A small school of green chromis fish, Chromis viridian, swimming above staghorn coral in Raja Ampat, Indonesia © Shutterstock/Ethan Daniels
We are experiencing a period of unprecedented global environmental change.
Our work and collections are more valuable than ever in helping scientists understand the response of natural and anthropogenic ecosystems to this change.
From the origins of the solar system to the evolution of new species, our collections are helping us understand key transitions in the evolution of life on Earth and predict the impact of environmental change in the future.
Extraterrestrial H20 hunters
Our planetary geologists are exploring new analytical techniques to determine the origins and history of water on planet Earth.
Size matters: responding to environmental change
Museum palaeontologists are predicting the impact of our rapidly changing climate on body size using well-preserved fossils.
The midge thermometer
Museum entomologist Steve Brooks is studying the heads of midge larvae to trace climate change through time and calibrate global climate models.
Big data on biodiversity
Museum researchers are tracing the impact of human activities like land-use change, pollution and infrastructure on local ecosystems.
Highlighted projects
All origins, evolution and futures projects
Origins
- Asteroids
- Atomic-scale phenomena
- Carbonatites from Calatrava
- Comets
- ESA: exploration sample analogue collection and curation facility
- Europlanet
- Mafic and ultramafic rocks in southern Mexico
- Mantle evolution of southern Patagonia
- Popocatépetl volcano, Mexico
- Post-magmatic processes in carbonatitic systems
- Stromboli volcano, Italy
- The changing Sun
- The Hydro-Mars project
- The Moon
- The origins of adakites
Evolution
- African elephants
- Asian elephants
- Body size variation in Quaternary mammals
- BP micropalaeontology project
- Bryozoan endoparasite evolution
- Centipede systematics
- Chironomids as environmental indicators
- Ciliate taxonomy and diversity
- Comparative venomics research
- Conodont research
- Conulariid research
- Convergent evolution of anguilliform elongation
- Copepod colonisation and parasitism
- Cutmarks and carcass decay
- Dinosaur and plant co-evolution
- Dwarfing of fossil mammals on Mediterranean islands
- Echinoderm
- Evolution and development of vertebrate structures
- Evolution and taxonomy of Ice Age deer
- Evolution and taxonomy of Mesozoic bryozoans
- Evolution of the snake visual system
- Exploring the evolution of animals at deep-sea hot springs
- Extinction of large mammals in the Late Quaternary Ice Age
- Human adaptation to diet and disease
- Mammoth evolution as a model for species origins
- MART analysis
- Mesozoic forests of Britain
- Micropalaeontology research opportunities
- Morphological development and evolution of bony fishes
- Naked snakes of the North Eastern Region of India
- Ostracod research
- Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)
- Pathways to Ancient Britain (PAB)
- Phylogenetic comparative methods
- Reading the rocks
- Research using the Museum cetacean collections
- Symbionts
- The role of behaviour in evolution
- Trilobite research
Futures
- Brazilian mangrove forests
- Bryozoan skeletal mineralogy and ocean acidification
- Bryozoans and environment
- Co-evolution of plants and soils: a comparative approach
- Eel conservation
- Emerging diseases
- Evolution of fern diversity
- Holocene climate in Kamchatka and Arctic Russia
- Human impacts on biodiversity
- Littorinid snails
- Plastic in the Thames
- Polar bryozoa
- Report your invasive crab sightings
- Research on reef corals and coral reefs
- Saline lakes during periods of climate change
- Soils
- UK seaweed biodiversity conservation
- Unlocking the vault: UK plant collections
- Bio-strategies