The museum serves as the major biodiversity repository in the region, conducting field research across a range of scientific disciplines and providing an important source of flora and fauna distributional data for environmental systems protection, land use planning, environmental surveys, and development mitigation.
Biodiversity Research Center of the Californias The museum and its research unit, the Biodiversity Research Center of the Californias (BRCC), conduct biological expeditions and field research in Southern California and on the Baja California peninsula, bringing together scientists from various disciplines and fostering collaboration between participating institutions in the United States and Mexico. The expeditions also support the enhancement of the institutions' scientific collections, conservation efforts, management of natural resources, and environmental education. The BRCC was established in 2002 to focus research and collections on regional biology, biodiversity, and geology. Representative expeditions include the 2013–2016 Sierra Cacachilas biodiversity study (which resulted in the discovery of a new species of spider,
Califorctenus cacachilensis), a status survey of the flora and fauna of
Isla Guadalupe (2000), the Agua Verde and Punta Mechudo (2003) expedition (a binational, multidisciplinary expedition explored the southern end of the Sierra de La Giganta), and the 1997 study of the Sierra San Francisco and the Sierra Guadalupe, located in northern Baja California Sur on the eastern edge of the
Vizcaíno Desert. The San Jacinto Resurvey, conducted by the museum in cooperation with the Universities of California, Berkeley and Riverside from 2008 to 2010, retraced the 1908 expedition of
Joseph Grinnell and associates to the
San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County to make a detailed comparison of how the region's wildlife changed over the century. The Flying Squirrel Study, with support from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, James San Jacinto Mountain Reserve, UCNRS, and the Big Bear Zoo, was launched to determine the distribution and habitat use of the San Bernardino Flying Squirrel (
Glaucomys sabrinus californicus) and incorporates the
iNaturalist platform to allow citizen scientists to upload their observations to databases used by scientists.
Research Departments Current research is conducted by the museum's departments of Birds and Mammals, Botany, Entomology, Herpetology, and Paleontology. In addition, the departments of Marine Invertebrates and Mineralogy house significant collections regularly consulted by scientists.
Birds and Mammals Started with the collection of pioneer mammalogist Frank Stephens, acquired in 1910, the department's taxonomic coverage now includes 90% of the world's bird families and 58% of its mammal families, with the museum's holdings extended by its status as a repository for specimens from the
San Diego Zoo. Field work by the department has resulted in the publication of two major regional distribution and identification guides,
The San Diego County Bird Atlas (2004), and
The San Diego County Mammal Atlas (2017). Recent work includes study of environmental pressure on Southern California bird populations.
Botany The Botany Department actively collects in San Diego County and Baja California, and its herbarium houses a research collection of 250,000 specimens of native and naturalized plants of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The collection consists primarily of vascular plants, with significant holdings of marine algae, mostly of the eastern North Pacific. The collection is particularly rich in specimens of the
Crassulaceae and
Cactaceae. Recent work includes research on floristic diversity in the southwestern United States and northwestern Baja California. The Botany Department provides online access to records via two portals, the
Flora of Baja California and the
San Diego County Plant Atlas, with most specimens georeferenced. In addition, the Botany Department has fully indexed and published online the field books of botanist
Reid Moran.
Entomology The collections of the Entomology Department include over 900,000 specimens. The insect collection is especially strong in
Coleoptera and
Lepidoptera; smaller but important holdings include
Diptera,
Hymenoptera, and
Neuroptera. The type collection includes over 200 primary types and 500 paratypes with particular strength in
Lepidoptera and
Coleoptera. There are also 15 holotypes of
Arachnids, mostly tarantulas. The collections are regularly used by the county's departments of Agriculture and Environmental Health, the Medical Examiner's Office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and private environmental consultants.
Herpetology The Herpetology Department houses over 76,000 catalogued specimens, including one of the largest rattlesnake collections in the world. Both regional and worldwide species are well represented in the collection, with specimens from throughout the southwest United States, northwest Mexico, and islands globally. The department hosts the
Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California documenting biodiversity research using both Museum collection data and field observations from citizen scientists. In addition, the department makes search of its collection available via online databases.
Marine Invertebrates The Marine Invertebrates Department holds approximately 5 million specimens concentrated on mollusks and crustaceans of southern California, Baja California, and the eastern Pacific, with 134 primary and 700 secondary type specimens.
Mineralogy The Mineralogy Department maintains 26,000 catalogued specimens of minerals, meteorites, and precious gems, including an extensive collection from southern California and a synoptic collection from around the world.
Paleontology The collections of the Paleontology Department include fossil vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants primarily of Mesozoic- through Cenozoic-age sites in southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico. The PaleoServices unit assists in the collection and curation of paleontological fossils from land designated for development and provides consulting services such as paleontological resource assessment of properties and paleontological mitigation plans. The department maintains an online paleontology database of more than 137,000 species lots representing 1.4 million specimens, primarily from the southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico regions. Recent work by the department has included radiometric dating of the
Cerutti Mastodon site.
Research Library Library collections include a complete natural history reference library, the rare book collection, the Klauber Herpetology Library, and the map collection. In addition, the Library's art collection includes treasures such as the botanical watercolors of
A. R. Valentien and wildlife paintings by
George Miksch Sutton and
Allan Brooks. The Library's archives include a large collection of historical photographs and many important field notes collections, such as those of herpetologist
Laurence Klauber (available online at the Internet Archive), mammalogists
Frank Stephens and
Laurence M. Huey (available at the Internet Archive), and naturalist
Charles Russell Orcutt. The library director curates the museum's permanent exhibition
Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science, which draws from the rich resources of the library's varied collections.
San Diego Zooarchaeology Laboratory The San Diego Zooarchaeology Laboratory (SDZL) identifies faunal assemblages from archaeological sites in San Diego County, the western United States, and the ancient Near East, referencing the San Diego Natural History Museum's scientific collections. Founded in 2010, the SDZL collections include over 46,000 bird specimens and 22,650 mammals. With 7,000 complete bird skeletons, and over 1,400 partial skeletons, the collections contain 90% of bird families worldwide, represented by 1,605 species. Over 1,000 complete mammal skeletons and 20,000 skulls are currently housed, and the collections continue to grow. In-house scholars provide expertise in the specialities of paleontology, marine invertebrates, entomology, herpetology, and botany. Providing interpretation and perspective on the use of animals in antiquity, the SDZL collects and documents zooarchaeological information (specimens and literature) for use by the scientific community, fosters cooperative research, and communicates with the public about zooarchaeological research in the region. In addition, the SDZL provides training to students and volunteers in zooarchaeological techniques and methods.
Publications The museum's refereed scientific publications date back to 1905, reflecting the long history of the San Diego Society of Natural History as a leader in research of the geologic past and present biodiversity of western North America and beyond. All of the museum's scientific publications are available online. The journal
Transactions of San Diego Society of Natural History preceded the currently published
Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History as the museum's major scientific publication. In-depth volumes of
Memoirs have treated topics comprehensively, while shorter works, often written for a more general non-technical audience, have been published as
Occasional Papers. In addition, the museum has published the magazines
Environment Southwest and
Field Notes. The museum maintains online atlas projects including the binational Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California and the Plant Atlas of San Diego County. Recent publications include the
Bird Atlas of San Diego County (2004), the
Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Diego County (2014, 5th ed.), and the
Mammal Atlas of San Diego County (2017). ==References==