Main actors for taxonomy in Belgium
| Release date | 30/09/2009 |
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1. Major taxonomic facilities
The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) in Brussels.
This museum and research institute houses a rich zoological (including paleontological) collection, completed by a large number of prehistoric items and a diverse geological collection, including minerals and core samples. Geographical areas of taxonomical expertise not only focus on the Belgian fauna, but also on the fauna of other regions of the world as for example Africa (great lakes, national parks of DRC), SE Asia, Papua New Guinea, South America (Galapagos Islands, Argentina), Russia (Lake Baïkal) and Antarctica. Focus ecosystems are terrestrial, freshwater and marine. An internal audit in 2004 estimates that the collections include about 30 million zoological specimens. It can be estimated that there are about 200,000 types of recent animals and 30,000 types of fossil animals. The mollusc collection includes some 9 million specimens representing more than 45,000 species and is ranked in the top five world-wide. Other important collections are the insect collection, estimated at a 14 million specimens and the vertebrate collection reaching one million specimens. The library possesses 350,000 titles, among which about 1,000 titles were published before 1900. The museum acts as a showcase for the scientific research conducted by the Institute, with thousands of specimens on display in permanent galleries.
The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) in Tervuren.
This museum, research institute and knowledge centre on the biodiversity of living species in the context of their natural environments in Africa, particularly Central Africa. It holds the largest biodiversity collection of Central Africa, offering a complete cross-section of reference material from many taxa. Furthermore, the majority of the specimens originate from the relatively poorly studied megadiversity belt in the equatorial region of Africa, from West Africa and from the Comoro archipelago. Expertise is predominantly focused on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. The zoological collections hold specimens from nearly 125,000 species: 7-8 million invertebrates of 117,000 species and 1.5 million vertebrates of 6,115 species. They hold holotypes of 26,615 insect, 543 fish, 226 bird, 104 reptile, 81 amphibian and 36 mammal species. RMCA has types of over a third of the 3,000 species of African freshwater fishes. The African spider collection is also one of the world’s most important. Museum collections are presented in permanent exhibitions, with the aim of disseminating scientific knowledge among the general public.
The National Botanic Garden of Belgium (NBGB) in Meise.
This institute maintains a vast collection of living plants in greenhouse and outdoor collections (nearly 25,700 accessions belonging to about 17,500 taxa and 3,150 genera) as well as collections of non-living material (Herbarium BR). The vascular plant herbarium contains about 2.5 million specimens, among which are ca. 30,000 nomenclatural types. The herbarium of non-vascular cryptogams contains collections of algae, bryophytes (about 320,000 exsiccatae, of which over 2,000 nomenclatural types), myxomycetes (23,000 exsiccatae, of which 302 nomenclatural types) and fungi (about 145,000 specimens, of which 2,500 nomenclatural types). Focus areas are domestic (about 230,000 specimens from Belgium), the New World and tropical Africa (inter alia ca. 90% of all the botanical material collected by Belgian researchers in Central Africa). Expertise is mainly centred around terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. The NBG is open to the public, who can enjoy a visit through the indoor and outdoor collections in one of the largest botanical gardens in the world.
2. Universities and other research institutions
Most of the 15 Belgian universities and faculties continue to carry out some research and maintain collections, but expertise and collections are fragmented among taxa and among laboratories. Several universities host zoological museums (e.g. Ghent University, University of Liège, Catholic University of Leuven, Free University of Brussels ULB) or important zoological collections (e.g. Agricultural Faculty of Gembloux), while the majority of universities have herbaria and botanical gardens. One university (University of Liège) maintains an aquarium open to the public.
Regional research institutes.
Some taxonomy-related activities are carried out by regional research institutes, usually as part of broader research and/or monitoring programmes. These institutes include the Flemish Institute for Nature Conservation, the Research Centre for Nature, Forest and Wood of the Walloon Region, the Flanders Marine Institute, the Flemish Agricultural Research Centre and the Walloon Agricultural Research Centre. The Brussels Institute for Management of the Environment generally subcontracts its taxonomy-related research to other institutes.
3. Other actors
Taxonomic societies, naturalist associations and independent experts.
There are more than 50 societies and associations that deal with taxonomy-related subjects, or more generally with the identification, inventory and monitoring of species (birds, bats, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, orchids, etc.). These societies and associations provide support to scientific research and public education. These associations are extremely variable in size, scope, longevity and degree of activity. Independent experts also play an important role for some taxa. Such associations and independent expertise are indispensable to the inventory of biodiversity in Belgium.
