Building a quantitative framework to measure the "scientific value" of fossils

The fossil record provides a unique and direct window into the diversity, biology, ecology, and evolution of past life, providing crucial insight for understanding the origins and major patterns of modern biodiversity and how it will be impacted by environmental change. A high profile, controversial and emotive current topic is the private ownership of significant fossil specimens. Much of the concern arises from the perceived loss of scientific information because specimens in private collections are generally inaccessible to the public and/or for scientific study. Despite this controversy, no quantitative framework exists to determine the scientific value of fossil specimens and thus, the value of what may be lost. This also means that there is no quantitative and objective way of determining which fossils should be prioritised for purchase for public collections in accredited museums.

We will address this challenge by creating a new method to quantify the scientific value of any macrofossil specimen. Our new metric (the "scientific value" index) will assess the completeness of the metadata (e.g., precision with which the geographic and stratigraphic location of the find is known), as well as the completeness, quality and uniqueness of specimens. We will use this new method in a one-of-a-kind pilot study, to measure the scientific value of selected key ecosystem groups in prominent private collections versus the national (public) collection at the Natural History Museum, London. We will focus our pilot study on fossils (ichthyosaurs, ammonoids, insects and plants) from the Early Jurassic Black Ven Marl Member, on the Jurassic Coast in the UK. The Black Ven Marl Member is the ideal unit for study as it is highly fossiliferous, yields an extremely diverse fauna and flora and has been intensely sampled over the past two hundred years so significant public and private collections exist. As part of the World Heritage Site, it is also supported by multiple heritage management bodies and been subject to significant changes in fossil collection and management rules that have shaped the nature of collections through history. We will use this new approach to identify the currently unknown potential of private collections to inform our understanding of evolutionary history, palaeoecology, taphonomy and taxonomy. Our dataset will also allow us to identify the impact of changing fossil collection practices and policies through time on the nature of collections and scientific knowledge and together with heritage managing bodies evaluate the efficacy of current fossil management strategies on the Jurassic Coast and identify solutions to increase access for scientific investigations. This project will build a platform for future research addressing the complex challenges of academic collaboration on private palaeontology collections, the commercial fossil trade and relationships to the role and efficacy of fossil legislation and heritage management more widely.