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Mariano Pairet<\/span><\/a> The foundation has not renewed its partnership with Instituto Vital Brazil for the production of snake antivenomMariano Pairet<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Biologist Jan Karel Felix Mahler Junior, of the museum\u2019s Conservation and Management department, says SEMA lacks staff with the skills and training to manage FZB\u2019s 18 collections of present-day and fossil fauna and flora or to conduct research. The museum’s reptile collection, for example, is the most important in Brazil\u2019s South, with around 17,000 specimens, including 15 type-specimens (which are used as a model of a species) or paratype specimens (which represent some of the variety within species). \u201cYou can\u2019t simply assign a biologist to manage the collections. The foundation and SEMA have different roles,\u201d says Mahler. The foundation\u2019s paleontological collection also features fossils of some of the oldest known dinosaurs in Brazil and in the world, such as Guaibasaurus candelariensis<\/em> and Sacisaurus agudoensis<\/em>. These dinosaurs, both unearthed in Rio Grande do Sul, lived about 220 million years ago.<\/p>\n Odir Ant\u00f4nio Dellagostin, director of the Rio Grande do Sul State Research Funding Agency (FAPERGS), says the incorporation of the Botanical Garden and the Museum of Natural Sciences into SEMA can help to maintain the collections, but prospects for research are less optimistic. \u201cIt is likely that researchers will no longer be hired,\u201d says Dellagostin.<\/p>\n Basic and applied research<\/strong>
\nSome researchers are concerned that incorporating FZB into SEMA could undermine researchers\u2019 independence in selecting the subjects of and approaches to their research, as SEMA is directly linked to the state government. \u201cSEMA\u2019s definition of research is applied research only. But it fails to appreciate that basic research provides the foundation for applied research,\u201d says Ana Maria Ribeiro, curator of the museum’s paleontology collection of 18,000 specimens. \u201cThe National Museum drew public attention when it was destroyed by a sudden fire. Here they\u2019re destroying our museum on a low flame.\u201d FZB currently has 148 active projects and subprojects, of which 41% are linked to SEMA, 36% to external demand, and 23% to internal demand. Another argument the researchers have made is that as a separately registered entity the foundation enjoys greater flexibility in raising funds, an advantage that would be lost with its incorporation into SEMA.<\/p>\n