The collection rules valid for the Senckenberg collections can be downloaded here. Click here to learn more on Senckenberg's implementation of the Nagoya protocol, regulating the access to genetic resources and an equitable benefit sharing. The Senckenberg Research Institute maintains and continuously expands the collections of Recent as well as fossil animals and plants from all around the world. It also holds a significant specialised library. The substantial data of this collection constitute the basis of every taxonomic-systematical, ecological, biogeographical or biostratigraphical as well as every practical environmental research. The collection items are also valuable as historical references – often acquired with a considerable effort, and have to be preserved permanently.
Collections must be considered as archives of life, holding the answers for numberless questions. Especially in regard to processes in a certain time span (in long prehistorical or short historical periods), collections can certify by themselves what once was and how it was evolving. Furthermore, the dynamics of change in the biosphere are displayed in the collections. They conserve the evidences of changes in biodiversity due to evolution or to human influences. |