Royal Ontario Museum Annual Report 2007/2008

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resulted in fundamental contributions to our knowledge of
the evolution of birds at multiple taxonomic tiers and of
evolutionary processes in general.”
Collections
Since the ROM was founded in 1912, the Museum has
continually added to its holdings of artifacts and specimens
through acquisitions, donations and fieldwork. This past year,
the Museum received 71 donated objects and collections, as
well as acquiring several important objects purchased with
funds from the Louise Hawley Stone Trust and other sources.
The ROM, in addition to increasing the collections, also has a
duty to conserve and protect them for future generations. This
year several improvements were made to the ROM’s collections
storage facilities. Among them, the frozen tissue storage room,
housing the Museum’s invaluable genetic resources collections,
was renovated and expanded to double its previous storage
capacity. These world-class collections are the most actively
studied portions of the ROM’s life sciences holdings. Tissue
loan requests to conduct DNA sequencing were received from
countries around the world. The ROM began an upgrade of its
pest control capability with the addition of intake and isolation
rooms for incoming collections, a nitrogen generation system
for anoxic fumigation, a new ultra-cold, walk-in freezer for
treatments to kill insects and other pests, and the facility for
thermal lignin disinfestation, where appropriate (e.g. furniture).
These improvements will provide the first comprehensive
means of disinfestation since chemical fumigation was banned
under provincial health and safety legislation several years ago.
Research
The ROM is an important research institution where curators
can continue to enhance their expertise and disseminate their
knowledge. Last year ROM curators published over 100 papers
in peer-reviewed academic journals, four academic books and
monographs, and 26 popular articles and exhibition catalogues
intended for the general public. Highlights included the
discovery of the world’s most primitive known bat species by Dr.
Kevin Seymour, Assistant Curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology,
which allowed him to demonstrate that bats evolved the ability
to fly before they could echolocate. This article was published
by Dr. Seymour and his colleagues in the prestigious academic
journal Nature. The fossil is on display in the Gallery of the
Age of Mammals. In World Cultures, Dr. Alexandra Palmer,
the Nora E. Vaughan Senior Curator, Textiles & Costume,
edited two special volumes on fashion theory and Dr. Justin
Jennings, Associate Curator of New World Archaeology in the
Anthropology Section, edited a volume on Archaeology in
Andean South America.
The ROM’s research continues to be supported mainly
by external funding. More than $1.5 million in outside
support was awarded to curatorial staff, including grants from
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada, Genome Canada, National Science Foundation
(USA), World Wildlife Fund, Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Nature
Conservancy, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada, Australian Research Council, Harvard
University, Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board
(CCPERB), among others.