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Natural History Museum collections

The Natural History Museum has a number of collections that could potentially be useful for ocean acidification-related research.

  • Coralline algae - crustose and maerl
    British coralline algae collection

    Coralline algae species are major structural and ecological components of benthic communities. The specimens in this collection span nearly 150 years. Find out more.

  • A bryozoan
    Bryozoan collections

    Bryozoa in the Natural History Museum collections were collected during a number of expeditions – including Challenger, Rattlesnake and Discovery. As a result the specimens originate from a wide range of localities from the 1870s to the late 20th century. Learn more.

  • Scanning electron microscope image showing the spiral side of a planktonic foraminifer
    Buckley collection

    Discover the collection of Henry Buckley, a valuable resource for the study of global change on recent planktonic foraminifera.

  • Heliopora coerulea, blue coral
    Chagos Islands coral collections

    The Chagos archipelago lacks overfishing and pollution, making it potentially suitable for use as a global reference baseline for monitoring the impact of ocean acidification on local biota. Although this is predominantly a coral collection, some other taxa are included. Find out more.

  • Formalin-preserved specimens from the extensive Antarctic Discovery expedition collections
    Discovery collections

    The Discovery collections originate from a number of different expeditions that took place from 1901-1999. The collection of pteropods may be of particular importance for ocean acidification research, and there are a wide variety of other marine specimens as well as ocean bottom deposits and residues. Learn more.

  • Engraved view of HMS Challenger (1872-1876)
    HMS Challenger collection

    Scientists on the 1872-76 HMS Challenger expedition collected a vast amount of natural history material from around the globe, which is accompanied by extensive taxonomic and summary reports. Get information about the Challenger collections housed at the Natural History Museum.

  • Specimen of an orbitolite specimen, Orbitolites complanata
    Heron-Allen slide collection

    Learn about Edward Heron-Allen’s vast collection of foraminifera type slides. It includes specimens gathered from samples from a number of notable research voyages.

  • Seabed samples collected during the four year voyage of HMS Challenger (1872-1876)
    Ocean bottom deposit collection

    Find out about the Ocean bottom deposit (OBD) collection held at the Natural History Museum. It consists of dry seabed samples and cores and is one of the more important collections for ocean acidification research.

  • Microfossil residues at the Museum
    Ocean bottom residue collection

    This collection of washed residues contains sieved calcareous microfossils such as foraminifera, ostracods and pteropods, and some larger organisms. Although developed separately from the much larger ocean bottom deposit collection, many of the samples were derived from it. Find out more.

  • Plate 117 from the report of the voyage of HMS Challenger
    Online resources

    Get access to online resources relating to the historical marine collections at the Natural History Museum, including links to more detailed collection summaries, databases and relevant archive documents.

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