Department of Zoology
Curator of Zoology
Herman Mays, Ph.D.
hmays@cincymuseum.org
Twitter: @hermmays
T: (513) 287-7163
F: (513) 455-7169

My fascination with biological diversity started at a young age. Over time I came to learn that it can be explained under the umbrella of a single scientific framework—biological evolution. This fascination with life’s diversity and its evolutionary history lead me to a career as an evolutionary biologist.

I received my Ph.D. in evolutionary ecology from the University of Kentucky in 2001. After a short stint as an assistant professor at Georgia Southern University, I moved into my current position as the Curator of Zoology at Cincinnati Museum Center. A major part of my current research program employs molecular genetic tools to understand the evolutionary history of the birds of East Asia. With support from the National Science Foundation, I have established a laboratory at Museum Center called the Molecular Ecology and Systematics Laboratory (MolES Lab). It has allowed me to conduct much of the molecular genetics work in-house. Additionally, the MolES Lab serves as a community resource for the broader research and research training community. To date we have hosted visiting researchers from Xavier University, Thomas More College, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Marshall University, the Ohio River Sanitation Commission and the University of Cincinnati. It has been utilized in training numerous students in the application of molecular genetic tools in the study of evolutionary biology, animal behavior and conservation. Much of the research program has involved birds but recent collaborative research is examining similar suites of questions regarding evolutionary history in North American salamanders as well.

In addition to my role at Museum Center I hold adjunct appointments at Xavier University, Thomas More College and the University of Cincinnati where I teach undergraduate courses in evolution, genetics and biology. I also enjoy participating in public programming and exhibit design on the museum floor, and engaging in outreach through social media and blogs.

EDUCATION

Undergraduate:
B.S. Biology/Anthropology 1992
University of Kentucky, 1992

Graduate:
Ph.D. Evolutionary Ecology 2001
University of Kentucky, 2001

PUBLICATIONS

Zoology Collection

While exact numbers remain unknown, and estimates are fraught with assumptions about how we define species limits, it is estimated that there are between 9 and 10 million extant animal species on earth. Natural history museums house a tangible record of this diversity and therefore provide the raw material to catalog this diversity and to understand its evolutionary underpinnings. Museums, through both internal curatorial research programs and collaborative external research and cross-institutional loans, unlock the biological data intrinsic to a modern, data-rich zoological collection and in turn shed light on fundamental processes in the life sciences and provide baseline data for informed decisions in conservation, environmental management and basic human health. Because the primary value of zoological, and really any natural history collection, lies in the inherit data locked away in these specimens, zoological collections are in essence bioinformatic resources, storehouses of biological information. A secondary value to the zoology collection lies in its aesthetic and educational value. Mounted specimens are frequently used in public programming and exhibits to serve as objects of appreciation and as learning tools, illustrating of basic principles in biology.

Scope of the Collection

Cincinnati Museum Center’s Zoological Collections date back to the mid-19^th century and encompass seven main areas of taxonomic organization. There are three areas of invertebrate collections: entomology, malacology, and arachnology, and four areas of vertebrate collections: ichthyology, herpetology, mammalogy and ornithology with smaller collections for other arthropods (crustaceans) and modest botanical and mycology collections. Together these collections total approximately 250,000 specimens. These collections vary significantly in their scientific importance, use, scope and geographic coverage. Geographic scope of these collections is centered primarily around the Ohio valley but with significant vertebrate material from the Philippines, a raptor collection global in scope, amphibans from the Southern Appalachians and important malacological material from the Caribbean and Pacific. Because the zoology collection comprises specimens representing a broad swath of the animal kingdom the nature of the material is highly diverse, ranging from dried shells and skeletal material to round skins, pinned insects, fluid preserved whole specimens and genomic resources.

A recent push in the zoology collection has been towards an emphasis on vouchered frozen tissue collections. Tissue samples collected from any organism can yield biomolecules (DNA in particular) that can be used to answer a myriad of questions in the life sciences. Frozen tissues backed by traditional specimen-based vouchers (skins, skeletons, fluid preserved whole specimens, etc.) are in considerable demand from the research community in evolutionary biology. This demand has grown in step with emerging tools in molecular biology. New approaches to high-throughput, parallel DNA sequencing and comparative genomics these collections will continue to stoke this need for vouchered frozen tissue collections. To date the zoology department has accumulated nearly 3,500 froze tissues primarily from vertebrate groups. This includes a significant avian tissue collection (≈ 1,800 specimens, including considerable material from the Philippines and Eastern North America) a considerable mammal tissue collection (≈ 1,000 specimens) and a rapidly growing tissue collection for reptiles and amphibians (≈ 700 specimens) and fishes (≈ 100 specimens).

Adjunct Staff:

John W. Ferner, PhD., Adjunct Curator of Herpetology
Professor, Department of Biology
Thomas More College
Edgewood, KY 41017
Phone: (859) 344-3374
Fax: (859) 344-3345
E-mail: fernerj@thmoasmore.edu

Jeffrey G. Davis, Research Associate
Phone: (513) 742-6340
E-mail: anura@fuse.net

Gregory A. Dahlem, PhD., Adjunct Curator of Entomology
Department of Biological Sciences
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights, KY 41076
Phone: (859) 572-6638
Fax: (859) 572-5639
E-mail: dahlem@fuse.net

Francisco J. Borrero, Ph.D., Research Associate
Science/Spanish Teacher
Cincinnati Country Day School
6905 Given Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45243
Phone: (513) 368-6515
E-mail: borrerof@countryday.net

Cody Fleece, Research Associate
Senior Ecologist at Stantec