Natural Sciences

They are comprehensive in their coverage of the natural world and are global in terms of their content. Botany is represented only by fossil plants.

Scotland’s diverse and interesting geological background is shown through a strong collection of Scottish geological material.

Most of the several million specimens held originate from efforts to find out about the Natural World. The collection covers:

• Terrestrial Rocks and Meteorites
• Minerals and Gems
• Vertebrate Fossils
• Invertebrate and Plant Fossils
• Birds and Mammals
• Amphibians and Mollusca
• Insects and Spiders
• Marine Invertebrates

Natural Sciences department

Dr Nick Fraser: Keeper of Natural Sciences

Specific responsibility: Head of Department.
Expertise: Vertebrate Paleontology: systematics, phylogeny, biostratigraphy, biogeography and functional morphology.
Research Interests: Early Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems; phylogeny and systematics of Rhynchocephalia and Protorosauria; global faunal and floral change across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.

Dr Andrew Ross: Principal Curator, Palaeobiology

Specific responsibility: Curation and development of the fossil collections.
Research interest/expertise: Fossil arthropods, particularly the taxonomy, biodiversity and palaeoecology of insects.

Dr Stig Walsh: Senior Curator, Vertebrate Palaeontology

Specific responsibility: Curation of fossil vertebrate collections, especially Palaeozoic fish and early tetrapods.
Research interest/expertise: Vertebrate palaeoneurology (especially birds), avian palaeontology and evolution, vertebrate taphonomy, micro-CT techniques and quantitative approaches for investigating vertebrate skeletal shape variation.

Dr Yves Candela: Curator, Invertebrate Palaeobiology

Specific responsibility: Curation of fossil invertebrate and plant collections with particular responsibilities for fossil Brachiopoda.
Research interest/expertise: Brachiopoda taxonomy; biodiversification and biogeography of the Ordovician marine faunas; Cladistical analysis of the Strophomenida brachiopods.

Dr Sarah Stewart: Assistant Curator, Invertebrate Palaeobiology

Specific responsibility: Curation of fossil invertebrate and plant collections with particular responsibilities for fossil mollusca.
Research interest/expertise: Geology, stratigraphy and palaeontology of the Girvan district, Scotland. 'Neglected' and/or problematic fossil taxa (groups).

Vicen Carrió-Lluesma: Geology Conservator

Specific responsibility: Conservation and preparation of the collections within geology, including documentation.
Research interest/expertise: Anoxic environments techniques to improve the life of the collections. Also Silurian gastropods.

Dr Rachel Walcott: Principal Curator, Earth Systems

Specific responsibility: Head of Mineral, Meteorite and Rock collections with particular emphasis on the development of fault rock (pseudotachylyte), ore mineral and bio-mineral collections.
Research interests/expertise: Metamorphic petrology and rock fault genesis, Pb-rich ore minerals and deep sea vent mineralisation, erosion processes (terrestrial and martian), and tectonic geomorphology.

Peter Davidson: Curator, Minerals and Meteorites

Specific responsibility: Curation of the mineral, bio-mineral and gem collections, XRD and FTIR analysis.
Research interest/expertise: Mineralogy and the application of x-ray diffraction analysis. Meteorites, topographical mineralogy (especially Scottish), the history of National Museums Scotland and its mineral collections.

Simon Howard: Curator, Rocks

Specific responsibility: Documentation and curation of the rock collections. SEM and thin section analysis.
Research interests/expertise: Geo-archaeology provenancing.

David Herd: Assistant Curator, Minerals and Meteorites

Specific responsibility: Documentation of new minerals, back cataloguing of previously accessioned material and field work logistics.
Research interest/expertise: Data capture, tracing old specimen histories and fieldwork logistics.

Suzie Stevenson: Earth System Conservator and Preparator

Specific responsibility: Conservation of mineral, meteorite and rock collections, preparation of specimens for display and samples for analytical research.
Research interest/expertise: Specimen conservation, mineral photography and thin section preparation.

Brian Jackson: Research Curator

Specific responsibility: Strategic development of the mineral and economic mineral collections and curatorial policies relating to these including partnerships with other institutions.
Research interest/expertise: All minerals and gems and the application of FTIR (a type of chemical analysis) to identify and study them. Strontian Lead Mines, Scottish gold and low grade metamorphism as an alternative new approach to mineral-forming processes, pegmatite minerals and gem feldspar.

Dr Graham Rotheray: Principal Curator, Entomology

Specific responsibility: Curation of insects and spiders including dry, pinned, slide-mounted and wet preserved material.
Research interest/expertise: Diptera (flies), especially Syrphidae (hoverflies) and saproxylic Diptera (dead wood flies); their larvae, functional morphology; phylogenetics (identifying and understanding biological relationships), biodiversity and conservation.

Richard M. Lyszkowski: Assistant Curator, Entomology

Specific responsibility: Curation and care of insect collections.
Research interest/expertise: Beetles, especially Palaearctic Buprestidae (Jewel beetles) and Staphylinidae (Rove beetles); pipunculid flies; insect photography.

Susan Chambers: Principal Curator, Invertebrate Biology

Specific responsibility: Marine invertebrates such as starfish, crabs, leeches, sponges from the inter-tidal to abyssal depths (3000 metres). The collections are mostly from the NE Atlantic with a more recent focus on British waters.
Research interest: Polychaete taxonomy (names of marine worms) with a special interest in temperate Cirratulidae, Polynoidae and tropical Sabellaridae. Also the zoogeography of Chaetognaths, a different group of planktonic worms.

Fiona Ware: Curator, Invertebrate Biology

Specific responsibility: Curation and documentation of the marine invertebrates collections (including dry, slide-mounted and wet preserved material); development of the Scottish marine invertebrates collections.
Research interest/expertise: Taxonomy (classification) and distribution of meiofauna (animals that range in size from approximately 0.1 mm to 1 mm) with particular interest in benthic copepods (small crustaceans that live on or within the sediments); development of collections-related data standards.

Sankurie Pye: Curator, Invertebrate Biology

Specific responsibility: Curation and collection development of mollusca and brachiopod collections (worldwide).
Research interest/expertise: Contributing to taxonomy (classification) by researching the provenance of historical collections. Ecologically orientated work has included studies of the distribution of the molluscan faunas around Britain.

Dr Andrew Kitchener: Principal Curator, Vertebrate Biology

Specific responsibility: Head of Birds, Mammals and Taxidermy. Curation and development of bird and mammal collections, especially carnivores (felids, mustelids), marine mammals and ungulates. Exhibition development.
Research interest/expertise: Hybridisation (cross-breeding) between native and introduced mammal species, geographical variation (including biogeography) and the effects of captivity on mammal and bird skeletal morphology, including ageing and pathology, faunal change and zooarchaeology of Scotland.

Bob McGowan: Senior Curator, Birds

Specific responsibility: Curation of bird collections, including skins, eggs and skeletons.
Research interest/expertise: The history of the collections and collection development, egg collections, sampling populations through oil-spill casualties, etc. and record assessment.

Dr Jerry Herman: Senior Curator, Mammals

Specific responsibility: Curation of mammal collections, especially cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises), small mammals (mice, voles, shrews).
Research interest/expertise: Molecular evolution, intraspecific variation, biogeography and archaeology of Eurasian mammals, especially rodents and cetaceans.

Zena Floody: Assistant Curator, Vertebrate Biology

Specific responsibility: Curation of the vertebrate collections.
Research interest/expertise: Vertebrate biology and collections care.

Phil Howard: Taxidermist

Specific responsibility: Preparation of animal specimens for exhibitions and the mammal study collection.
Research interests: Methods of fur dressing and taxidermy.

Alan Lothian: Laboratory Assistant, Taxidermy

Specific Responsibility: Assisting curators and taxidermists with exhibitions preparation and upkeep.
Expertise: Preparation of bird and mammal skeletal specimens.

Research associates

Dr Clare Pannell

Research interest/expertise: Stable isotope signals of carbon and oxygen in Mollusca as tools for palaeoclimate analysis. Growth banding in freshwater pearl mussels; responses to temperature and climate change.

Dr Michael Taylor

Research interest/expertise: Palaeobiology and evolution of marine tetrapods, especially Mesozoic marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs; the history of palaeontology and museums, especially the collector Hugh Miller (1802-1856).

Geoff Swinney

Research interest/expertise: History and historical geography of Museums, particularly the institution known sequentially as the Industrial Museum of Scotland (1854-1864), the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art (1864-1904), the Royal Scottish Museum (1904-1985), the Royal Museum of Scotland (Chambers Street), and the Royal Museum. Biological models, particularly the work of Leopold Blaschka, and the career of William Speirs Bruce and his contributions to polar and high-latitude scientific exploration.

Dr Mark Shaw

Research interest/expertise: Taxonomy, biology and ecology of parasitic wasps, especially Western Palaearctic Ichneumonidae and Braconidae.

Emma Ross

Research interest/expertise: British adult caddisflies (Trichoptera), soil macro-invertebrate biodiversity and insect photography.

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