Research
This infographic (that can be downloaded here) summarizes the research lines and shows the interconnections between the different research carried out in the National Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as its potential to assess our impact on Nature in the current scenario of global change, thus contributing to the search for sustainable solutions to curb or prevent its effects. / Fundamentium
The National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) is a research center belonging to the Spanish National Research Council that focuses its research on the study of natural diversity, in its broadest sense, including biodiversity and geodiversity. It analyzes the evolutionary mechanisms that originate and maintain biodiversity, as well as the geomorphological processes that shape the land surface and landscape. Concomitantly, in the current scenario of environmental crisis, the MNCN-CSIC orients its research towards the characterization and monitoring of the effects of climate change and human activity on ecosystems (loss of diversity, changes in the distribution, connectivity and behavior of species, alterations in biogeochemical cycles...) and in the etiology of geohazards (earthquakes, floods...), in order to contribute to informed decision making to mitigate them.
Research lines
The MNCN-CSIC offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of Nature based on the development of highly interrelated research that can be grouped into three main lines of research:
- Animal diversity and evolution: studies living and extinct species and their phylogenetic relationships, as well as the evolutionary processes underpinning animal (including human) diversification.
- Ecology, conservation biology and global change: analyzes interactions between living organisms and their physical environment, from the scale of the individual to that of the community and the ecosystem, and the effects that human pressure exerts on the diversity, behavior and distribution of organisms, and on the functioning and services of the ecosystems.
- Geological processes: determines the causes and consequences of the Earth's natural processes and evaluates geohazards, in which the human species may play a determining role.
The MNCN-CSIC is structured into six research departments, which currently bring together 16 groups with related scientific lines. At present, its scientific staff is made up of 83 senior researchers and approximately 120 predoctoral, postdoctoral, tenure-track researchers, and research technicians. In addition, about 70 people work in management, communication, exhibitions and collections to assist in this research. To support research, there are different scientific-technical services and laboratories, which are offered both to the MNCN-CSIC and outward, and two experimental field stations, El Ventorrillo in the Sierra de Guadarrama (Madrid) and La Higueruela in Santa Olalla (Toledo).
