Vanemuise 46, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Tartu, PO: 51014 (Estonia), Estonia(58.3736038208008, 26.7165718078613)
RI Keywords
Natural history archives,Biodiversity information,Systematic biology,Paleobiology,Biological collections,Taxonomy,Data networks,Data repository
RI Category
Data Mining and Analysis (Methodological) Centers, including statistical analysis;Natural History Collections;Data Archives, Data Repositories and Collections;Research Data Service Facilities;Collections;Repositories;Databases
Scientific Domain
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Mission and Objective
The Natural History Archives and Information Network (NATARC) is a central infrastructure for natural history archives, consisting of storage facilities conforming to international standards, and necessary equipment required for the storage, research and recording of the collections in a database. Central to the project and participating centres is a public information system that utilizes most of the existing Estonian biodiversity information for conducting analyses. Among other things, it is indispensable for resolving issues in nature protection, for nature monitoring, discovering changes in ecosystems caused by climate change, and so on. In addition to a digital information system, it is also important to regularly preserve complete organisms or their DNA in the collections. They can be used for analysing temporal changes in ecosystems based on taxa, genes and chemical compounds.
Service
- Sample preparation and handling
Taxonomic collections preservation, processing and analysing service.
- High-resolution scanning and photography
Scanning of plants and entomology objects, up to 600 dpi resolution and max A1 page size.
- Sample storage and preservation
Archiving and preserving taxonomical objects and samples in collection storage facilities (drawers on rails).
- Software development
Developing thin-client access portals.
- Database storage and data handling
Scientific databases for storing and handling of data.
Equipment
- Disk array
Disk storage system for digital archives.
- Scanner with workstation
Automatic scanner for herbal and entomological collections.
- Cabinet storage system
System of cabinets and drawers on rails for storing collections and archives.
