6th International Meeting of European Bird Curators

WORLDWIDE AVIFAUNISTIC BIODIVERSITY IN EUROPEAN MUSEUMS

Phodilus prigoginei, an African owl, known from a single specimen © RMCA

• Meeting description
  
  This meeting will feature a scientific programme focusing on aspects of curatorial responsibility of ornithological collections in Europe. A broad range of topics will be covered with the emphasis on the ornithological information present in those collections (and collection-based research) from regions outside of Europe. The event will demonstrate the crucial significance of museum collections within the larger context of ornithological research as a whole.
   
  The conference language is English. Oral contributions will be scheduled for 15 minutes plus 5 minutes of discussion. Poster presentations will also be possible.
  
  Proceedings will be published as an electronic volume in the series “Zoölogische Documentatie-Documentation Zoologique” of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren.
  All submissions will be peer reviewed and papers accepted to be presented at the conference will be included in the conference proceedings.
• Call for Papers
  
  We invite the submission of abstracts, to be considered for oral presentation or for posters, on 6birdcm@africamuseum.be.
  - Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 29 May 2009.
  - Abstract submissions : not more than 300 words. They must be in Word format and sent by email to 6birdcm@africamuseum.be.
  - All submissions and presentations should be in English. The format of the presentation should be Ms PowerPoint on a CD or USB Flash Drive.
  For the presentation a PC with video projector is available. The presentation files and posters (maximum size 1200 mm x 850 mm) should be submitted to the conference office at the start of the meeting.
  
  Authors of accepted papers must ensure the presentation of their papers at the conference. 
• Programme
  • Thursday 27 August 2009 (Colonial Palace)

10.00: Arrival - registration - poster placement

10.30: Official opening by Guido Gryseels, General-director of the RMCA
             Introductory perspectives by Michel Louette

10.45:  Scientific session (orals 1: Chairperson Robert Prys-Jones)

10.45 – 11.10: The significance of the Royal Museum for Central Africa collections. - Adrian Craig
11.10 – 11.35: Density assessment of the Congo Peafowl Afropavo congensis in the Salonga National Park (DRC). - M. Mulotwa, Michel Louette, A. Dudu, A. Upoki & Richard A. Fuller
11.35 – 12.00: Use and scientific importance of feather collections in natural history museums. - Till Töpfer
12.00 – 12.25: Data-poor Egg Collections: an Untapped Research Resource. - Douglas G. D. Russell & Phillip Cassey

12.30:  Lunch

14.00:  Scientific session (orals 2: Chairperson Anita Gamauf)

14.00 – 14.25: Expansion of passerine bird taxa in the northern Palearctic in the Holocene. - Cornelis (‘Kees’) S. Roselaar
14.25 – 14.50: The Top of the Top End. - Clem Fisher
14.50 – 15.15: The importance of collection data for ecological niche modelling. – experiences with Pytilia melba
                           - Renate van den Elzen, Kathrin Schidelko, Dominik Hegenberg & Dennis Rödder
15.15 – 15.40: Extrapolation of field observations for a bird atlas. The robustness of the methodology used in the “Atlas des oiseaux nicheurs de la Grand Comore, de Mohéli et d’Anjouan”. - Danny Meirte

15.40:  Coffee break

16.10: Scientific session (orals 3: Chairperson Friederike Woog)

16.10 – 16.35: The African Bird Collections in the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “G. Doria” of Genoa. - Enrico Borgo & Carlo Violani
16.35 – 17.00: Origin and development of the exotic bird collection in the Museo di Storia Naturale of Florence University. - Fausto Barbagli & Carlo Violani
17.00 – 17.25: Hidden Treasures and the Reorganisation of the Bird Collection in the Hungarian Natural History Museum. - Tibor I. Fuisz, Zoltán Vas & Róbert Rácz
17.25 – 17.50: Collections of extra-European birds in the National Museum in Praha, Czech Republic. - Jiří Mlíkovský

19.00:  Candlelight dinner in the Museum Building

• Friday 28 August 2009 (Colonial Palace)

09.00: Scientific session (orals 4: Chairperson N.)

09.00 – 09.25: Online databases of collections from Tanzania: a case of specimen agreement for continued collecting in a developing country. – Jon Fjeldsaa
09.25 – 09.50: Current status of ornithological collections in southern African museums. - Adrian Craig & Rick Nuttall
09.50 – 10.15: Do Congolese birds in museum collections contain useful genetic information? - Gontran Sonet, Floris Breman, George Lenglet, Michel Louette, Glòria Montañés, Zoltàn T Nagy, Jeroen van Houdt & Erik Verheyen
10.15 – 10.30: Phylogeography of the Accipiter tachiro/toussenelii complex. - Jeroen Van Houdt, Floris Breman, Gontran Sonet & Michel Louette

10.30: Coffee break

11.00: Scientific session (orals 5: Chairperson N.)

11.00 – 11.25: Charles Darwin, the bird curator. - Joanne H. Cooper
11.25 – 11.50: How to recognize colour aberrations in collections. - Hein van Grouw
11.50 – 12.15: The value of small collections and their accessibility; an example from the birds of Nauru. - Sylke Frahnert
12.15 – 12.40: Towards agreed collection management standards and policies – the EDIT Directors of Collections working group. - Christiane Quaisser, René Dekker, Michel Guiraud & Rob Huxley 

12.45: Lunch

14.00: Scientific session (posters):

STERNA (Stijn Cooleman); LEONARDO (Patricia Mergen); SYNTHESYS (Patricia Mergen); BHL-Europe (Patricia Mergen); “Bodies & bones: the bird skeleton collection at the Museum of  Natural History Vienna (NMW), Austria” (Anita Gamauf); “Interpreting dates in ornithology” (Jiří Mlíkovský); “Reducing destructive sampling in ornithological collections by DNA extraction from arsenic-treated bird skins” (Till Töpfer & Elisabeth Haring); “The territorial and chronological analysis of ornithological collections of Uzbekistan (Roman Kashkarov)”.

15.00:  Conclusion of the meeting - discussion on possible venues for the 7th meeting - withdrawal of the posters

16.30:  Guided tour of the Museum of the RMCA

The detailed programme available on this web page (http://www.africamuseum.be/research/zoology/vertebrates/6BirdCM/) will be distributed to participants in due course. 
Attendees are welcome to work in the bird collection on 25 & 26 August 2009. Only a limited number of places are available. Please reserve your bench!
For organizational reasons access to the collection will not be possible during the meeting (27 & 28 August).

• Registration Fee
  
  Meeting : € 50. This fee includes both days of information sessions, programme booklet, coffee breaks and lunches.
  The Candlelight Dinner in the Colonial Palace on 27 August 2009 is optional and requires an additional payment of € 25.
  
  1. Fill out the registration form (pdf 37kb)
  
  2. Pay the registration fee by bank transfer before July 15th, 2009. 

bank account : (IBAN) BE21 6792 0078 0603
                            (BIC) PCHQBEBB

Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika
Leuvensesteenweg 13
3080 Tervuren (Belgium)

Mentioning :  "Meeting EBC 27-28/8/09"

• Important Dates
  
  29 May 2009 :  Deadline for abstract submission (abstract of not more than 300 words)
  15 July 2009 :  Payment for registration fee and dinner
  27 August 2009 :  Registration at Royal Museum for Central Africa – Colonial Palace building A
  31 October 2009 : Deadline for submission of manuscript

• Venue – Sitemap
  
  - How to get here? Check out : - /visiting/directions/doc/routeEN.swf
                                                              - /visiting/index_html//visiting/admission/index_html
  - Brussels' Airport : http://www.brusselsairport.be/en/
  - How to get to the Museum from Brussels airport : /visiting/doc/bereikbaarheidENG
• Accommodation
  
  Conveniently situated hotels 
  - Hotel La Vignette (in front of the Museum):
  - Hotel Rastelli (in the centre of Tervuren, at a 10-15 minutes walk from the Museum)
  Early booking is strongly advisable!
  
  There are also a very limited number of B&B in Tervuren, intended for student participants, ask for information.
  Staying in Brussels is also an option, but count 30 to 45 minutes by metro/tram depending where you are staying.
• Contacts
  
  Michel Louette, Bird Curator RMCA
  Wim Tavernier, Secretary
  at 6birdcm@africamuseum.be