
The placement of national main libraries for systematic zoology,
botany and geology at DK-TAF adds to the strength of the infrastructure,
as does the presence of state-of-the art equipment. In particular,
the new MIMER computer cluster constitutes a rare resource, which
will allow analysis of very large phylogenetic data-sets, very few
other institutions worldwide devoted to this kind of research can
offer access to a comparable facility.
List
of facilities (Excel)
Some
particular strengths of DK-TAF collections
ca. 75,000 type specimens, including many
old, very frequently requested types , e.g. ca. 8,000 types
of insects described by I.C. Fabricius around year 1800, the
Forsskål, Isert & Thonning plants types , and types of
fossil animals and plants from Denmark and Greenland
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Arctic,
especially Greenlandic, and Danish animals, deep-sea animals, Baltic Sea animals, Philippine, Bismarck and Solomon Islands
animals, whales and South American Quaternary mammal fossils. The world's largest databases on African terrestrial vertebrates
(> 800,000 records of ca. 3,000 species) and South American
birds (ca. 600,000 records of 3.100 species). Insects, particularly
Lepidoptera from temperate S. America . the new phyla Loricifera,
Cycliophora and Micrognathozoa
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All known species of African and Danish freshwater gastropods and bivalves (collection belonging to Mandahl-Barth Centre for Biodiversity and Health, DBL – Centre for Health Research and Development, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen – formerly: Danish Bilharzias Laboratory)
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Tissue collections for DNA analysis, esp.
the world's largest collection from birds (15,000 samples
representing 3,000 species), 8,000 African mammal samples and 2,000 DNA samples of Monocotyledones
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Fossils from Denmark and the Baltic area, including all important fossils recently found in Denmark. Fossils from Greenland and the Arctic. Devonian Amphibians. Mo-clay Tertiary fossils, especially birds. Triassic fishes from Madagascar, Fossil fishes from the Devonian, Permian, and Triassic of Greenland.
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Plants, mosses, lichens and fungi from Greenland,
N Atlantic islands, Denmark, Scandinavia, E and NE Africa,
Thailand
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Seeds of Triticeae (wild relatives of wheat,
rye and barley, more than 10,000 samples) . Culture collection
of algae, particularly marine phytoplankton, in the Scandinavian
Culture Centre for Algae and Protozoa (BI)
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Thailand orchids, Crataegus, Commelinaceae and Begoniaceae . World's largest collection of Dahlia. World's only off-site collection of Galapagos plants. Greek mountain plants. Succulents. Very large and diverse collection of annual plants. Seed and gene bank of wild Danish plants.
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Examples
of unique / rare expertise represented by DK-TAF staff
ZOOLOGICAL
TAXONOMIC EXPERTISE in:
Foraminifera
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Xenophyophora
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Tardigrada
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Araneae
Araneoidea
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Crustacea
Tantulocarida, Mystacocarida & Leptostraaca
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Diplopoda
Julida
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Coleoptera Staphylinoidea
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Lepidotera
'primitive groups'
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Hymenoptera
Orussidae
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Diptera
Schizomyoidea
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Entoprocta
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Loricifera
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BOTANICAL TAXONOMIC EXPERTISE in:
Arctic/Antarctic
lichens
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Toxic
marine microalgae
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Pinaceae
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Asteraceae
Mutisieae
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Dahlia
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Calyceraceae
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Orchidaceae
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Crataegus
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Triticean grasses
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Teloschistaceae |
PALAEONTOLOGICAL/GEOLOGICAL
EXPERTISE in:
Porifera
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Graptolithina
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Trilobita
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Sharks
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Early
life forms
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Impact
craters
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'DISCIPLINARY' EXPERTISE in:
X-radiography
analyses of animals
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Identification
of Chiroptera using ultrasonic electronics
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Plant
tissue culture methods
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Computer
aided plant identification
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