2004-2005 Research Summary
The 2004-2005 fiscal year saw another year of vigorous research and curatorial activities at the Florida Museum of Natural History. The Museum's curators and collections managers received more than $4.2 million in grants and contracts, including 14 new awards totaling $1.7 million, to support research, collections curation, and education. Research at the Museum focuses on studies of DNA, anatomy, ecology, behavior, culture change, and evolution of plants, animals, and human cultures. While the Museum's primary geographic strengths are in Florida, the Southeastern United States, and the Caribbean, the collections and research programs span the globe.
Collections & Research Highlights
Download a copy of the 2004-2005 Museum Annual Report (PDF)
Research Locations
Florida Counties
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New Grants
Florida Museum faculty and staff received $4.2 million in Grants and Contracts. There were 14 new awards totaling $1.7 million. Funding agencies include:
- American Orchid Society Fund
- Evolving Earth Foundation
- Florida Department of State
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Foundation
- Florida Wildflower Advisory Council
- Mote Marine Labatorary
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
- National Foundation on Arts and Humanities
- National Science Foundation
- Project Aware
- State University of New York
- T. H. Maren Foundation
- United States Department of Agriculture
- United States Department of Commerce
- United States Department of Interior
- University of San Diego
- Exhibits and Public Programs
Teaching
- ANG 6186 Seminar in Archaeology, 3 credits
- ANG 6224 Painted Books of Ancient Mexico, 3 credits
- ANG 6905 Individual Studies in Anthropology, 3 credits
- ANG 6915 Research Projects in Social/Cultural Anthropology, 3 credits
- ANG 6930 Special Topics in Anthropology, 6 credits
- ANG 6933 Problems in Caribbean Prehistory, 3 credits
- ANG 7979 Advanced Research in Anthropology, 5 credits
- ANG 7980 Doctoral Research in Anthropology, 12 credits
- ANT 4706 Environmental Archaeology, 3 credits
- ANT 4823 Laboratory Training in Archaeology, 3 credits
- ANT 4824 Field Sessions in Archaeology, 6 credits
- ANT 4905 Individual Research in Anthropology, 31 credits
- ANT 4907 Research Project in Social/Cultural Anthropology, 15 credits
- ANT 4930 Museum Internship, 3 credits
- ANT 4956 Oversees Studies in Cultural Anthropology, 3 credits
- ANT 6183 Historic Material Culture Analysis, 3 credits
- ARH 5905 Internship in Museum Curation, 3 credits
- ARH 6930 Shoshone Painting and Ledger Art, 3 credits
- ARH 6946 Museum Practicum, 6 credits
- ARH 6971 Masters Research in Museum Studies, 3 credits
- ART 6973 Project in Lieu of Thesis in Museum Studies, 3 credits
- BOT 5115 Paleobotany, 3 credits
- BOT 5625 Plant Geography, 2 credits
- BOT 5927 Advances in Botany, 2 credits
- BOT 6905 Individual Studies in Botany, 5 credits
- BOT 6910 Supervised Research in Botany, 10 credits
- BOT 6927 Advances in Botany, 2 credits
- BOT 6935 Seminar in Systematics, 8 credits
- BOT 6971 Masters Research in Botany, 5 credits
- BOT 7979 Advanced Research in Botany, 10 credits
- BOT 7980 Doctoral Research in Botany, 21 credits
- GEO 2200, Physical Geography, 3 credits
- GLY 7979 Advanced Research in Geology, 6 credits
- GLY 7980 Doctoral Research in Geology, 2 credits
- LAS 4905 Individual Research in Latin American Studies, 3 credits
- LAS 6905 Individual Research in Latin American Studies, 2 credit
- LAS 6971 Masters Research in Latin American Studies, 9 credits
- WIS 4905 Individual Studies in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, 4 credits
- WIS 4945C Wildlife Techniques, 6 credits
- ZOO 2203C Invertebrate Zoology, 4 credits
- ZOO 2303C Vertebrate Zoology, 7 credits
- ZOO 4472C, Avian Biology, 5 credits
- ZOO 4905 Individual Studies in Zoology, 29 credits
- ZOO 4926 Special Topics in Zoology, 4 credits
- ZOO 4956 Overseas Studies in Zoology, 43 credits
- ZOO 6905 Individual Studies in Zoology, 22 credit
- ZOO 6927 Special Topics in Zoology, 11 credits
- ZOO 6971 Masters Research in Zoology, 3 credits
- ZOO 7979 Advanced Research in Zoology, 17 credits
- ZOO 7980 Doctoral Research in Zoology, 7 credits
- Graduate Committees Served: 110
- Graduate Committees Chaired: 66
- Independent Studies: 55
Collections & Research Highlights
Archaeology and Ethnography
- Completed first comprehensive overview of Caribbean Archaeology.
- Research focused on human modifications of local landscapes.
- Reanalyzed Ripley P. Bullen's collections from Savanne Suazey, Grenada.
- Initiated research project, Tracking Maya Animals in the Archaeological Record: Modern and Ancient Evidence from the Guatemalan Petén.
- Created Proyecto Zooarqueologico Maya database to study human impact on ancient Maya animals by overexploitation of terrestrial and marine environments.
- Hosted first Archaeomalacology Working Group Meeting of the International Council of Archaeozoologists.
- Donation of the Paloumpis osteological skeletal fish collection, containing 254 taxa (79 new, 121 additions to underrepresented taxa in current holdings), which represents a 48 percent increase over current holdings in the osteological fish collection and establishes Florida Museum Environmental Archaeology holdings as one of the largest in the world.
- Kitty Emery, Ph.D., listed in Who's Who of American Women.
- Completed database for Florida Museum web site featuring photos and catalogue entries for 500 artifacts from the Pearsall Collection of American Indian Art.
- Curated Andean Folk Art collection.
- Significant damage to the Randell Research Center occurred during 2004 hurricanes. Heroic efforts by many people (including Florida Museum staff, volunteers and Friends of the Randell Research Center) aided in restoration of buildings, the Calusa Heritage Trail and surrounding properties.
- Significant reinterpretation of Pineland mound complex based on research of newly uncovered diaries of Frank Hamilton Cushing.
- Completed web site for the Randell Research Center.
- Ethnohistorical and archaeological study of 16th- and 18th-century social geography of South Florida, focused on the Calusa Indians and their indigenous neighbors and the migration of South Florida Indians to Cuba (including descendency among living Cubans).
- International collaborative research project on ethnohistorical study of Spanish conquest of Cuba.
- Published The Calusa and Their Legacy: South Florida People and Their Environments, a book based on the Florida Museum exhibit, South Florida People and Environments.
- Mayapan archaeological project involved analysis of ceramic incense burners to identify different contexts and patterns of representation.
- Studied iconography, context and external connections of effigy censers.
- Susan Milbrath, Ph.D., nominated for membership in the International Society of Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture.
- Published book on En Bas Saline, Haiti (site of La Navidad, Columbus' first settlement in the New World).
- Kathleen Deagan, Ph.D., chosen as Waring Distinguished Lecturer, West Georgia College.
Botany
- Published molecular sequencing of Phragmipedium kovachii, the most striking new species found in past 100 years.
- Developed web site for Assembling the Tree of Life project.
Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics Laboratory
- Continued development of Deep Time: A Comprehensive Phylogenetic Tree of Living and Fossil Angiosperms.
- Continued work on The Floral Genome Project: Origin and Evolution of the Floral Genetic Program and Phylogenetic Tools for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics of Angiosperms.
- Initiated collaborative research project Resolving the Trunk of the Angiosperm Tree and Twelve of its Thorniest Branches.
- Analyzed world's first flower (Archaefructus).
- Received donation of John Grayson Palynology Library from the Canadian Museum of Nature at Ottawa.
- David Dilcher, Ph.D., served as University of Florida Academic Manager for the cooperative agreement between Jilin University and University of Florida.
- Dilcher listed in Who's Who in the South and Southwest, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who in the World.
Invertebrate Zoology
- Worked on marine biodiversity inventory of Oceania.
- Identified a new species of Humboldtiana from Nueva Leon, Mexico, and two new land snails of the genus Humboldtiana from Chihuahua.
Paleontology
- Collected and described new species of Eocene crab from Alabama, never before recorded in the U.S.
- Collected and described nine new species of snails in the family Epitoniidae from the Miocene Shoal River Formation and the Chipola Formation of Florida's Panhandle.
- Investigated Holocene climate change in Florida using oxygen isotopes in shells of coquina clams, Donax variabilis.
- Undertook collaborative project to document biotic change in response to rapid, large-scale global warming by studying mammalian fauna across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in the central Bighorn Basin, Wyoming.
- Co-hosted national conference, Evolution in Natural History Museums.
- Recovered and negotiated donation of Pliocene whale Baelenoptera floridana (the Fruitville Whale Skull), the most complete fossil baleen whale skull every found in Florida.
- Preliminary investigation of Haile 7G vertebrate site, Florida, resulted in recovery of scientifically significant specimens, including oldest porcupine skeleton ever found in North America and associated skull, skeleton, and carapace of the "giant armadillo" Holmesina floridanus.
- Studied new fossils of the tortoise Chelonoidis from the Turks and Caicos Islands, and new fossil gopher tortoise specimens from Chandler Bridge Formation, South Carolina.
- Bruce MacFadden, Ph. D., appointed University of Florida Research Foundation Professor.
Vertebrate Zoology
- Developed HerpNET, an information network of North American herpetological databases.
- Surveyed exotic herps introduced into Florida and attempted to develop an invasive index that predicts which exotic reptiles and amphibians released in the state will not become established, which will become established in local populations only and which will become widespread invasive pests.
- Developed key to Florida geckos.
The Katharine Ordway Chair in Ecosystem Conservation
- Studied effects of urbanization on community and population dynamics of birds in Florida.
- Studied effects of human behavior on colonial weavers in Africa.
- Studied mechanisms determining elevational distribution of Andean birds.
- Scott Robinson, Ph.D., appointed chair of the Florida Museum Department of Natural History.
- Revised Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America.
- Continued research project All Catfish Species Inventory.
- Directed international collaborative project The Legacy Infrastructure Network for Natural Environments, which resulted in a web site and booklet being distributed to museums and other taxonomically oriented institutions and societies around the world.
- Rob Robins received M.S. degree (thesis - Variation in Western Gulf Slope Percin sciera [Percidae]).
Florida Program for Shark Research
- Described new species of pygmy sunfish, found in Florida and Georgia.
- Monitored, documented, evaluated and reported on shark attacks and other shark/human interactions on worldwide basis through the Florida Museum International Shark Attack File.
- Conducted Project Shark Awareness workshops for teachers and science educators throughout Florida, discussing shark biology, fisheries and conservation.
- Franklin Snelson awarded Emeritus Professor status at the University of Central Florida.
- Initiated BioCorder project, a biodiversity inventory tracking system.
- Continued research on New World monkey lice, Gorilla lice, and human head lice to study coevolution of lice and their human hosts.
- Undertook new research using stable isotope geochemistry to further assess diet from panther bone and hair.
- Completed digital imaging of entire holdings of Florida panthers.
- Continued study of systematics, biogeography, and zooarchaeology of birds on Pacific and Caribbean islands with special focus on Tobago and the Bahamas.
- Initiated Northern Arawak Diaspora Project to study two millennia of Pre-Columbian landscape alteration in northeast South America and the Caribbean.
- David Steadman, Ph.D., awarded honorary doctorate from Edinboro University, Pennsylvania.