Research Report 2010-2011 Research at Museo delle Scienze Science Science at Museo delle Scienze | Research Report 2010-2011 Science at Museo delle Scienze Research Report 2010-2011 MUSEO DELLE SCIENZE President Giuliano Castelli (Marco Andreatta since October 16th, 2011) Director Michele Lanzinger MdS Research Report 2010-2011 © 2012 Museo delle Scienze, Via Calepina 14, 38122 Trento, Italy Managing editor Valeria Lencioni Editorial committee Marco Avanzini, Costantino Bonomi, Marco Cantonati, Giampaolo Dalmeri, Valeria Lencioni, Paolo Pedrini, Francesco Rovero Editorial assistant Nicola Angeli Cover and layout design Roberto Nova Printing Tipografia Esperia Srl - Lavis (TN) 978-88-531-0019-1 SCIENCE at MUSEO DELLE SCIENZE RESEARCH REPOrt 2010-2011 5 Preface Part 1 7 1. Introducing MdS as museum and research centre 11 2. The research programmes 12 Programme 1R Ecology and biodiversity of mountain ecosystems in relation to environmental and climate change 12 Programme 2R Documenting and conserving nature 13 Programme 3R Plant conservation: seedbanking and plant translocation 13 Programme 4R Tropical Biodiversity 14 Programme 5R Earth sciences 14 Programme 6R Alpine Prehistory 15 3. The research staff and activities 19 4. The scientific collections 23 5. The main results and projects Part 2 57 Appendix 1: The staff of the scientific sections 85 Appendix 2: The staff of the science communicators 91 Appendix 3: Research projects, high education and teaching 105 Appendix 4: Publications 127 Appendix 5: Collaborations: the research national network 131 Appendix 6: Collaborations: the research international network Science at Museo delle Scienze: Research Report 2010-2011 1R 2R 3R 4R 5R 6R 4 Preface Fully developed as a natural history museum since the beginning of the 1900, the Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, since May 2011 named Museo delle Scienze (MdS) over the past decade has developed a new cultural approach through innovative exhibitions and public programmes which prompted a wi- der interpretation of its strictly naturalistic institutional scope. Nowadays the 1R museum manages, besides the head centre in Trento, a whole network of centres for scientific dissemination, established during the last 70 years. In Trentino: Botanical Alpine Garden on Viotte di Monte Bondone, Museum on the Bronze Age at the Lago di Ledro, Arco Arboretum, Glaciology Museum “J. Payer”, Aeronautic Museum “G. Caproni” in Trento, Bosco Caproni at Arco, Lymnological Field Station at the Lago di Tovel and the Geology Museum of 2R Dolomites in Predazzo. Abroad: Ecological Monitoring Centre (Tanzania). The MdS has grown and evolved over time, and specifically in the last 4 ye- ars thirty new people were employed in the permanent staff. At present it comprises more than sixty employees of which seven curators heads of scien- tific sections (Botany, Limnology and Phychology, Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Vertebrate Zoology, Tropical Biodiversity, Prehistory and Geo- 3R logy) and five technicians involved in the research and conservation activities plus seven cultural mediators and a plethora of more than thirty “unstructu- red” collaborators (Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, research assistants and visitor researchers). In the biennium 2010-2011 the MdS promoted and participated even with a role of coordinator to several research projects in 4R collaboration with local research institutes such as the Edmund Mach Founda- tion, the Kessler Foundation and the University of Trento in response to the Trento Province’s demands. In particular, within the projects ACE-SAP and OPENLOC, both financed on the 2008 grant of the Province, the cooperation with all these research centres have been strengthened. In the last two years also the national and international collaborations with other museums and 5R research institutes increased, also thanks to the activation of innovative large- scale research programmes in Asia and Africa in the fields of biodiversity and adaptation to climate change, sustainable development, environmental edu- cation. Quantitative indicators of such activities are reported in this document, with a focus on the main results obtained in 2010-2011 published in scientific journals. The implementation of MdS’s collections thanks to these researches 6R contributes to increase the relevance of such results (at present about 5 mil- lions of specimens/items are preserved at the museum). Furthermore, the 450 m2 surface of permanent gallery devotes the major part of exhibits to the field of nature and biodiversity with special regards to the research activities of the MdS and other local institutes, providing the diffusion of scientific data to the public in form of easily accessible contents. The total renovation of the museum and its relocation in a new building will be in 2013. It will change its acronym into MUSE, and it will be the first museum in Italy that harmoniously blends nature, science and technology, including also basic contemporary ethical and social issues. This has been requiring a considerable strategic and managerial effort that involves all the MdS’s staff, being the major challenge for the next future. In conclusion, I am grateful to all the personnel who contributed with constant care, dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism to the performance of the MdS, included the administrative employers. A special mention to the Auto- nomous Province of Trento for its financial support to our research program- mes and to all the sponsors who support our activities in the last two years. Michele Lanzinger Director of the Museo delle Scienze 5 1 Introducing MdS as museum and research centre Science at Museo delle Scienze: Research Report 2010-2011 Trento Science Museum (MdS) traces back its origin in the mid XIX century, while only in 1964 it was established with the current asset. Throughout this period it progres- sively evolved into a modern museum, dedicated to research, visitor interpretation and education. Research at MdS is articulated around two mainstream areas: a mul- 1R tidisciplinary investigation of nature and an interest for science interpretation, educa- tion and training, based on the interconnection between nature science and society. Environmental research focuses mainly on the Alpine region, and aims at attaining both local and global relevance, trying to be effective, integrated and useful to the local community and research area but also strategically placed at European level in 2R key research networks, valuing international research cooperation and participation to consortia and competitive projects, delivering research products relevant at global level. Since 2008 however, research on mountain ecosystems of other parts of the world has begun, especially in biodiversity-rich mountain forests of eastern Africa. Education research continuously develops new means to raise awareness of the al- 3R pine environment, promoting the sustainable use of its resources, necessary to grant an environmentally friendly development of the local society, highlighting local assets and natural heritage, promoting public understanding of science. This is a key role that will be further enhanced in view of the future opening of MUSE, the new science museum of Trentino. The role of this new museum will be to investigate and explain nature using scientific tools, addressing the challenges posed by the modern times 4R and promoting the value of science, innovation and sustainable development. 5R 6R 8 Introducing MdS as a museum and research centre In particular, MdS research activities will include: ∙∙ investigate the alpine geodynamic system, its endogenous and exogenous processes, in order to clarify the active forces, its evolution, the biological com- ponent, the first human settlements and their evolution in relation to geogra- phy and climate; 1R ∙∙ promote biodiversity databases based on museum collections and field records as part of long standing monitoring and research activities; ∙∙ improve our understanding of local plant and animal life and ecosystem func- tioning both aquatic and terrestrial, focusing on indicator species and adaptive potential; 2R ∙∙ produce distribution maps of priority species and habitats that allow to develop interpretation and prediction models that take into account global change, in order to develop local management plans for forestry, agriculture, hunting and fishing; ∙∙ investigate global change through proxy data derived from limnology, analys- 3R ing sediments, karst, hypogeous water tables; ∙∙ enhance the research sector on the biogeography, taxonomy, ecology and con- servation biology of outstanding biodiversity sites in the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot; ∙∙ interconnect science with society to promote local assets and natural heritage on solid 4R scientific grounds; on a wider scope, educate and engage the general public into an open dialogue on nature, science and sustainable development; 5R 6R 9 Science at Museo delle Scienze: Research Report 2010-2011 The research activities for 2010-2011 have been articulated into the Programmes described in the next chapter. However, since end of 2011, the MdS has begun to re-frame its over-arching research themes in search of a unified focus to which all the seven research sections contribute. Thus, since 2012 a new focus on document- 1R ing and valuing the landscape with all its biotic and abiotic dimensions, and with emphasis on biodiversity research and conservation is being framed. Under this theme, that engages all research